catalyst-chicago.org

Chicago posted flat reading scores in today’s release of the 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment, which stacks up 18 big-city districts based on results from last year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the “nation’s report card.” Chicago tied Baltimore and outscored six other districts on 4th-grade reading tests, but fell short of 10 other districts—including Atlanta, New York and Boston.

Chicago performed somewhat better on 8th-grade tests, outscoring eight urban districts but lagging behind nine others.

Chicago’s average 8th-grade score of 249 is three points lower than the average for all large-city districts and 13 points behind the national average. The city’s average 4th-grade score of 202 is eight points lower than the urban district average and 18 points behind the national average.

These scores signal that Chicago’s students are performing behind many of their counterparts in other large cities, and more than a year behind students nationwide. NAEP officials estimate that a 10-point difference on the assessment’s 500-point scale is equal to a year’s worth of learning.

Some principals and school staff should be sweating right now, while others can breathe a sigh of relief: CPS officials could announce, as early as this week, which schools to close or turnaround this year.

At the Dec. 16 School Board meeting, the district laid out its clearest criteria yet for closing and turning around underperforming schools. The turnaround process sends the principal and staff packing.

Our analysis at Catalyst Chicagoshows that some 35 elementary schools and 25 high schools could qualify, leaving district administrators plenty of discretion about where to intervene. Historically, CPS has closed or turned around about 10 schools a year.

The Consortium on Chicago School Research will host a forum next week for school districts that are interested in creating similar research institutions in their cities. Teams of district officials are expected from New York; Baltimore; Newark; the Kansas City metro area; Louisville; Providence; Boston; Dallas; California, including Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco, Fresno and Garden Grove; Detroit; Denver; Milwaukee; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia.