testing and accountability | catalyst-chicago.org

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School closings

As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.

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testing and accountability

School closing opponents turn out to meeting November 14, 2011 By: Rebecca Harris CPS' new point man on school actions faced an angry crowd of about 60 people at the first community hearing on proposed guidelines for school closings. Read More \| (2) Comments	New school reports show stark gaps in achievement November 08, 2011 By: Sarah Karp The marquee outside of Beidler Elementary School in East Garfield Park makes the bold statement: We are off of probation. But when parents trucked into the school last week to pick up first-quarter report cards, they got some sobering news from the district’s colorful new school progress report: Beidler is categorized as a mid-level school in terms of performance on state tests, but less than a quarter of students scored at or above grade level on a different, more rigorous test and only 7.5 percent of 8th-graders met college readiness benchmarks. Read More \| (7) Comments
CPS announces draft criteria for school closings October 31, 2011 By: Rebecca Harris Officials released the district’s long-awaited criteria for school actions this afternoon, providing a glimpse of which schools could be closed, phased out or consolidated at the end of this year. Read More \| (5) Comments	In the News: ISBE looking into testing irregularities October 26, 2011 By: Cassandra West The Illinois State Board of Education is looking into whether disciplinary action should be taken because of “test irregularities” found in 33 Illinois public schools, including nine in Chicago, the Sun-Times reports. Read More \| (1) Comments
For the Record: ISAT vs EXPLORE July 08, 2011 By: Sarah Karp CEO Jean-Claude Brizard spent Friday morning lauding teachers and principals from turnaround schools run by the Academy for Urban School Leadership. The not-for-profit organization, which runs a teacher training academy, posted some of the best elementary school test scores in the district and Brizard said he was there to find out the secret ingredient. Read More \| (22) Comments	High-mobility, low-achieving schools more likely to have lower-quality preschool programs July 05, 2011 By: Rebecca Harris Preschool quality can influence students’ learning and ultimately,their readiness for kindergarten. But some of the children who needhigh-quality preschool the most are not always getting it, according to a Catalyst analysis ofdata from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Read More \| (0) Comments
Impressive ISAT gains don't impress CPS' new leaders June 24, 2011 By: Sarah Karp Just two years ago, Morton Elementary in Humboldt Park on the West Side was an example of what can go wrong with a turnaround—the process in which CPS pours extra money into a school and fires all the teachers and administrators. Read More \| (11) Comments	Daley, Huberman celebrate small gains on state tests June 23, 2010 By: Sarah Karp Elementary school standardized test scores inched up again as they have each year since the big jump of 2005, but continued to fall short of meeting the federal benchmark set by No Child Left Behind. This year, 71.7 percent of students met or exceeded standards, up from 69.8 percent in 2009 but short of the 77.5 percent needed to meet the federal goal. [Download the school board's presentation on ISAT scores] Read More \| (7) Comments
Chicago students lag behind other big cities on "nation's report card" May 20, 2010 By: John Myers 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. Read More \| (7) Comments

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