Schools School News Resources Local School Councils Awards HPKCC Schools Committee	Education & School News, Notes- and thoughts about improvement News, Opportunities, Deadlines, Trends of the Schools and of Education in the Hyde Park-Kenwood Area and Chicago A service of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference Schools Committee and the Conference's website www.hydepark.org. Help support our work: Join the Conference! Join the Schools Committee-contact chairmen: Camille Hamilton-Doyle and Nancy Baum. VISIT FEBRUARY 23 2010 CEREMONY AND FORUM page. The next regular Schools Committee meeting is tba 7 pm,1448 E. 53rd St. Blackstone entry. Visit an op-ed on Kenwood as a model by Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle in the Kenwood Academy page. Hyde Park Schools: Herald convenes schools help and involvement mtg -read about and links. MATERIAL IS NOW IN ITS OWN PAGE, HYDE PARK SCHOOLS. Race to Nowhere was screened March 10. To page contents Currie/Raoul letter to Huberman on selective admissions rules Bulletins: school cuts, marches College scholarships are available- see in Educational Resources. Related site pages Note: News of/from individual schools: News of Schools, Kenwood, Canter. Discussions of relations of students and business and gulf between youth and adults in Hyde Park are in Community/Business and Students/Youth, Kenwood, and News of Schools/Kenwood pages. Discussion of students and the 2005 robberies/batteries is in the Robberies and Community Safety pages. Charter school discussion is in UC and Schools. To Schools Hot Topics To Hyde Park Schools Initiative To Schools Committee and schools home page. Visit page about Feb. 23 2010 Awards Cer. and Forum To Education Resources To access After school and other Kids offering and HPKCC Youth Programs Database in PDF A major project of the Schools Committee To a more complete description of the CPS After School/Office of Extended Learning Opportunities programs (separate page). To Promise Zones, Proposal for Dev'tal Assets-building in our schools, Community Schools, Defining Excellence To Schools Directory with missions, descriptions, vitae; Hyde Park Area Schools Contacts (in its own page) To LSC meeting schedule, council rosters, elections To Some School and Student Award and Recognitions To Renaissance 2010 and now-abandoned Mid South plans description, discussions, controversy. CPS 2010 website: www.ren2010.cps.k12.il.us.feedback.asp To Schools Tests and Rankings- citywide 2005 results, scores/ analysis. What does the 2006 surge mean? To News of and from various schools To Canter page To Kenwood Academy page To Murray-Nichols additions Dedication. To University of Chicago school initiatives, teacher opportunities, charter schools (navigate to subpages there on charters, research results.) To Chicago Metro History Fair page To Chicago Academic Games League Program of HPKCC To Tracking Community Trends I (-Schools. What the schools face and need for improvement) Here:
Calendars incl. CPS 2009-10, Being involved in our schools. LSC winners-Kenwood LSC page Public Meetings, requirements, lectures, festivals/fairs, involvement, active organizations etc.: and taking advantage of what's out there. Parents., get in those school lunch applications... and immunizations, exams et al Schools capital, budget, special ed hearings ; NCBG meetings and resources Registrations, classes, and open houses, benefits scholarships; magnet schools. Scholarships available Bulletins and shorts: Herald, others push for schools help, improvement after turnaround lecture- See in its own page, Hyde Park Schools Initiative Severe cuts, no state budget-kids march in HP Changes passed to makeup of lscs Kenwood- dealing with budget blues: views 7th, 8th grades back at Murray, and what about Canter? (see more in Canter page) More fight than reform? 2008 wrap up. Of local probation, certain schools seemingly stuck on hold, and attendance and what schools are doing about it: Do new magnet rules make the situation worse? State makes deep slashes in early, mental, afterschool education and not paying bills since July 2009 PACs- encouraged but constrained? Should Murray re-establish a middle school? Done Stimulus funds reported. More. Kenwood Brotherhood publishes Why Freshmen on Track matters UC April 2009 forum and schools Legislators blast CPS on new non-race standards, new magnet rules Rep. Meeks initiatives- that to end LSC powers bombs Some thoughts on achieving improvement and the hassle of getting kids into good schools. The debates continue... including those who advocate enrichment and creative over unbalanced reliance on high-stakes testing and teacher pay for high scores (and good teachers fleeing the poor schools?) AN ARTICLE ASSERTING EDUCATION REFORM AND OUR COUNTRY ARE BEING HIGHJACKED...... Being involved in our schools and taking advantage of resources out there (See After School page) artseducation@cps.k12.il.us. It's called the "Chicago Guide for Teaching and Learning in the arts." Weigh in through Nov. 21 on the issues regarding school closings (initial list to be issued Dec. 1): cps.edu/qualityschools. And to activist task force, ceftf.publicinput@gmail.com. November 16, Wednesday, 7 pm (sign in from 6 pm) hearing- Simeon High School, 8147 S. Vincennes. Events/Meetings/Requirements/   Don't miss your local school council meeting- revised schedules. See the LSCs page. Board of Education normally meets 4th Wednesdays, 10:30 am, 5th floor 125 N. Clark St. Get involved in the meetings of the HPKCC Schools Committee! Chair Camille Hamilton-Doyle, Co-Chair Nancy Baum. Schools committee meetings will most often be on 4th Thursdays, 6 pm espec for those with principals, other s may be 7 pm, places tba. March 8 morning 9:45 with principals, February 23 (with principals, will likely be thank you dinner to all area principals and members of support orgs. such as LSCs, PTAs, PACs, Friends) March 22... Sought by Shoesmith to supplement Neighborhood Schools and other Tutors: The school is seeking four or five additional people to do literacy tutoring for low performing students in the primary grades (k-3). The school has a specific curriculum for tutors to use with these students. This opportunity requires a 10-week commitment, two 45-minute sessions per week. The school can work with your schedule and can match you with children for before, during or after-school time slots. Email Sabrina Gates, assistant principal, if you’re interested: slgates@cps.k12.il.us. Read or Listen to a Student Read Shoesmith kids need to be read to AND need a chance to read to you. If you would like to commit to reading to a child on a weekly basis at a regular time (during school is best!), contact assistant principal Sabrina Gates: slgates@cps.k12.il.us. February 4, Saturday, 2-4 pm. Help decorate drop boxes for the 2012 February "Have a Heart for Public Schools Supply Drive", sponsored by HPKCC Schools Committee. Questions: contact haveaheart2012@gmail.com. February 11, Saturday and Feb. 18, 10 am-3:30 pm. Teacher Workshop on engaging students in philosophy. Graham School at Gleacher, 450 N. Cityfront Center. Details and registration. https://grahamschool.uchicago.edu/php/offering.php?oi=6256. "A Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America's Achievement Culture," with principal's forum. Over 300 attended. ABOUT. Green Prize in Public Education http://www.neefusa.org/grants/green_prize.htm   Getting ready for school: health forms October 15 is the yearly deadline for all students to be up-to-date on their health forms (vision, dental, physical, immunizations.) Proof must be provided or they face exclusion. Printable forms are online from CPS. Exam is required for entering grades K, 6, 9 prior to October 15. Vision- K and any student enrolling for the first time in CPS. Dental exams by a licensed dentist - if in K, 2, 6 - prior to May 15 of current school year. So, schedule visits now to physician or clinic, or at a school health center. Call Coordinated School Health at 773 553-1830. CPS 2009-2010 Calendar Aug. 21 school board meets _________ Registrations, enrollment informationals and Open Houses Early Childhood Information Fair at Akiba Schechter- 15 schools and programs. Nov. 10, Thursday, 6:30-8, 5235 S. Cornell. Top Scholarships, Workshops, enrollments, contests, concerts, dramas, fairs etc. Ancona hosts Parent U. Led by learning specialist and educational psychologist Dr. Chrisna Perry. Consec. Wednesdays starting Jan. 4 at 7 m at Ancona. There is also a regular Parent Book Club that starts Nov. 15. RSVP 773 924-2356 or online at anconaschool.org. January 12, Thursday. A Martin Luther King, Jr. Week at UC event: Annual MLK Commemoration Celebration. Speaker: Geoffrey Canada on lessons from the Harlem Children's Zone education initiative. Details and to voice your dream to be read at this event visit mlk.uchicago.edu to register- required. UC will issue tickets, incl. to overflow in Mandel Hall. Getting ready for school: health forms October 15 is the deadline for all students to be up-to-date on their health forms (vision,dental, physical, immunizations.) Proof must be provided or they face exclusion. Printable forms are online from CPS. Exam is required for entering grades K, 6, 9 prior to October 15. Vision- K and any student enrolling for the first time in CPS. Dental exams by a licensed dentist - if in K, 2, 6 - prior to May 15 of current school year. So, schedule visits now to physician or clinic, or at a school health center. Call Coordinated School Health at 773 553-1830. Get started now for high school and college/post college kids to get in gear for scholarships and internships. Examples: University of Chicago full-tuition scholarships for 20 CPS students. City of Chicago internships, high school through college grads- contact ward offices for information as the alderman have a certain number of nominations. (Include resume of studies and interests.) Did you know that a third of CPS college scholarships go begging?- Generous Chicagoans contribute to these scholarships, some in seven figures. A recommended search and info engine: http://www.scholarshiphelp.org. Non-CPS 8th grade applicants to CPS schools having lotteries must take a test, usually in March. Call 773 553-2150 for information. Get ready for next year's CPS high school magnet programs and magnet schools. Apply by c December 17 yearly for both elementary and high schools. Get the "Education Opportunities" Directory (at schools, libraries, park district offices, aldermanic offices), call 773 553-2060 or go to www.chicagomagnetprograms.org. The high school applications are at high schools, elementary via the previous website. Middle/Jr. High kids: Start thinking now about college; if you're in CPS enroll in the GEARUP program (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs). In its six years (just renewed) it has been shown to make a real difference. Your cluster of schools will be teamed with a college or university (U of C is one). The program includes tutoring, trips to college campus, adventure education, training in resume-application-financial aid, and career exposure. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy has a monthly quiz contest for kids- win IPod or computer. CyberQuiz4Kids. Quizzes online at imsa.edu. AT&T children's art programs "Creative Kids". Under 12. See your art in the 2007 Yellow Pages. hdforteachers.com.To Bulletins December 2011 Illinois was among 7 states to win federal Race to the Top funds- $42.8 million. Not known is whether Illinois won early learning funds also. Included is upgrading evaluations and the math-science instruction. CPS spells out criteria for new funds of capital and soft improvements, Murray among recipients. (Note, PURE had a different take, saying "CPS won't invest in struggling schools.") What is the best length and use of the school day, and how much flexibility should there be-- thats' as much a fight as school closings. The Board approved $391M capital spending funded by state capital funds, Chicago TIF "surplus", bonds, and other funds, plus an added $269 M only partially appropriated previously and from other state, federal funds. The total is over $259M. Targeted are school safety, early childhood ed for underserved communities, 21st century technology in schools, and relief of overcrowding. Supt. Brizzard said the purpose is "to provide students with the tools and environments they need to be successful. Access to new technology, safe learning environments, nutritional supports, and structurally sound schools are all important ingredients.. to be prepared for college and career." There is supposed to be (under state law) a multi-year strategy that relies on rigorous project selection with new kinds of transparency. Decisions are made on the building's capacity and program use and priorities over the next five years, alignment with community input, and equal investment throughout the city. There is a sidebar: CPS has adopted to fulfill state and federal requirements a formula to determine school usage. Those considered underutilized can be candidates for closure, consolidation, or transformation including being given to or sharing space with a charter. Although the main standard this first year was underperformance, most of the schools targeted were also "underutilzed" according to the formula. Over half of Chicago schools were ranked underutilized, and only a few overcrowded and about a third used efficiently. Advocacy organizations cautioned that many called underutilized are using some of their rooms for enrichment, tutoring, libraries, and labs, such as the ancillary classes in magnet schools. Some said it's lipstick on a pig, justifying they have built enough schools--or did CPS build facilities not needed while the pupil population went down? The prototype school "should" have 77 percent of space as general education classrooms with 30 students each. There is a 20-percent leeway. The benchmark for overcrowded is enrollment exceeds 80 percent of classrooms x 30 pupils. School districts around the country use different criteria. "Classrooms" was called a minimum threshold by a Washington foundation. Murray gets $5.5 million for masonry repairs, ADA upgrades, and new windows, roof unit ventilators, and interior finishes.   Kenwood Academy starts principal search. Letter by Rebecca Janowitz and Walter G. Miller to Herald, Dec. 7, 2011. [Note, the meeting that started the search was attended by 60 teachers and 40 community persons and parents.] Elizabeth Kirby, principal of Kenwood Academy, has been promoted to chief of schools of the Southwest Side High School Network. Kenwood Academy's local school council is committed to hiring a worthy successor to Ms. Kirby, whose service to our school is deeply valued. We have convened a principal selection committee that includes teachers , parents , community members, educational support staff and a representative from the Kenwood Alumni Network. The committee meets regularly at Kenwood Academy and meetings are open to the public. Meeting dates can be found on the Kenwood website, kenwoodacademy.org/, and will be posted at the school's main entrance. A brief school-needs questionnaire, designed to inform the principal selection process, can be accessed at surveymonkey.com/s/7LM5CLT. We invite everyone's participation through Dec. 23. We expect that many people will have opinions, so please share them. The survey questions wil also be included in the next edition of the Kenwood Kaleidoscope, our school newspaper. Responses will be collected at the school's main office. The principal search committee is co-chaired by Rebecca Janowitz (community representative) and Walter G. Miller (parent representative). We are just beginning the principal selection process, but expect to have three finalists by February. At that time a public forum will be held where the finalists will be introduced and they will answer questions from the audience. Very strong exchanges have been seen in the local newspaper about Murray policies and principal. In part this appears to part of severe growing pains over restarting 7th and 8 th grades (including need for more science space) and a wider disagreement in schools over how far down in elementary and middle schools to go to departmentalization (like high schools where you go each hour to another class) and requiring "aides"- AVID type organizing binders and notebooks. Sept. 2011 the Consortium issued a report saying that all the reforms of the past 25 years didn't do much for elementary school students reading and math. Cites high school improvements esp. in graduation rates. Charters schools shared the wildly disparate results. Disagreement over charters continues to grow, especially as in-depth study indicates they are have as much of a mixed record as regular schools, and charges fly that closures are being used to benefit political allies and funders of top officials. In late November 2011 the board announced that several schools will be closed, phased out or turned around. The key changes near Hyde Park-Kenwood are that Dyett High will be phased out over two years with its students being"invited" to go to Phillips, and low-enrollment Price Elementary will be closed and its students bused to the National Teachers Academy, charter school 4 miles north of Price. (One wonders why at least a grade or two could not go to its partner Robinson School.) In addition, High School for the Arts, and expanding charter, will have several classrooms in Doolittle East. Citywide, most of the students will go to campuses (including Phillips and National Teachers) of a charter system, Urban School Leadership which the Tribune reports is a favorite of the Mayor and from which came the President of the Board of Ed and the new Chief Operating Officer of CPS. (6 other schools were recently handed over to USL.) With regard to Dyett, a grant this year from the South East Chicago Commission enabled the 100 Suns Native Flower Garden and Mosaic Artworks that was created by the students and Washington Park Conservancy plus another urban farm garden from which the students process and sell the produce to several area stores and farmers markets. What will happen to these gardens and programs with the school to be phased out, just as the 100 Suns garden and artwork is to have a big community and stakeholder dedication December 9 at 4:30? from which the students process and sell the produce to several area stores and farmers markets. What will happen to these gardens and programs, with the school to be phased out, just as the garden is to have a big community and stakeholder dedication December 9, 4:30 pm? And what will happen to Price-- chronically underfunded by the District for decades, with constant staff and administrative turnover, and having lost many pupils with the teardown of public housing. Advocates, including KOCO, are supporting the plan of the principal and others to remake the school as a STEM(M) (Math, Technology, Engineering, Math and maybe Medicine academy, partly neighborhood and partly by lottery. KOCO has participated in rallies that took over a Board of Ed meeting and seeks a meeting with the Mayor and sit ins. The ripple effect of these closures is enormous-- Hyde Park parents with kids in North Side schools like LaSalle Language Academy in Old Town (slated to be downgraded to Neighborhood to relieve crowding in Lincoln Elementary) are caught up either in the uproar or pondering where to put their children. December, 2011. Hyde Park Day School and the Orthogenic School, apparently under request to better have or justify a relationship to the University, are moving to new quarters in Woodlawn. They will build a 72,000 sf facility on 13 parcels the city si selling on the 900 block of East 63rd street. The city will give back $500,000. Both the day school and the residential facility can now grow to serve more children-- and staff, which has to be almost at a 1:1 ratio. Total cost is $28 million. Indications are that the University will let the current facilities sit until another use is found -- to reuse or tear down. CPS budget finally came out in early August 2011. It has a tax increase and cuts to afterschool an more, and others say not enough cuts to fat. The Supt. seeks to avoid impacts in the classroom and to save safe-schools and preschool to the extent possible. The University of Chicago Consortium for School Research came out September 12 2011 with results of a survey ranking the over 600 CPS schools (145,000+ students and 13,000+ teachers) on perceptions of their school re the "5 Essential elements" that matter most- Instructional leadership, how teachers work together, support from families and community, learning climate, and challenging curriculum. Success in at least 3 correlates with schools being 10 times more likely to make progress over time. The report is in http://www.ccsrsurvey.uchicago. edu. To find out about the Elements and the research behind them, visit Organizing Schools for Excellence and UC Education/Schools Research Findings. PURE reports on an Illinois appellate court decision that considerably weakens the legal standing of LSCs. A coalition will go to Springfield for changes to the law. Brotherhood mentoring project turns students into published authors of manual, gets national attention and emulation. Holds a forum at DePaul in October 2011 (Gina Sanchez at 312 325-8375) CPS rescinded this year's pay raise (although 75% of teachers will still get step etc. raises of up to 3%. The cancellation has led to actions by the union and local and citywide advocacy groups, who seek changes in priorities (including stress on neighborhood schools) as well as keeping the raises (in light of likely longer day?). If negotiations fail, the union can reopen the contract, which in turn would allow CPS to institute many changes it wants and or the union to strike-- if almost all teachers agree. CPS and CTU agreed on adoption of the more rigorous Common Core State Standards curriculum (adopted by 44 states including Illinois). And CTU has a grant from Am. Fed. of Teachers to develop lesson plans. On other issues the two parties remain far apart. Eric Zorn's study of how classroom time (down to minutes) is actually measured showed it's very complicated, as is the benefit of added time to the school day- but it seems the amount of time Chicago public schools is shorter than the average is about half claimed by CPS and between claims of CPS and CTU--perhaps leaving room for compromise on 2% raise for increase in school day. A study of comparison of GPA in Illinois high schools and Illinois public universities and 2-year colleges shows a big drop off beyond normal transitioning that needs to be addressed (some are). To compare your school go to http://www.chicagotribune.com/success. The legislature passed a mostly strong bill of oversight and public input on capital and related school construction and spending that was sought by reformers. It also puts conditions on CPS school closures and transformations. Included is a 10-year facilities master plan that is supposed to be fair, clear, accountable and fiscally responsible long-range plan with priorities. Parental involvement is required. But the state budget low-balled education among other lines. In February a strong school reform bill was passed. It requires 75 percent of members voting for a strike, modifications on firing and tenure, and other changes. $75 million was cut by CPS in early June from school transportation, cleaning, construction projects (delayed), and central staff. The shortfall remains about $7-- m but that includes $300m the state is behind on. Meanwhile the legislature cut $77 million from what CPS will get. New Supt. Brizzard and Emanuel say everyone is going to have to give some skin. CPS Education Plan now available. Will be "discussed" (it's over 400 pages) at April 27, 2011 BOE meeting. http://www.cps.edu/about_cps/the_board_of_education/pages/boardactions.aspx. It's also available from Sheila Wesonga in pdf. shwesonga@yahoo.com.   Ray School has selected a new principal. Ditto Shoesmith, and Kozminski. The principal selection process has started for Kenwood Academy. The November 23 2011 Herald carries a disturbing letter about Murray - how accurate and perspective it is is to be determined. Two lengthy rebuttals are in the November 30 Herald. Herald, Neighborhood Club others call for schools help, improvements after talk by Jacqueline Edelberg (Nettelhorst turnaround book How to Walk to Schools) Schools providing wish lists, some (such as Shoesmith) holding open houses for community residents. VISIT ITS OWN PAGE, hydeparkschoolsinitiative. To raw ideas from the November 7 community workshop hydeparkschools@googlegroups.com. Anybody wishing to join that conversation can e-mail hydeparkschools@gmail.com to be added to the list. Also http://hydeparkschools.wordpress.com. (The talk was at a Southside Parents Network event at Shoesmith. Ms. Edelberg talked last February at the HPKCC Schools Awards Dinner. Her model was drawn partially from her experiences with Ray School and applied to Nettelhorst on the North Side. After the October talk, the Herald took it upon itself to invite everyone and organizations to a convocation at the Neighborhood Club November 7, 3 pm. Here is the Herald's follow up October 27. For wish lists sent by schools, see News of Schools.) "Rallying for schools a job for everyone. Our announcement last week of a forum to discuss the state of our public schools -- an our public elementary schools in particular -- sparked a number of calls to the Herald offices expressing support for the idea. Our assertion that the community should step up in our efforts to support public education in Hyde Park seems to have resonated with parents, local education advocates and other members of the community. We expected no less from a community that so values its cohesiveness. On the other hand, Hyde Park being Hyde Park, we were not surprised to hear some grumblings. Why now? Why haven't community meetings been held in preparation for the event? Has this been cleared with the various organizations in the community that work with the public schools? We don't want to overstate the significance of these grumblings; we do not want to ignore any community members who feel they have a stake in the schools already. The fact is that this is part of a conversation that has been going on at least since our parents, teachers and administrators marched last spring in protest of proposed drastic expansions of class size and budget cuts at schools. Even though -- and in a sense, precisely because -- those cuts proved to be a political ploy [Herald interpretation], the buzz among parents and many community members has been around protecting our schools to the best of our ability from having such uncertainty arise in the future. At the forum, to be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7, at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, 5480 S. Kenwood ave., we will make concrete suggestions as to how the community might gird our public neighborhood schools. We will announce a preliminary list of those suggestions -- influenced, in part, by wish lists we are soliciting from local schools and publishing as space permits. (Last week, we published a list from Shoesmith; this wee, Bret harte has submitted a list to be found on page 8. E-mail g.piemo@hpherald.com or d.phillips@hpherald.com to have your school's wish list published next week; deadline is this Friday, noon.) We are also seeking suggestions from the community -- write in and have your say. All suggestions will be published here in advance of the forum. Our suggestions will also be the outgrowth of conversations we are having throughout the community regarding ideas to strengthen our schools. Meanwhile, the momentum for the event continues to build. The South Side education advocacy group Southsiders United [Organized?] fo Unity and Liberation stopped by the Herald offices last week to discuss involvement in the forum, and the event is officially on the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club's Facebook page. As mentioned last week on this page, the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference's Schools Committee is interested in participating in the event and the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce has expressed support as well. We encourage additional groups and individuals to sign on. Given the vast potential resources our community has if we come together as local store owners, other professionals with areas of expertise, community organizers, concerned citizens, parents, teachers, members of community institutions an really all Hyde Parkers with our diverse array of backgrounds and abilities, our public schools -- all of our public schools -- should not want for local support as they struggle to provide the best possible education for our children. Let's get together Nov. 7 and hash our how we translate this abstraction into action. And adds in editorial of November 3, Take time this Sunday to talk about education As the weekend of th e Hyde Park Education Forum approaches, we are publishing the third wish list we've received from a Hyde Park elementary school -- this one from Murray Language Academy. The recurrence of certain items from these lists suggests to us that there are clearly needs that our elementary schools have in common. For example, Bret Harte, Shoesmith and Murray all have tutors on their wish list. The also share need for some basic office supplies. We can certainly help to address these basic needs as a community. With the rich, diverse background of Hyde Parkers young and old, we can surely meet tutoring needs for neighborhood kids. Meanwhile, teh neighborhood's stories organizing and fundraising prowess is certainly up to securing some crayons and staplers. Once we receive all of the wish lists we are seeking, we will publish them all together, indicating where there are common needs among the schools. In these areas, we can begin immediately as a community to improve conditions at our schools. We should also listen carefully to our neighbors with current or prospective students in our schools -- they have the most at stake in these institutions and have certainly thought long and hard about both the good and the could-be-better qualities of Hyde Park Schools. We encourage the entire neighborhood to come out... to address the state of our local elementary schools. We will have parents and community leaders starting the day off with a panel discussion, followed by breakout sessions where we wil gather the ideas of the community together, finally presenting all those ideas as the audinece reconvenes as a whole and considers a plan for action. These ideas will also then appear in the Herald, where we will continue the conversation. Public schools can be a defining element in a community. They can be the critical factor that draws parents to -- or from -- a neighborhood. If we can agree that our schools should be a top priority of Hyde Park, we can bolster an already special and beloved community. Added in November 10 Herald Great talk -- now let's get to work on schools We are delighted to report the Community Forum on Public Education in Hyde Park hosted by the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club Sunday drew an enthusiastic audience that filled the tables set up for the event. Roughly 35 people participated in a broad-ranging conversation that centered not on the problems facing our public schools -- but how we might address those challenges. Participants offered a variety of suggestions, all of which were set down during the conversation. The Herald will be publicizing those suggestions by category - including ideas about art, curriculum, fundraising and more -- and weighing in on what we consider to be the strongest of teh suggestions. We encourage all of our readers to do the same- write in to us and tell us what you think about the ideas we present and add more of your own. What was clear on Sunday was a real sense of commitment in the neighborhood to support our public schools from a wide-ranging group of community members, spanning age, profession and ethnicity. There is a real opportunity here for meaningful improvement in our neighborhood schools. Sunday's turnout demonstrated a desire exists in the community to make that improvement happen and it exists across our community's diverse population. So what's next? We believe some of the ideas suggested on Sunday can be translated into action in a relatively short span of time. For example, on Sunday people discussed the importance of fundraising to support the general coffers of our neighborhood schools. Could Hyde Parkers plan an event around the holidays that would do just that, setting a modest goal of a few hundred dollars raised per elementary school? We believe something along these lines is feasible and encourage our neighbors to continue this important conversation and make plans to turn those conversations into action. Sunday's participants will be continuing to organize at hydeparkschools@googlegroups.com. Anybody wishing to join that conversation can e-mail hydeparkschools@gmail.com to be added to the list. Get involved. We can achieve excellence in all of our public schools if we get together and commit to them. To raw ideas from the Nov. 7 workshop Ray Principal Bernadette. Butler says Ald. Hairston stepped up to stop their cuts (but why were Harte and Shoesmith not restored?) [Ray's language programs were later again taken away fall 2011.] Herald, January 19. This letter is in response to the article describing the issues Hyde Park schools faced in 2010. It is true that administration, teachers, students and parents marched... in the wake of unfathomable budget cuts. What was not mentioned was the active role Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) played in ensuring the impact those cuts had on our schools was minimized. The alderman invited principals from her ward to a round table discussion to talk about the cuts and the effects that they would have upon each school. Following this meeting, Hairston went to the City Council and demanded to know from CPS CEO Ron Huberman why language programs were being eliminated in Hyde Park but not in other parts of the city. With her bold and tenacious efforts, along with her dedication and support to her community, she was able to take our voices to the people who could make it happen. As a result, our Spanish language program was saved. Through the sustained efforts of all of the stakeholders at Ray School, including Hairston, our students continue to be afforded as excellent an education as schools in other parts of the city. In recognition of her commitment, the alderman was invited to our Spanish Heritage assembly, where our students honored her for her unflinching support. This type of support is not unusual for our alderman. She and our staff have helped in many other ways. For example when our summer program needed assistance, she was able to partner the school with community resources, allowing our children to receive free lunches. I feel helping children is a strong part of who she is and what she does. We are very fortunate to have Hairston as a advocate in our community. Canter is launching a new Leadership Academy approach and curriculum. See Canter page. In late November 2011 the board announced that several schools will be closed, phased out or turned around. The key changes near Hyde Park-Kenwood are that Dyett High will be phased out over two years with its students being"invited" to go to Phillips, and low-enrollment Price Elementary will be closed and its students bused to the National Teachers Academy, charter school 4 miles north of Price. (One wonders why at least a grade or two could not go to its partner Robinson School.) In addition, High School for the Arts, and expanding charter, will have several classrooms in Doolittle East. Citywide, most of the students will go to campuses (including Phillips and National Teachers) of a charter system, Urban School Leadership which the Tribune reports is a favorite of the Mayor and from which came the President of the Board of Ed and the new Chief Operating Officer of CPS. (6 other schools were recently handed over to USL.) With regard to Dyett, a grant this year from the South East Chicago Commission enabled a large urban garden that was created by the students and Washington Park Conservancy and from which the students process and sell the produce to several area stores and farmers markets. What will happen to this garden and program with the school to be phased out, just as the garden is to have a big community and stakeholder dedication December 9? Chicago 4 Promise Zone applicants failed to receive grants in the 2010 round. Judge Palmer granted motion to dismiss PURE's LSC suit re closing and reopening schools-- apparently there is nothing CPS can't do whenever it wants. Appeal is filed. Mayor Daley has introduced a controversial program to add 90 minutes to the school day in some schools (Chicago schools have one of the shortest days)-- but to be computer learning and other programs run by non-teachers-- which some call mere babysitting. However, UC Woodlawn Charter High is determined to make it something special. Hyde Park Neighborhood Club is remodeling to intensify its programs from daycare through tutoring and other after school programs through the mid teens. The club will from now be a center only for children and youth. HPKCC helped underwrite a summer program for teens. Details in News from Collaborers in Building Our Community. Black Pearl/Prologue's plan for a charter dedicated to using the arts and arts entrepreneurial training as centerpiece for at-risk students aged 16-21 created some disappointed parents, who hoped it would essentially be an alternative school including for dropped out youth. Some of the confusion was due to Prologue running some alternative schools. Shoesmith successfully tried control of traffic on 50th St. at school drop off and pickup time. They are working on refinements for the fall. Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center has reached out mightily into the schools with its public arts, entrepreneurial, and arts as a deterrent to dropping out hands-on models. It has also partnered with Prologue to set up (fall 2010) an alternative charter school for ages 16-21 in line with its specialties, the Joshua Johnston Charter School. The CPS Dropout Recovery Arts Program has recommended the school and the Board of Ed has approved. About 150 students will attend in fall 2010, at LBP while is search is made for a suitable building. The differences and diverse uses made it not possible for the school and the center to reach an agreement. One will seek a different space (though having activities in the center) while the center will seek a different school. Urban Education Institute and Ebony Magazine convened a roundtable with MSNBC on schools August 11 at International House. Members: Shayne Evans UC Charter High, Julianne Malveaux Bennett College pres., Elaine M. Allensworth dir for stat anal Consortium Ch Sch Res, Tim King urban Prep, Russlyn Ali US Office of Civil Rights in USDE, Mary B. Richardson-Lowry pres. CPS. Problems cited include budget deficits, outdated curriculum and high dropout rates. It was felt that inner city neighborhood schools have not been improved in over 30 years and the students are written off-- some schools are drop out factories; good ideas are not getting down to the district and school level. Dedication to resources, modern curriculum, best teachers and practices aren't there. Emphasis, it was said, should be on paying attention to students, allowing teacher autonomy and finding innovative ways to engage parents in the learning process, using up to date technologies. Unusual learning projects should be year round, not just in summer. Having model schools is fine, but best practices and a sound environment have to be translated into the neighborhood schools. Ms. Richardson-Lowry talked about practical innovations being made in schools while Allensworth said "If parents and teachers work collectively it would build a community of trust for children." Find more in http://ebonyjet.com. CPS has joined with 14 learning programs, including Little Black Pearl and Black Star Project to provide school community watch services. These will enhance their already active programs to protect students determined to be at high risk for becoming victims of violent incidents. They will place staff members on school routes, contact families with students with five plus absences and connect out-of-school students to services and programs. Safety and attendance go together and this requires action outside the schoolhouse, it's been determined. Strong arming continues between CPS and the Union over layoffs and a negotiated raise. On July 20, 2010, preliminary results were released for 2010-2011 admissions to the district’s selective enrollment and magnet school programs. The one-year policy, which uses socio-economic variables instead of race as a factor in admissions, was established after a federal court judge lifted a longstanding desegregation consent decree last fall. More information about preliminary results from the new admissions process can be found at http://cps.edu/News/Announcements/Pages/07_28_2010_A1.aspx. For more information about the district’s selective enrollment and magnet school programs, visit the Office of Academic Enhancement’s web page, at http://www.cpsoae.org/index.jsp. August 3 and 10 forums were convened by the CPS Blue Ribbon Commission that oversees magnet and selective enrollment schools and their rules for admission. Some were disturbed as some shifting away from African American admissions occurred, or that gentrification has skewed the emphasis on economic diversity, or asked "why can't all schools have the best resources?" July 1 the House of Reps. substituted a bill to save 140,000 teacher jobs for Race to the Top. Bruising battles over ESSA (replacement for expiring No Child Left Behind) ensued. Eventually the Senate voted for a scaled back version without removing funds from RTTP, the House concurred August 10 2010. Two interesting programs occurred in August 2010. Afterschool Matters, Loyola University and teen groups (StandUP-HelpOut and C.R.I.M.E) presented findings on their survey of youth and adult Bronzeville neighborhood and school views and needs at Robinson School. Very rewarding. The students have been going around to various schools to explain their work and the kids book on violence and conflict resolution featuring a 3-headed dragon. The book is called C.R.I.M.E., Compassion, Respect, Inspiration, Motivation, and Empathy. And International House hosted a Urban Education Institute, MSNBC and Ebony panel roundtable on our schools and what they needs with national and Chicago area experts. Also highly rewarding. Little Black Pearl and Design Center 1060 E. 47th St. 773 285-1211. Black Pearl ramps up to meet needs in and out of schools, partner with a special charter Hyde Park Herald, July 28, 2010. By Daschell Phillips After a yearlong review, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) held a public hearing last Monday for the Joshua Johnston Charter School, which was proposed by Little Black Pearl Art Center and Prologue Alternative School. CPS officials said the school's unique student target and CPS's budget are what kept the proposal in pending status for so long. Joshua Johnston, which would be named after the first African American slave to become an artist, would be an open enrollment program that serves youth between the ages of 16 and 21 who are at risk of dropping out of school. The school would focus on fine arts and design, academics and entrepreneurial education. At Monday's hearing, which was attended solely Prologue staff, parents and students and Little Black Pearl staff, testimony was given about how Prologue has helped students of dropping out make it to college. Shertina Boykin, who graduated from Prologue this year, said "I've been to four different schools, and Prologue was the last stop for me. Schools like [Joshua Johnston] are needed to help stop the dropout rate," she said. Regina Jones, whose son Patrick White is a graduate of Prologue, said the school's programs are an important part of what makes the school successful with at-risk youth. "Parents don't rely on students needing extra services, but when my son was given services outside of school I found they were very much needed," Jones said. The art and entrepreneurial, classes at Little Black Pearl are a part of those supplemental services offered to the students at Prologue. Since 1999, Little Black Pearl has been providing art programs to schools with high numbers of at-risk students and in 2008 Little Black Pearl partnered with the CPS Department of Dropout Prevention and Recovery Arts Program. So when Prologue teamed up with arts center to create an official charter school to target this group of students they knew it would be beneficial to the school system. Although CPS was acquainted with Little Black Pearls' work, the Joshua Johnston Charter SChool did not make Ron Huberman's list of new charter school recommendations in November 2009 because officials wanted to make sure that CPS had the proper tools to evaluate the proposed school model, said Rachel Ksenyak, interim director of recruitment and selection in the CPS Office of New Schools. Ksenyak said once the idea was further evaluated by CPS third-party provider School Works and experts from other charters across the country that use a similar model, the Joshua Johnston proposal was left pending a little longer because CPS's budget wasn't finalized. The school, which is expected to open in the fall, will start out with 150 students and bed housed in the Little Black Pearl studio at 1060 E. 47th St. while the search for a larger space int Kenwood area takes place, said Monica Haslip, executive director of the Little Black Pearl. Now that the hearing has taken place, Huberman's recommendations will be discussed at the next CPS board meeting on July 28. A state partial budget only and only gimmicks are being thought of. Our schools are in deep crisis, with budget cuts threatening to undo all the efforts of the past several years and weakening Hyde Park's draw and cachet as a community. Students and teachers have been marching from the schools to the offices of elected officials. Ray on May 11, Harte May 18. Murray has also suffered deep cuts including to its library and arts staff and is up in arms. June 17, Thursday, am. School and teacher advocates incl. from Hyde Park rallied against increasing class size and for more funds including from the city marches from the Thompson Center to City Hall. More info http://www.NoTo37.org. June 28: CPS AT THE END OF JUNE BACKED OFF 35/37 CLASS SIZE AND WENT BACK TO 2010 although high schools will still have to go from 31 to 33. Separately, Supt. Huberman wants the teachers to surrender this year's 4% raise (a third of the value of remaining deficit if the following happens). Huberman indicated CPS MIGHT get enough from the state board of ed "categorical" funding (such as special ed) to return to 28 per class for K-3, 4-8th to 31, and high school to go up "only" from 31 to 33 and full day Kindergarten may be restored. This would be from an additional $57 million plus $18 million in new cuts. For things to really get better, Gov. Quinn would have to sign a bill to pay the $352 it owes CPS and pay future bills on time. Bitter words are being exchanged over CPS proposal to CTU to forgoe its 4% raise in 2010 Cost of that,$135m, would close 1/3 of th e remaining deficit, CPS said. The union's answer was that they would then ask for more and more until the system is in ruins and the children suffer deadly results. July 1, Governor Quinn signed the partial budget and moved quickly to cut esp. mental health and developmental services while protecting only some school and preschool funding. According to the Sun-Times web version, Gov. Quinn today approved a partial budget that slashes state spending by $1.4 billion. Quinn, in signing portions of the budget for the 2011 fiscal year that begins today, cut spending on schools by $241 million. But he maintained current funding levels for general state aid, early childhood programs and special education. [That may allow the reversions in class size in Chicago to stand- see above.] The state’s Department of Human Services experienced the largest cuts of any state agency. In all, DHS will see a $312.6 million cut from the just ended 2010 fiscal year. The bulk of those funds, $262.8 million, will come through the reduction or elimination of mental health and developmental disability programs that aren’t tied to Medicaid. Hyde Parkers join rally against school cuts. Herald, June 2, 2010. Daschell M. Phillips. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Marilyn Stewart organized a rally last Tuesday to march against increases in class sizes and other budget cuts proposed by Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and Hyde Park parents, teachers and students came out in large numbers to swell size of the march. About 4,000 students, faculty and staff from schools across the city and members of education advocacy organizations including Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) and Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), marched from the Board of Education Building to City Hall and back again to protest against raising class sizes to 35 students and teacher cuts proposed by CPS due to its $600 million budget deficit. A press conference scheduled to take place in City Hall at 5:15 p.m. that day, but the Chicago Police Department locked all the doors to the building. Hyde Park native Karen Lewis, King High School teacher and Stewart's opponent for CTU president, said its good for CPS and City Hal to see how many people are affected by the cuts. "This isn't about anything but the kids," Lewis said. "We don't want 35 kids in a classroom. We worked so hard for many years to get smaller class sizes. Now we're going backwards." Stewart said she was thankful that the union came together is strong numbers for this demonstration. "Regardless of the caucus and regardless of those things that sometimes divide us, you stood up for each other and for the children we teach," said Stewart in a thank you note to protestors. Stewart said she and other long-time educators are proud of the "new generation of union members [who are] ready to rally and fight for what is right." (Meanwhile there will be a runoff June 11 in the CTU election. Votes were stewart (United Progressive, incumbent) 6,853, Lewis (CORE) 6,336, Deb Lynch (ProActive)3,500, Porter (Coal strong dem. Union) 1,370, Ted Hajihairs (Sch Empl Alliance) 1,205 Herald urges fight against just replacing experienced teachers with new. "Here in Hyde Park, we have fought hard against the trend toward disinvestment in public schools. In recent years, we have created a robust network of elementary schools, high-performing middle and high schools, and most recently, we have seen parents, teachers and students marching in protest of threats by Chicago Public School's (CPS) CEO Ron Huberman to expand class size to 35 students to close a budget deficit. Lewis [newly elected CTU president] is certainly coming from the right environment to take on the empty choices being peddled by the current CPS administration..... "...we urge the community to take a stand with her when it comes to funding for public schools. We are being told that the education of all public school students shouldn't be a top priority by the very people hired to promote the interests of those children. Something is very wrong with the political climate in this city and state when a mismanaged budget is balanced on the backs of children. we hope lewis can help hold CPS to a Hyde Park-level of standards. to do so, she'll need all of our help. Public school teachers do critical work and deserve the support of their neighbors. Now is an essential time to demonstrate that support." Here's what the Herald said May 19, 2010 (below on what said on Kenwood) By Daschell M. Phillips Ray Elementary School is one of 27 schools to lose its "world languages" program, according to a recent announcement by Chicago Public Schools (CPS). This lost, along with a cut in its kindergarten and technology programs, caused teachers, students and community members to march in protest last Tuesday. Ray, 5631 S. Kimbark Ave., will lose seven teachers next school year causing it to lose its World Language Magnet Cluster School status. In teh 2008-2009 school year, CPS cut the schools language courses by two teachers, blaming policy and budget constraints. Now the remaining teachers will be terminated due to the $600 million CPS deficit, causing Ray to become a neighborhood school. Ray, which is where U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's kids attended classes, once offered Spanish classes to pre-k through 6th grade students every day. It cut back to teaching the pre-k through 3rd grade students two to three time a week while keeping the daily language courses for 4th through 6th grade in order to keep them competitive with other schools. The school, which often has students whose parents come to work at the University of Chicago from other countries, will also lose its English as second language teacher. The School's kindergarten classes wil be part-time, losses several of its special education aides -- that allowed students with special needs to be integrated into standard classes-- and lose the technology teacher that the school had a beginning-of-the-year fundraiser to hire. "These program cuts are under construction," said CPS spokesman Bobby Otter, who said the district had to make some tough decisions to addr4ess the $600 million budget deficit. "We remain optimistic that lawmakers in Springfield will take appropriate action so that many of our school programs can be reinstated." During the march Tuesday [May 11], the group of protesters held up signs that read, "Where did the money go?" and "Idiomas en Espanol es importante. Si!" and chanted "Save our schools, no more cuts" in English and Spanish as they went to the offices of state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-25) and state Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-13) to seek support for their school. "We are hoping to raise awareness and pressure them to speak up in support of our schools," said John Cusick, 6th grade teacher at Ray. Jackie Cannon, community member and member of the parent action [advisory?] council at Ray said that it is "shameful" how the state is playing political games with education. "We are one of the most progressive states, but we are 49 out of 50 [states] when it comes to providing school funding," Cannon said. "If we want to compete on a global level, we can't take language away from our ids, and if we hope to get rid of violence, we can't take away education." Alinda Smith, who has a daughter in kindergarten at Ray, said that part-time kindergarten would make it very difficult for parents who work. "With only three hours of school each day, they won't be ready for first grade," said Smith, who is a kindergarten teacher at Walsh Elementary School. Her school is also facing cuts. Ted Fetters, chief of staff at Currie's office, said both Currie and Raoul have taken active measures in support of education funding adn that the crowd should "talk to your friends across the state and tell them to let their legislators know it's important to support education." Added in another article, same issue and author: More H.P. schools to march As of Herald press time, Shoesmith and Bret Harte Elementary Schools were scheduled to join forces Tuesday to protest against cuts of school programs. Parents plan personal meetings with legislators Wednesday. Shoesmith will lose seven teachers and will no longer have its math, science and language magnet cluster status. Bret harte will lose five teachers and its Spanish, reading and accelerated math and science programs. The group expects to march to the 53rd Street offices of state Rep. Barbara Flynn currie (D-25) and state Sen Kwame Raoul (D-13) to seek support fo their schools. "We know that [Currie] has been good to us, but if [sh] could just continue to speak on behalf of our side that would be helpful," said Sheree Donalds, chairwoman of the local school council (LSC) at Shoesmith. In addition to the march on Tuesday, parent representatives from both schools' LSCs adn parent action council (PC) groups will visit state Sen. James Meeks' (I-15) office and Gov. Pat Quinn's office to submit petitions signed by parents and community m embers asking for more education funding. "We understand the state is in debt, but taking education away from our kids will make the future worse," said Daryll Williams, who is a m ember of Bret Harte's LSC. "Without an education they can't get jobs, without jobs they can't make money and the economy continues to get worse." EDITORIAL - HERALD - MAY 19 The parents, students, teachers and administrators of our local public schools are struggling with a severe blow being dealt to them by th leadership of Chicago Public schools --- the folks that are supposed to be the stewards of this system. The schools are being instructed to cut teachers, end valuable programs and generally diminish the quality of the education they provide. From our point of view, the acrid scent of politics reeks through these demands. While all of our schools are being affected, we will focus on Ray Elementary to illustrate how dire these changes are. The school's designation as a language-oriented magnet school is being eliminated. Important technology-related instruction is also being cut. Class sizes, as for all other schools, are being swelled to a virtually ungovernable 35 students per class. These are some of the worst of the decisions coming from downtown. The net effect of these changes is a fundamental undermining of all the efforts of the Ray School community to provide a high-quality education with the already limited resources they had. All of our schools are being similarly undermined. In questioning downtown CPS bureaucrats about their motives, we are told frankly that the look to Springfield to provide monies to restore the conditions they are dismantling. We find this disgusting. Teh simple fact is that Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman is playing politics with the future of our children. Rather than publicly advocating for greater resources, Huberman is imperiling the educational outcome of students, apparently in the hopes that hoards of frightened Chicagoans will somehow move the downstate legislators, who have such a practiced indifference to our children, to change their ways. We cannot see how such behavior is consistent with Huberman's task to responsibly administer our public school system. If individual schools have to make changes to their budgets, that should be a local decision -- and it should be across the board, with renegotiated terms with charter schools as well. We certainly wouldn't expect to see pay raises for executive staff, as has been widely reported recently... We do not, however, believe this is serious budgeting. We think it is a ploy, and if we are correct, shame on you... ...When march participants reached State Rep. Barbara Flynn Curies (D-25) 53rd Street Office, they were greeted by Currie's chief of staff, Ted Fetters, who praised their actions and encouraged them to keep fighting. That's exactly the right thing to have done. The marchers left feeling encouraged and listened to by Fetters. He also gave them a bit of explanation about the legislative process -- another good move... Note. The article criticized Sen. Raoul's commitment to schools because he wasn't there. (A statement had been delivered to the schools. When Bret Harte's contingent reached the Senator's office during a march the next week, the statement was distributed by staff.) In the issue of May 26, Sen. Raoul presented a long letter explaining his commitment and goals. These include: chief sponsorship of HB 174 for income tax increase, still being capable of being acted upon in the House. Many supplementary bills to safeguard school funding were also passed by the Senate. And Murray: May 26 Herald, by Daschell M. Phillips ...parents and students of Murray Elementary School [Language Academy] spoke out against losing teachers due to Chicago Public School (CPS) budget cuts at the local school council last Wednesday. Parents are especially upset at the possibility of losing long time Hyde Park resident and librarian Eileen Holzhauer. Due to the $3 billion CPS school budget deficit, Murray.. lost four teaching positions, and the art teacher and librarian positions will be part time. Although the school's budget has been cut it will still add seventh grade classes next year. "we value all the teachers here at Murray and it is upsetting to us all to lose any one of them," said Gerri Redd, president of the parent teacher organization (PTO). "Parents came to voice their support of [Holzhauer] because she's been there for many years and she goes over and above her duties to get kids to embrace reading." A group of students also spoke about how Holzhauer greats them when they come into the library and suggests books for them to read and motivates them to read books that challenge them. ... [she also was a founder of the 57th St. Children's Book Fair.] Holzhauer also said that adding 60 more students at 7th grade when research takes on greater importance while cutting the library hours in half is not an educationally sound decision. Murray parents are thinking of reviving the Friends of Murray to raise needed funds. Top CORE and native Hyde Parker/current King High teacher Karen Lewis won the June 11 2010 runoff for CTU president. It will work with GEM (Grassroots Education Movement) which seeks more stability in school changes. Duel Richardson, director of the University of Chicago Neighborhood Schools, is retiring June 2010. Duel sought out promising or producing South Side schools and principals and encouraged them to develop their own priorities, then saw that they got resources including for technology-- rather than depend on funders that are often inadequate and have their own agendas. Alderman Preckwinkle wrote in a recent editorial that schools like Kenwood and Lincoln Park are flexible in being both selective enrollment and neighborhood, with strong classes available for youth who are moved beyond what was apparent when they entered. They graduate more high performers than they enroll as freshmen. Passed in Springfield- bill adding a non-staffer to LSCs and putting parents out of majority. Defeated- Sen. Meeks' 30,000 vouchers to private schools for students in non performing or overcrowded schools. Kenwood Academy is holding a golf outing to Save Our Sports June 12. Contact C.J. Rodgers at 773 220-9238 or cdrodgers1@cps.edu. Kenwood Assistant Principal Michael Boraz has been selected Principal of Lincoln Park High School. Over the Kenwood SIPAAA, there were slightly different visions for dealing with the distressful budget circumstances, one stressing saving as many teacher positions as can be saved, the other saving essential support for students. With student support for the latter, the tilt is in favor of the latter, and in trusting the school administration. The SIPAAA, passed by the LSC, becomes a living document July 1, from that time adjustments are possible. Herald coverage of the May 1 meeting and more, May 5, 2010. By Daschell M. Phillips Funding allocation for teaching versus non-teaching positions was discussed Saturday during the Kenwood Academy High School local school council's School Improvement Plan for Advancing Academic Achievement (SIPAAA) budget town hall meeting last weekend. Due to state budget cuts and Chicago Public Schools' $1 billion deficit, public schools must cut funding from $770 to $735 per child and boost class sizes to 35 students per class. CPS has also mandated Kenwood, 5015 S. Blackstone Ave., to close 11 teaching positions. The school is expecting to lose three teachers to retirement but must chose which remaining positions it will close. Elizabeth Kirby, principal at Kenwood, said no decisions have been made on which teachers will be cut. "The fact that we have to cut four or five is going to be hard for us next year," said Kirby, who said she highly anticipates that the state will give teh schools more money and the positions will be back open. Community members were concerned with the local school council's or LSC, budgeting of a high number of security guards and other student support staff and wondered if that was at the expense of keeping teachers. The SIPAAA budget, roughly $1.5 million of the school's $13 million budget, is set by the LSC each year. According to Kenwood's projected budget, $71,000 is spent per teacher, one in math and a new position this year for science; tow On-Track support staff members are paid $74,000 each a year and the security budget includes $288,0000 in salaries for six guards and a additional $83,000 for overtime and special events. Cynthia Leung, a teacher at Kenwood, said, "It's important to protect and support teachers because if there are no teachers, there is no school. Kirby said that the cutting of the teaching positions were an order from Chicago Board of Education and "if we don't choose which positions get cut, the board will come in and choose who goes." Aileen Gamez, assistant principal at Kenwood, said she is thankful that CPS called for teacher cuts and not for security cuts because that would not benefit the school's climate. Each year there are a multitude of reports of school violence, many resulting in the death of CPS students. So far, none of these incidents have involved Kenwood students. Kirby said the school wants to continue to take preventive measures. Students and parents spoke out in support of the freshman and sophomore On-Track coordinators and Michelle Jackson, Inez Jones and teh postsecondary coach Julie Stanton to assure the community that these student services are as equally important as having teachers in the classrooms.In response to the high dropout rate among CPS students, the Freshman On-Track program was developed to provide tutoring and study support and to help students understand the quarterly and class credit systems. The Sophomore On-Track program was recently added as a continued support targeting second year students, and the coach helps students with the college enrollment process. Ashaki Howard, junior class president at Kenwood, said losing the On-Track coordinators goes against the school's goals, described in the motto "Our Mission is College." "If we don't have them, we don't have college," Howard said. So losing them is not an option." Rakia Davis, sophomore at Kenwood, said she was a good student in the 7th and 8th grade at Kenwood Academy, but once she came to the high school, Jackson helped her to become an excellent student by motivating her to improve her attendance and turn in her homework, and Jones helped her by challenging her to take advance placement classes. Since working with them Davis said, "my GPA increased from a 3.0 to a 4.24." Shannon Gray, parent of a sophomore and senior at Kenwood, said losing the On-Track programs would be a huge disservice to the school because many of the students wouldn't know about the post secondary opportunities available to them if it weren't for the On-track programs. Gray reminded the community that recent Kenwood graduate Derrius Quarles, who received national press recognition for being awarded over $1 million in college scholarships, wouldn't have done it without the help of the On-Track coordinators. Sheila Wesonga, president of the parent advisory council (PAC) at Kenwood, said teh debate between supporting teachers versus non-teaching staff may be averted if teh LSC goes after the Title I funding they were supposed to receive from the state earlier this year. "I'm surprised to find that Kenwood did not get funding for teacher," Wesonga said. "The PAC received its funding, so it is my understanding that teh school wil get it for teachers." In April 2009, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Illinois would receive $1.4 billion as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Kenwood was awarded Title I stabilization funding in which 95 percent would go to the school for teachers adn 1 would go to the PAC for parent involvement projects. PAC received its funding in February but, according to the LSC, Kenwood has not received its part of the funding. LSC President Ismail Turay said the LSC was not aware that they were supposed to receive the funding and would investigate. Herald editorial may 5 2010- Sorting the facts at Kenwood. Rumors were flying across the neighborhood last week about Kenwood Academy's budget for teh upcoming year. Kenwood's principal, Elizabeth Kirby, had planned a Saturday town hall meeting to coincide with the local school council's completion of its portion of the school's budget last week. Talk on the street was of a swollen administrative budget and teacher layoffs. The reality, it turns out, as is so often the case, is not quite in line with the gossip surrounding it. Two unrelated events coincided to create the appearance of a problem. CPS CEO Ron Huberman has instructed all Chicago public school principals to write budgets for the next year that assume 35 students per classroom in them, just like every other public school in Chicago. Meanwhile, the staff supported by the budget is clearly perceived by the dozens of students who attended Kirby's Saturday morning meeting as invaluable to their development. really, that should end the matter -- anyone working in the schools who is beloved by students deserves the support of the community. Kirby suspects Huberman's directive is political, that making the threat of packed classrooms will inspire parents and others to contact their political representatives and pressure them to get COS teh money it needs to close its budget gap. We are inclined to agree with her. The intersection of public education and politics is an ugly one. We might wish that using our young people to score political points would be beneath our elected and appointed officials, but that's just not the reality. We applaud the parents and community members that are beating the drum to get their neighbors to support local public schools. These schools are a critical resource in our community, and everyone is affected when they are victimized by politicians and bureaucrats. Let's keep our eye on them. Kirby has proven an effective principal in all sorts of ways. She's asking us to accept her judgment about how best to budget for the school and handle CPS politics. We have every reason to trust her. We should. Alderman Preckwinkle says budget crisis not a reason to cut support at Kenwood (although others say keeping teachers first it the top priority and consolidating tasks should be tried, like fewer asst. principals not teaching could buy more teachers fort the buck). Hyde Park Herald May 12 2010- by Ald. Preckwinkle Everyone who is concerned about public education has watched the current round of budget cuts at the Chicago Public Schools with deep frustration. I share th is concern not just as an elected official but also as a former teacher and the grandmother of current CPS students. Kenwood Academy is a particular focus of concern for me because of what the school has been able to accomplish for a large and diverse student population. Kenwood provides a fast track to academic excellence for students entering its Academic Center program. The test scores posted by the 'preppies', seventh and eighth graders, could not get any higher. (All of the Academic Center students meet or exceed state standards.) Students entering through this program go on to excel at Kenwood. Other students enter though the school magnet program that requires strong test scores. Still other students enter because they have graduated from the eighth grade and reside in teh attendance area. Some students enter Kenwood insufficiently prepared for high school. But they still have a meaningful opportunity to succeed. Kenwood has put programs in place to retain male students, to encourage mid-tier students to tackle harder classes and to keep students on track to graduate. Many of us have been disappointed by CPS' failure to lower class size. Many Hyde Parkers who choose private schools cite class size as a major factor in their decision. Ironically, class size is higher at some of our best performing elementary schools than it is at some of the lower performing. Traditionally, schools such a Ray and Murray do not qualify for the funding streams that have been used to lower class size in other schools. The large classes have not limited student achievement, but they are still a legitimate concern. Looking at the high schools, we see that the teacher/student ratio is important and deeply affects teh quality of life for staff and students but it is not the only factor influencing student success. Regardless of class size we need effective teachers and effective support. Supports include professional development , clerks adn miscellaneous staff to help around the building with things like copying, help control students during periods and in the lunch room, extra security guards, freshman an sophomore on-track coordinators, computer leases, a post-secondary coach and college test consulting. Using discretionary funding to retain teachers could improve the ratio by one or two. But would also wipe out all funding for the desperately needed supports for students and teachers. Completely removing all supports would do far more damage than allowing the ratio to increase slightly. The current administration at Kenwood is committed to making the effects of the cuts as small as possible. Elizabeth Kirby is the principal of Kenwood Academy. Kenwood has more than 1,600 students. Nevertheless Ms. Kirby teaches African history. Mr. Boraz, an assistant principal, teaches an AVID section. I deeply respect the AVID program which, if properly implemented, provides mid-tier students with a clear path to academic achievement, the honor roll and college. The other assistant principals and certified staff are also prepared to pick up classes next year if need be. Chicago is full of high schools with less than three hundred students whose administrators would never consider teaching a class. Kenwood's administration actually believes that teaching is the most important activity at a school and acts on that belief. They expect to be teaching more classes this fall if more funding does not come through. Let's work together to support student achievement. You can help by supporting Kenwood's 1st Annual "Save Our Sports" Golf Outing at Joe Louis Golf Course in riverdale on June 12. For more information contact C.J. Rodgers at 7873 220-0238.   Index. Student teacher Kevin Renderman praises experience gained at Kenwood through Chicago Center. The goal of Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture for 40 years has been to expose prospective teachers and social workers doing practicum from colleges all over the country to life throughout Chicago and to world cultures first person. A native Chicagoan from the Mt. Greenwood neighborhood, he decided after Milliken College, to practice at Kenwood under Chicago Center. He taught 7th and 8th grade PE, two health classes, and served as assistant freshman basketball coach. He said Kenwood teachers were great mentors and that he learned a lot from Principal Kirby and AP david Narian. _______________________ The CPS school budget for 2010-2011 is out and it is not a pretty one. Most schools face substantial cuts, and there are battles, likely in each school over the SIPAAA (which they are all racing to finish by May 7) all over Chicago and sometimes pitting teachers vs community, over using as much discretionary school money as possible to minimize loss of teachers and hence unmanageable class sizes. This played out at Kenwood Academy, with a likely compromised being commitment to review after the SIPAAA becomes a living document July 1. In 2010, Senator Meeks introduced 4 education reform bills. One, to eliminate powers of local school councils, is thought to be not such a good idea by many schools advocacy groups. For instance Kenwood Oakland community Organization/Mid south Education Association met with grassroots organizations and service providers (New Horizons, Rainbow PUSH, Clergy for Community, LSCs including Bret Harte) to create a strategy to fight the bill, because may lscs are effective, provide a che,c and account for a very diverse education system.We are informed there is no support for the Meeks bill and it will die in committee. Other of his bills include to allow students of the 10 lowest performing schools to opt to charter or private at CPS expense, make the school board elective, and provide a host of charter vouchers. Sen. Meeks decided not to call his bill. A bill is advancing in the Senate, HB6017, that seeks to add a dependent staff person on all lscs, wiping out the parent majority. This has not had public vetting. Consortium says aspire to the school worthy of and appropriate for you, then get the funds and supports so you will graduate from a 4-year. - Think "pipeline" from jr. high through "grade 16." CPS is starting to take this seriously. As in The Economist April 2010: Though some students are ill-prepared for university, many go to colleges that are not demanding enough. This makes them more likely to drop out, explains William Bowen, a former president of Princeton, who co-wrote a book on completion rates. Black boys who go to rigorous colleges graduate at higher rates than do similar peers at easier ones. In Chicago only a third of local students who aspire to college enroll in ones that match their skills. Parents worry about cost, but know little about loans. Clever students often fail even to apply to four-year universities. The city, responding to data from the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago, is tackling this problem. Measures include workshops for parents, better counseling and a system to make sure students meet loan deadlines. The University of Chicago is supporting a network of principals and counselors, including those at Hancock. A new “pipeline” project links good students with private Midwestern colleges. Osbaldo’s Monmouth College is one of these. And what is good for Osbaldo is good for America, too. A large contingent of Fulbright students from many countries visited Chicago and Murray, in conjunction with the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Chicago, lobbied for awareness and increase in foreign languages in schools. Murray offers French, Spanish and Japanese and hopes to add German- All right!! PURE comments on Stephen Chapman's Tribune caution April 15 that none of the political ideas for fixing schools is a cure all: he admits that we don't know enough about what works in education and why, and cautions that imposing one-size-fits-all solutions "such as those offered by the Obama administration" is the wrong approach. But we do know some things. There are models of success in our own back yard, such as the local school council-based reforms of the 1990's detailed in Designs for Change's The Big Picture, the wholistic approach described in the Consortium on Chicago School Research's new study, Organizing Schools for Improvement, and the parent- and teacher-centered programs of Strtegic Learning Initiatives. And we need to stop wasting time on all the mandates and top-down "fixes" that don't work and get busy doing a better job expanding some of the things that do work. More fight than reform in 2009? Parents for Responsible Education (PURE) won standing for its case that CPS is eliminating in its reopened schools LSCs that are elected and or more than advisory contrary to state law. The case dragged on, but a new state law seemed to give more leeway to CPS. A Coalition that includes PURE and Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) Mid South School group (Grassroots Education Movement or GEM) held demonstrations and took other actions on school closures and movement of students between schools (asserted by them to be an aggravator of teen violence as a Fenger) and to ask for return to neighborhood schools in some places. Several public officials expressed similar concerns and/or opposed appointment of Ron Huberman as head of CPS alleging lack of experience. The Consortium on Chicago School Research at UC issued several reports (as did Chapin Hall). Getting most attention was that students moved to other schools in closures showed no improvement, in large part because they were sent to schools performing as badly. There was a race on between school cutbacks due recession-driven fall in local and state revenues and infusions from the federal stimulus programs and the new state capital budget. 2008 wrap up. From a year-end wrap up by Gary Ossewaarde, whose views it expresses. Arne Duncan, CPS CEO was chosen for Education Secretary by President-Elect Barack Obama. Duncan is a life-long Hyde Parker and long active in both public and private education. The response was enthusiastic although with reservations about the policies of CPS toward support or closings of schools, especially in low-income neighborhoods and hostility toward Local School Councils and other forms of local input or control. Concern was expressed about local schools lagging in repairs and upkeep. The 53rd TIF joined with CPS in funding major repairs to Canter Middle School, although the needed expansion is still not in sight. Kenwood Academy received a very extensive Disabilities upgrade. Award-winning Ray School remained uncertain as to when repairs will be made. CPS is sending teams around to all the schools. UC Laboratory Schools launched major planning and fundraising for the schools and their expansion, nursery to high. Kenwood Academy: lunch privileges now depend on performance, about 350 of 1700 can go off campus. There is still controversy as to whether Kenwood is turning around and the strong parts maintaining position or improving. Akiba-Schechter dedicated a new playground sponsored by Bill Coleman and Carol Groover and Jewish Funders. Principal changes: Gregory Mason succeeded Michael Keno as Principal at Murray Language Academy. Ongoing concerns for schools and their supporters are continued devolution of responsibilities upon them by CPS to raise funds for everything from supplies, to after school programs, to training, to repairs. Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference Schools Committee put on line a comprehensive listing of after school and related activity providers. The Committee also held banquets with speakers for outgoing and incoming local school councils and their principals. Among information furnished was that on grant writing and finding funds and donations and how to improve further as LSCs. Stimulus funning: Illinois will get about $3 billion for schools and other educational funding out of $100 billion for the same. The state has appropriated in order to get this $9 million for tacking all Illinois students through their school years.   Probation: At the end of 2009, three local elementary schools (Shoesmith, Reavis, Kozminski) were put on probation. Responsible are combination of falling or non-advancing scores and failure to meet on-time and attendance (95%) standards. While the scores certainly were not advancing (and mostly dropping for 2009), thus not meeting the objective of the school "growing" with real impact on student growth year to year. The new practice of comparing two current years with the two before that to get trends and of insisting all scores advance, as well as using the work "probation" which used to mean next step to closing or cleaning house were by some called a disservice (the Herald said "staining" schools that are trying mightily with limited resources. So, what were the scores? Shoesmith: ISAT reading: 2006 68.6%, 2007 59, 2008 73, 2009 63 (quite a see-saw) Exceeding ISAT: 2006-07 11%, 2008 12.8, 2009 8.7 (is this a bump or a setback?) ISAT exceed state stand. highest grade: 2007 10.3%, 2008 9.3, 2009 8 (consistent drop) Attendance : 94.3 vs req'd 95% Canter: ISAT reading: 2006 78.2, 2007 81.1, 2008 84.2, but in 2009 80.4 (does this mean stagnant?) ISAT Math: 2006-07 73%, 2008 77.7, but 2009 a modest drop to 75.6 Science: 2006 81.6, 2007-08 73, 2009 66.4 (looks like an ongoing slide) Reavis: ISAS Math 2006 43.3, 2007 51.7, 2008 57.4, 2009 53.5 (is this 1-year slide meaningful?) Science: 2006 46.2, 2007 44.4, 2008 41.1, 2009 35.3 (steadily from bad to worse) Attendance: 94.8 (nearly at the minimum). So what are some of the schools doing about this? Shoesmith: evaluating, finding ways to inform and impress on parents how important it is to get their kids to school, and on time (the two are related, they find), no excuses. The PAC has a "coffee and..." program for parents who watch over kids in the morning and talk to parents about attendance and upcoming activities and the school. The staff says it is aggressive with chronically absent students. There is tutoring morning and evening in math and reading. Ismail Turay of the LSC and HPKCC Schools Committee was quoted in the Herald that there should be a collaborative to get all schools to be performing and that principals of the schools should confer on the probation challenge since the schools funnel into Canter, then Kenwood. The Kenwood Principal is seeking such meetings with the principals, suggesting on attendance what they do--have an audit committee over attendance looking every day and to address straying as soon as it starts. The Canter principal has held planes on ways to increase preparedness for Kenwood. CPS has issued new race-criteria free guidelines for non-selective and selective magnet schools. Here is what PURE says they are: CPS has announced the new criteria for selecting students for magnet schools-is it really straightforward and transparent? And where does it leave neighborhood schools? For non-selective magnets, they are going to fill 50% of all seats first with siblings of current students, and then with "proximity" students (those living within 1.5 miles of the school). The other 50% will be filled by dividing the rest of the application pool into four groups based on census information (mostly income level) of the student's neighborhood and select students equally from each of the four groups.For selective enrollment schools, they will fill 50% of the seats on pure test score rank order and the other 50% by test score rank order equally from the four socioeconomic groups. Rep. Currie and Sen. Raoul sent a stern letter to CPS opposing the replacement policy. A Consortium study released October 27, 2009 said that the policy in effect through 2006 of just closing non performing schools hurt student performance, then did not help it except for those switched to high performing schools and others in which there was a high level of teacher-student trust and personal attention. But only 6% of students from closed schools were sent to such schools (reasons were not discerned). ( It remains controversial whether the successor policy of turnaround, including totally new staffs, worked better. CPS is now starting to address on a spot basis where closures and boundary changes may have promoted conflict and violence between groups of students from different areas and demographics, partic. across gang boundaries. Also, CPS seeks a balance with the criminal justice system between branding kids and telling schools "what they need to know" about individual students.- GO) Representative Currie reported on stimulus action in Illinois in September 2009. Race To The Top [which is controversial in some aspects] offers competitive grant to a few states, and Illinois is competing-- initial applications are due between the veto session and next year's convening. Progress must be shown in student assessment, data systems backing up instruction, quality teachers and school leaders, and effective intervention in failing schools. Illinois standards are good, Currie says, and a data system tracking students is signed and has a federal grant. Principal evaluation has been beefed up and national orgs are working to help on teacher preparation and evaluation and mentoring new teachers. Illinois does not have mechanisms to match or share best teachers with low-performing schools or provide alternate means of teacher certification. There are many programs for failing school sand for providing and checking on charter schools and a new intervention task force is in place-- but not enough, and conference calls are being set up statewide to come up with further measures for the Veto Session. What Rep. Currie says about where the state is: As part of the federal economic stimulus package, Congress approved the creation of a new program in the U. S. Department of Education. Race to the Top will offer $4.5 billion in competitive grants, and it's expected that fewer than 15 states will share in the winnings. While not all the states are rising to the challenge, Governor Quinn has said that Illinois will compete and the state Superintendent of Education seconds the motion. Successful states will have to show progress in four areas: 1) strong student assessments and standards; 2) data systems that back up instruction; 3) quality teachers and school leaders; and 4) effective intervention in failing schools. Illinois is on track in some of these areas. In others, most agree, some additional work could significantly improve our competitive ranking. Illinois standards stack up well against those of our sister states. We're a leader in a consortium developing assessments and standards that professionals regard as reliable and effective. This session the legislature passed and the governor signed a measure that will collect student data over time. What better way to find out how effective our instructional programs are than to find out how well our students are learning one year after another? The state legislature appropriated funds to implement data collection, and we've won a $9 million federal grant that will also help. On quality issues, we're making progress. We've strengthened principal evaluation programs. We're working with several well-regarded national organizations to revamp teacher preparation and evaluation programs and to develop effective ways to mentor new teachers. But we have no mechanisms in place to make sure that the very best teachers are shared with low-performing schools and we fall short in providing alternate mechanisms for teacher certification. Illinois has several programs in place to help failing schools. We offer comprehensive improvement planning to low-performing schools. We've increased the number of charter schools that may do business in the state, and we do a pretty good job of checking the effectiveness of the charters we have. One of my bills this session created the Innovation, Intervention and Restructuring Task Force to work with educators, parents, civic, business and child advocacy organizations in the effort to find ways to turn our failing schools around. But we should further strengthen the state's ability to intervene in low-performing schools and beef up the support we provide them. So what exactly should Illinois do? And when shall we do it? The state Superintendent, Chris Koch, is setting up several conference calls this month with all the interested parties--lawmakers, teachers, advocates, parents. I'll be on the line. Perhaps in these discussions we can forge consensus about the steps we should take. The legislature returns to Springfield in October for the fall veto session. If we can decide on the steps, October is not a moment too soon to take the first of them. The initial application deadline for Race to the Top funding arrives before the beginning of next year--and our kids have a lot at stake. Illinois gets its first big installment from stimulus (ARRA), Duncan spells out what state must track, do. But it's not enough to save most programs for the state budget axe. Parents of special needs kids will now have the right to observe their child's present or perspective classroom, under passed HB628. CPS is dropping the "pay for grades" program. But still, kids were promised and will be disappointed. A new study out says, documents that the majority of charter schools are underperforming cf traditional. Visit http://pureparents.org/index.php?blog/show/Over_3000_new. Find the new Urban Education Institute book on Organizing Schools for Reform-Lessons from Chicago. ccsr.uchicago.edu. Fall 2009: Kenwood Academy Brotherhood mentoring project turns students into published authors of manual, gets national attention and emulation From the Hyde Park Herald December 2 2009. By Daschell M. Phillips Supporters and members of Kenwood Academy High School's male mentor program, the Brotherhood, gathered to celebrate its newly published book, "The Brotherhood," a mentoring manual, last Tuesday at a book signing at the school. The Brotherhood is an intensive school-based male mentoring program created at Kenwood Academy, 5015 S. Blackstone ave., in 2004. Its purpose is to increase the graduation rate of African and Latino males. The group has grown from 25 members at Kenwood in 2004 to more than 300 members as the program has established Brotherhood groups at several schools in the Chicago Public School system, including Phillips High, 244 E. Pershing Road. The idea for the group, which was once called Knights of the Round Table, was formed by students Kyle McGhee and Howard Stokes, who wanted "to help freshmen stay out of trouble and focused on education," McGhee said. McGhee and Stokes took the idea to Dr. Shelby Wyatt, counselor at Kenwood, and he agreed to be the advisor for the group. The Brotherhood meets weekly after school for group discussions and activities include leadership retreats and college tours. All of the boys who have participated in the Brotherhood so far have graduated from high school, according to CPS. The Brotherhood class of 2005 wrote "The Brother's Key" from a student's perspective, according to Wyatt. Wyatt said his proposal to teh group in 2005 to write "The Brother's Key," which was part of an assignment to receive a grant, wasn't well received in the beginning because it took the boys away from their regular activities. he said after awhile the boys dedicated themselves to the assignment, and,once they were done, he took it to one of the English teachers to have it edited, and she returned it with a note saying, "The boys corrected it themselves, adn it didn't need editing." The American School of Counselors Association, or ASCA, asked the Brotherhood to expound on "The Brother's Key," which was a mentoring manual tailored to the Kenwood group, and write a book that explains how to create a school-based male mentoring program using the ASCA model of academic, social and career development. ASCA published the book this year [2009] so that counselors across the Untied States could implement similar programs. Derrick Smith, teacher at the Northern Illinois University, Center for Black Studies, said when Wyatt called him several years ago looking for a place for the Brotherhood's leadership retreat, he predicted that the group would make a great impact on school systems across the country. At the book signing, Smith told Shelby that the group would now impact another population of boys. "This is going to the juvenile system," Smith said. Smith said that lack of guidance for African American and Latino boys "is not just a problem in schools, it's also in the streets, so we're going to have to take this to the streets.." The Brotherhood is not new to outreach work. At the book signing they showed a video clip from Wilson High School in Long Beach, Calif. The school asked for help from the Brotherhood with building unity and increasing the graduation rates of its African American and Latino boys. The Brotherhood has also presented at the ASCA conference each year since 2006 attending meetings in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta and Dallas, and has been asked by the group to present a 3-hour workshop in Boston in 2010. Juan Flores, freshman at Kenwood, said that by being a part of the Brotherhood he has already learned a lot about becoming a responsible man. "I was interested in the group because of its diversity," Flores said. "I've learned to respect my elders and show courtesy no matter what the circumstances." For more information about the Brotherhood at Kenwood, visit kenwoodbrotherhood.org. PACs, parent advisory councils seem to be becoming gaining in importance, but CPS seems to be trying to make them uniform and under a very tight leash. Herald report May 6, 2009 by Daschell M. Phillips. Parents want say in creation of formal PAC bylaws. To improve its compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Chicago Public Schools is taking steps to create formalized bylaws for parent advisory councils. The first part of the NCLB local educational agency policy states: A local educati9onal agency may receive funds under this part only if such agency implements programs, activities, and procedures for the involvement of parents in programs assisted under this part consistent with this section. Such programs, activities, and procedures shall be planned and implemented with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children." Jose Alvarez, executive director at the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Local School Council and Community Relations, said CPS is formalizing the parent advisory council (PAC) bylaws so there will be uniformity in the rules and regulations in the case of an audit. He said a 13-member parent advisory board was formed to visit PAC meetings, gather information and get parents feedback as they create the formal bylaws. Local PAC members who have attended these meetings said CPS has not done a good job involving parents in the process. Alice Hill, parent of a Fenger High School student, vice chair to the national PAC and a member of the Kenwood-based Peer Parent Education Network, or PPEN, said CPS is trying to undermine parents' abilities to manage themselves. In the first draft of the bylaws Hill said CPS changed the terms of office from two years to one and removed the opportunity for community members to join the PAC board. "CPS came to the PAC meetings with ideas to see how they felt - that's not getting parents involved," said Hill. "We are to be in on decision-making process, not vote on what they decide to bring before us." Sheila Wesonga, parent of a Kenwood Academy student and PAC member, said if CPS wouldn't have left parents out of the decision making process they would have realized a more tailored approach to creating the bylaws is needed. She said that by creating a parent advisory board, CPS eradicated local involvement. "One size fits all is not something I agree with," said Wesonga. "What works at one school may not work at another school. I'd rather give each school a template to look at and each can apply their own bylaws." Although they are not pleased with the process so far, the parents said they understand that this is just the beginning. "We're still working - we know the process isn't over," said Wesonga. Back on front burner: restoring 7th and 8th grades at Murray- effect on Canter? More in Canter page. There was a rebellion a few years ago when many parents and LSC members objected to sending students from magnet-school Murray to then-new Canter Middle School. Canter had many problems then, but has been moving up. In early 2010 a huge rally was held in the school promoting bringing back 7th and 8th grades. Issues include, when should the needs of parents in a school--esp. when the school has a high proportion from outside the neighborhood--be allowed to trump neighborhood strategy and/or potentially undermine two existing schools nearby, the already-magnet Kenwood Acad. Ctr. and the neighborhood Canter? Whose neighborhood strategy-- does this relate somehow to increasing particularly the number of well-off families in the neighborhood and increasing housing and density in their behalf (several buildings are indeed being upscaled)? Does Hyde Park already have enough middle school capacity-- Kenwood Acad. Center gifted heavily from outside the neighborhood, UC Lab School drawing from inside and out, Canter a neighborhood.... ? Here is the Herald's report January 27, 2010. By Daschell M. Phillips The Murray Elementary Local School Council, or LSC, held a community forum Thursday to present a request to Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, to return Murray to a K-8 school. On November 30, the Murray LSC sent a request to CPS requesting the reinstatement of its 7th grade class in fall 2010. Murray, which is a selective enrollment magnet school, would fill the seats with its current student population and then have a city-wide lottery to fill the remaining seats. In the school's large gym, parents and children that attend Murray, 5335 S. Kenwood Ave., crowded onto the bleachers and surrounding foldout chairs waving signs and chanting signs in favor of adding the grades -- making the meeting more of a pep rally than a CPS forum. "As an LSC member, I get lots of questions from parents who find it stressful to have to find another school for their child," said Rhonda Hawkins-Like, president of the Murray LSC. "As a parent, I also held out hope for a 7th and 8th grade." Greg Mason, principal of Murray, said that year after year he has to counsel parents once the reality of their child's need to transfer sets in. "Parents ar so happy once their children are accepted to Murray for kindergarten," Mason said. "Then the faces of the parents start to change after two or three years and they begin to stress about where to send their kids for 7th and 8th grade." At the forum, parents were asked to write their questions on index cards that would be read to the panel that included Mason and acting CPS board chairman Clare Mufiana, CPS Board member Alberto Carrero, CPS CIO Bob Runcie, CPS Chief of Staff David Pickens, CPS Autonomous Management and Performance schools, or AMPS, representative Anthony Dominick and Abigail Joseph from the CPS Office of Academic Enrichment. Mae Wilson, chief of staff of Ald. Toni Preckwinkle's (4th) office was also a part of the panel. One of the main questions was why Murray discontinued their 7th and 8th graded program in the first place. The idea to turn Murray into a K-6 school was made at teh community level, Mason said. in 2020 the LSCs of Murray, Ray.., Shoesmith.. and Bret Harte... elementary schools felt it would be nice to have each school feed into Canter Middle School, 4959 S. Blackstone Ave., which in turn would be a feeder school for Kenwood Academy High School, 5015 S. Blackstone. "This is a magnet school, and our kids are from all over the city, so Canter was not a natural next step for them," Mason said. Mason said the 7th and 8th grade classes would be up to par with the current academic standard of Murray. Additional staff and teachers would be hired and gifted and honors programs would be offered. He's already targeted classrooms that wil be cleared out to make room for the upperclassmen should the school receive CPS approval. Runcie said, based on preliminary observation, Murray has the capacity to return to a K-8 school. Parents were encouraged to send letters in support of the school's request to CPS CEO Ron Huberman. Murray regains 7th and 8th grades. Hyde Park Herald March 31, 2010. By Daschell M. Phillips Murray Elementary School parents will no longer have to worry about where to place their children after 6th grade because at it March 24 meeting, the Chicago Board of Education approved the school's request to return 7th and 8th grades to the school. In 2002, the local school councils, or LSCs, of Murray... Ray... Shoesmith... and Bret Harte.. decided that the elementary schools should stop at 6th grade so they could serve as feeder schools for Canter Middle School, 4959 S. Blackstone Ave. Murray, being the only magnet school in the Hyde Park neighborhood, found that this was not to the school's advantage. Students allover the city could attend Murray, so Canter was not a natural next step for those families, and anxious parents were pulling their children out as early as 4th grade in order to get them in a high-performing school that went up to 8th grade. Because of these trends, the Murray LSC sent a request to Chicago Public Schools to allow the reinstatement of its 7th and 8th grade classes. In fall 2010, 7th grade classes will be added and 8th grade classes will be added the following year. Murray, which is a selective enrolment magnet school, would fill the seats with its current student population and then have a citywide lottery to fill the remaining seats. "We are very excited and grateful to the board of education for listening to the parents of Murray," said Rhonda Hawkins-Like, president of the Murray LSC. Hawkins-Like, who has a daughter, Arya, in 4th grade and a son, Austin, in kindergarten in Murray, said the committees are being formed to work with schools with a similar language-oriented curriculum to develop the upper grades. Maria Jossey-Owen, parent teacher organization president and parent of Otel, a kindergartner at Murray, said she is ecstatic about the decision because now she can stop her search for a new school. "Being a language school, it's hard to find a school like this at a 6th grade level." Jossey-Owen said. "Otel is learning French now. If I had to transfer him after 6th grade, he wouldn't have it again until he was in high school." Herald says "We need to stand behind Canter" (same issue as above article) The decision by Murray Language Academy's principal and local school council to return 7th an 8th grades to the school should cause local schools boosters to reflect on the state of Canter Middle School and support for it. When the plan was originally presented to turn Canter into a middle school for other elementary schools in the neighborhood, it generated quite a bit of enthusiasm. Is local support for the school dwindling? By all indications, the school's principal, Colleen Conlan, is doing a find job with the resources she has to spruce the place up -- even replacing the forbidding, industrial doors that once confronted students with warmer, more appropriate portals. Inside and out, the school looks well-maintained -- and is. Parents seem satisfied with their children's performance there. So why would Murray parents turn their back on the school? For one thing, many of them are from outside the neighborhood, so our idea to use Canter as a feeder school to Kenwood Academy may not appeal to them, regardless of the quality of either school. Also, it seems some are just not sold on the middle school philosophy. That's probably their loss, as studies do seem to reinforce the idea that students in these grades do require a different sort of approach than they did when they were younger and wil when they are older. When Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) convinced the neighborhood that a tax increment financing district was needed to rejuvenate Hyde Park, a major promise was made to funnel money into Canter -- in particular, an addition was promised for the school. Well, roughly a decade has gone by, and Preckwinkle is likely leaving to be Cook County Board president, and that promise has gone unfulfilled. More than $2 million sits idle in the TIF fund, and a high-quality elementary school has turned away from the project. Would a larger, better-equipped Canter have appealed to more Murray parents? At this point, it appears we wil never know. Hyde Parkers, we need to rededicate ourselves to supporting Canter as a central part of our education plan, and we need to make sure we are explaining to the parents of children taught here how serious we are about their children's education. Canter and Kenwood stand among the finest public education opportunities in the city. Let's make sure that continues to be the case -- and that we reward that excellence. Top   Why the Freshman On Track program at Kenwood is so important Students love Kenwood program. April 29 2009 Herald. By Daschell M. Phillips. The Freshman On-Track program at Kenwood Academy held its second and third quarter achievement breakfast last Tuesday, awarding more than 100 students. Parents sat proudly... in the school's King room... Thanks to the ... program, their children beat the odds and made the honor roll for the second and/or third quarter this year. As Freshman On-Track Coordinator Michelle Jackson called out the name of each student and passed them a certificate, parents clapped, took pictures and recorded the special moment. Students also cheered each other on during the ceremony. Although this is not graduation day, the parents whose children have met or exceeded standards for their grade level feel thankful. "I have an older daughter who came here in 7th grade and each year her friends dropped out one by one and she also didn't graduate," said Adrienne Pinkney, who attended the honors breakfast with her youngest daughter Kamille. "If this program was here back then they probably wouldn't have dropped out. I applaud Principal [Elizabeth] Kirby for bringing this program in because if you don't reach them as freshmen then you lose them." according to a five-year collaborative research project with the Chicago Public schools (CPS) Graduation Pathways Office and the Consortium on Chicago School Research, which was released last yer, half the students who enter a CPS high school don't graduate. "There are 100,000 -- a small city -- of students who have dropped out," said Carmita Vaughan, chief of staff of the Office of High Schools and High School Programs. "If we can intervene early in the process's, then we can get them back." After monitoring the outcome, the team recognized ... patterns that revealed which students were at-risk of dropping out: Students who are over age when they enter high school, students who miss more than 20 days of school their freshman year, students who fail two or more core classes in their freshman year adn student who have fewer than five credits by the end of their freshman year. Based on their finding the team recommended that the school board adopt several retention programs including the Freshman On-Track program -- formally the Step Up program -- which includes a four week summer program for students between 8th an 9th grade and credit recovery programs. All incoming freshmen at Kenwood, 5015 S. Blackstone Ave., are a part of the Freshman On-Track program, which is led by Jackson and Freshman On-Track Facilitator Inez Jones. There are currently 444 freshmen in the program. Jackson said the three components of the program are prevention, intervention and credit recovery. The honors ceremony is a part of the prevention process for freshmen, whose first experience with their new high school began with Freshman Connection, an 8-week program that prepares incoming freshmen for high school. "The program helps them become familiar with their teachers and the high school schedule," said Jackson. She said the freshmen also have a three-day event during the school year when they go to on a tour of colleges in the city such as University of Chicago, Northeastern University, University of Illinois and Roosevelt University "so they can begin to get a taste of what college is like." "we are the first school to take our freshmen on college tours, Jackson said. "The exposure makes them begin to think maybe I can go to college." Jackson said she and Davis blanket the freshmen with support as soon as they come in the door. She said the program provides the students with tutoring, study support, help students understand the quarterly and class credit systems and instructions on how to check the online grade book. There is also a 10-week program where teachers meet with small groups after school to teach study skills. The Freshman On-Track program also recruits several teachers to come in during winter and spring break to help students who are behind on their work complete make up assignments. According to teh most recent numbers given tot he Herald by press time, the percentage of freshmen that have not failed more than one core class has risen steadily through the Freshman On-Track program. The percentage has risen from 60.6 percent in 2004 to 75.6 percent in 2007. Many of the students at the honors event said it was not a chore to visit the Freshman On-Track office to see how they are progressing. Marrisail Bailey said that he stops by the office every day during his lunch break. "They keep me on track by letting me know what classes I am not doing well in and what I need to do to bring my grades up," said Bailey, wlho attends the TLC after school tutoring prog dram to help keep his math grades up. Desean Lee said that his grades are good but he likes to visit Jackson because she's nice and cool and he can relate to her because "she keeps it real." Jamara Bell said in addition to visiting the Freshman On-Track office, she constantly hears the school's motto "Our Mission is College" being announced on the intercom and that motivates her to continue to work hard. "Ms. Jackson helps me keep my grades up and is helping me make plans for next year," said Bell, who is thinking about joining the volleyball or softball team. Kamille Pinkney said it's easy to talk to Jackson and Davis because it's not like talking to a teacher. "They help me keep my grades up and stay focused," said Pinkney, who quit the basketball team so that she could keep her grades up. Jackson was surprise to hear that the students appreciate her tough love, but she, the students and several parents noticed that this quarter's honors event was not as full as the last one. "The students are work with the most are not in this room," Jackson said. "Although they are not doing their best, they are doing okay because they are still here." _____2009 Kenwood graduate Derrius Quarles was offered over a million dollars in scholarships. He will attend Morehouse College in pre-med. The CPS has been shown to be poor and vague in its reporting-- see PURE and foia on CPS in Schools home. Date: Monday, April 20, 2009, 11:21 AM As detailed below, Illinois is among the 1st of three states to have its application approved for the first portion of State Fiscal Stabilization Funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. U.S. Department of Education Office of Communications & Outreach, Press Office400 Maryland Ave., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20202FOR RELEASE: Monday, April 20, 2009CONTACT: Sandra Abrevaya, (202) 401-1576sandra.abrevaya@ed.govNEARLY $1.4 BILLION IN RECOVERY FUNDS NOW AVAILABLE FOR ILLINOIS TO SAVE JOBSAND DRIVE REFORMApplication for Part 1 of Illinois' State Stabilization Funds Approved Today U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced that nearly$1.4 billion is now available for Illinois under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. This funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save thousands of teaching jobs at risk of state and local budget cuts. "The real impact of the nearly $2 billion Illinois has received so far will be determined not at the federal level, but at the local level in districts across the state," Duncan said. "We will be watching to see if Illinois state leaders, superintendents, principals and teachers seize this critical opportunity to turn around whole systems and schools." Illinois is receiving $1.4 billion today per the State's successful completion of Part 1 of the State Stabilization Application, which was made available April 1. Eighty two percent of these funds are to be distributed to public elementary, secondary, and higher education institutions, with the remaining 18 percent to be available for education, school modernization, public safety, or other government services. Illinois, California and South Dakota are the first three states to successfully complete applications and be approved for the first round of state stabilization funding. Illinois will be eligible to apply for another $678 million in state stabilization funds this fall. To date, Illinois has received nearly $500 million in education stimulus funds-- representing a combination of funding for Title I, IDEA,Vocational Rehabilitation grants, Independent Living grants, Impact Aid dollar sand Homeless Education grants. On April 1, Illinois received more than $210million in Title I funding and more than $270 million in IDEA funding. This amount represents 50 percent of the total Title I and IDEA funding for which Illinois is eligible. On April 1, Illinois also received more than $10 million in Vocational Rehab funds and nearly $2 million in Independent Living funds. On April 10, the state received more than $624,000 in Impact Aid Funding and $2.6million in Homeless Education grants. In order to receive today's funds, Illinois provided assurances that they will collect, publish, analyze and act on basic information regarding the quality of classroom teachers, annual student improvements, college readiness, the effectiveness of state standards and assessments, progress on removing charter caps, and interventions in turning around underperforming schools. Illinois is also required by the U.S. Department of Education to report the number of jobs saved through Recovery Act funding, the amount of state and local tax increases averted, and how funds are used. At a UC Outreach forum April 2009, two principals highlighted the university's efforts to improve education in the community. Success at a four-year college is th main goal of the university's four charter schools, said Shayne Evans, director of the University of Chicago Charter School - Woodlawn Campus. The charters are outperforming other local schools in scores adn placement in selective-enrollment high schools, he said, but he warned against complacency. "We have god schools so far.. but good is the enemy of great," he said. Elizabeth Kirby, principal of Kenwood Academy, said the university has been a close collaborator, sponsoring special programs in the school and sending in tutors to help students adn teachers. Rev. Marrice Coverson, who heads the Institute for Positive Living, an after-school literacy program in Bronzeville,said she felt the university could do more to engage students outside its charter system. Kirby said a university tutor was a personal lifeline to her when she was beginning her teaching career at Kenwood. Duel Richardson, director of neighborhood relations and education in the Office of Civic Engagement said that the university also reaches out to youth through the Office of Special Programs adn College Preparation, founded by the late coach and teacher Larry Hawkins. Top In a December 2009 forum, most of the table exploration related to schools was on promise zones.   Rep. Currie, Sen. Currie rebuke schools chief Huberman on new substitute rules for select and magnet schools, without a race consideration Background, September 25, 2009. Judge Kokoris ends Chicago Desegregation Consent Decree after 29 years. A federal judge has ended the desegregation consent decree for Chicago's Public Schools, 29 years to the day after the federal government sued the district for discriminating against black and Hispanic students. Under the decree, white students were allowed a maximum of 35 percent of seats at the city's top schools. The elimination of the decree also frees the district from requirements regarding bilingual students.CPS had argued the district should no longer be bound by the order. The district says it no longer operates a system that favors white students, who now make up only 8 percent of the system. An open letter to CPS head Ron Huberman We want quality and equal-educational opportunities for all Chicago Public School (CPS) students. The federal court has ended the consent decree under which CPS was required to guarantee specific racial and ethnic enrollment goals for magnet and selective enrollment schools. And a recent United States Supreme Court. We have grave concerns that your new admissions policy will undercut minority enrollment in our high-performing magnet and selective enrollment schools. You read the Supreme Court 2007 decision as if it denies a school system the ability to use race at all as a factor in the admissions process. Justice Kennedy's controlling opinion, however, makes clear that while race cannot be used as the sole factor, race can be used in a nuanced way to promote racial and ethnic diversity. As Justice Kennedy wrote, "the decision today should not prevent school districts from continuing the important work of bringing together students of different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds." The Louisville school system took Kennedy's words to heart and continues to use race as one factor in the admissions process. We would suggest CPS embrace this approach rather than relying only, as you propose to do, on factors related to socio-economic status (SES). Racial diversity dropped significantly in the San Francisco, Charlotte and cambridge public schools when student assignment plans were based solely on SES. Ours is a diverse city. To ensure our continued viability and vibrancy we must continue our commitment to inclusion and equal opportunity. We urge you to reconsider your proposed admissions policy. Without using race as a factor, we fear that our magnet and selective enrollment schools will no longer reflect the diversity that makes our city great. Senator James Meeks (I-15) introduces bills for more vouchers, charters, end to LSC powers- latter bombs. The fate of those first is uncertain and is an attempt to pressure the legislature to do better by children, efforts to increase taxes and fund education seemingly going nowhere (Voices for Illinois Children, Coalition for Responsible Education apparently disagreeing). It should be noted that Rev./Sen. Meeks's church has a school that could be a beneficiary of vouchers. His latest effort, SB 6063, to scrap powers of the Local School Councils, partly in an effort to make CPS more responsible and remove powers from the Mayor (opponents including KOCO, Clergy for Change, Bronzeville Education Advocacy Movement/BEAM, Designs for Change, and PURE) say it does the opposite and removes a key check) appears to be going nowhere with no supporters, and will likely die in committee. Some thoughts on the improvement mountain and how hard it is to get kids into good schools in the city (See formal research in the UC schools research page. See report on How to Walk to School prescription.) Julie Woestehoff of Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE) writes in March 2010: Dad of two CPS seventh-graders Eric Zorn shares a common experience in his column this morning: how to deal with the extraordinary pressures the CPS selective enrollment system puts on 12 year old children. He describes his conflicted feelings about "helping" one of them get a better grade in a couple of recent assignments. Zorn had called me to talk about the situation, and we had a long conversation about the current system and what might be a better alternative to the increasingly two-tiered CPS school system. I'd offered some thoughts on this subject before in response to an earlier Zorn column on vouchers. (Here's the gist of what I wrote.) In his annotated column, Zorn states that he disagrees with my "optimism" that all schools could be improved, though he leaves out my condition that all schools be given the same level of support that, say, R2010 schools receive. But reading the various responses to Zorn's column makes it clear that few folks are really interested in thinking realistically about improving all schools. Those that think they have the answer to failing schools offer vouchers, home schooling, or fairy tales like Urban Prep -- which "lost" 50 students in order to "win" a reputation for sending 100% of its graduates to college. Those of us who believe in school reform instead of "magic bullets" have our work cut out for us. Debates continue.. (more in Promises, Community Schools, UC Research, Defining Excellence pages) Debates continue over whether, what reform works, vouchers, charters... An alternative to the division of schools into age appropriate grades and schools (including separate for middle school -agers) that also seeks to be holistic, enriched and full service is the Little Village CPS "little red schoolhouse" K-12 Spry Community School with Community Links High School. There is complete intermingling and tutoring/mentoring of older and younger pupils in sections (such as the lunch room) and time slots. From the Tribune's Opinion page, April 29 The value of education competition Tribune columnist Steve Chapman dismisses the past 20 years of school-voucher competition in Milwaukee as ineffective because children in voucher schools currently don't do any better than children in Milwaukee's public schools ("Education reforms get a failing grade," Commentary, April 15). That's like dismissing the past 20 years of telecommunication deregulation as ineffective because AT&T's competitors currently don't provide any better service than AT&T, ignoring the fact that everyone today has lots of other options to choose from that weren't even imagined before deregulation. Sure telephone services today are all about on the same level, but that level keeps on rising because of competition. Competition really is a tide that lifts all boats. The same is true with voucher competition in Milwaukee, which has raised the overall level of education so that all students in the city, in both public schools and voucher schools, are doing better than without vouchers. This was reported last year by the same University of Arkansas research group that published the results cited by Chapman. Other research shows voucher students have significantly higher graduation rates than their peers in Milwaukee's public schools. And all this is achieved by voucher schools at roughly half the $14,000 per student spent in the city's public schools. Why haven't vouchers produced the educational equivalent of the iPhone in Milwaukee? Because those vouchers are what Milton Friedman called "charity" vouchers, pale reflections of the universal vouchers he proposed in 1955. You can't expect to get the results Friedman predicted if you water down his recipe. — George A. Clowes, senior fellow for education policy, The Heartland Institute, Chicago Effective school reform Tribune editorial board member Steve Chapman took an important step away from the paper's traditional drum-beating for charters, vouchers and other forms of school privatization by openly acknowledging the solid evidence that these strategies aren't working. We strongly agree that imposing one-size-fits-all solutions such as those mandated by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's Race to the Top program is the wrong approach. We hope that Chapman's thoughtful analysis will migrate across the page and that the full editorial board will retract its support for the pending state voucher bill, unlimited charter schools and test-driven teacher evaluation. It would be even better if the Tribune put its weight behind education reforms with real track records of success. Effective school reform is tedious, time-consuming and rarely "newsy." Are you ready to get behind it? — Julie Woestehoff, executive director, Parents United for Responsible Education, Chicago Improvement is possible We and our colleagues at the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago read with interest Steve Chapman's April 15 column. While we share Chapman's skepticism toward broad one-size-fits-all fixes, we respectfully disagree with his conclusion that "the main thing we know about improving schools is that we don't know very much." In fact we know a great deal about school improvement, particularly in our own back yard. We know, for example, that many Chicago schools in very disadvantaged neighborhoods have made significant, sustained achievement gains during the past two decades of reform. More important, we know why. Consortium researchers have spent more than 20 years analyzing school, student and census data from the Chicago Public Schools. These analyses have revealed that while there is no "silver bullet" for school reform, there is a reliable recipe. Improving schools look alike: They have strong principals who reach out to teachers and parents as partners in school improvement; close working relationships with parents and other community institutions; committed staff members eager to collaborate and innovate; safe, orderly and nurturing environments; and well-structured curriculums. We call these key ingredients the "essential supports for school improvement." Schools that measure strong in all five essential supports are at least 10 times as likely as schools with just one or two strengths to achieve substantial gains in reading and math. A sustained weakness in just one essential support undermines virtually all attempts at improving learning. To be sure achieving strength in all five essential supports is a daunting task, and much more difficult in some schools than others. But our analysis shows that improvement is possible, even in schools surrounded by crushing levels of poverty and violence. — Penny Bender Sebring and Elaine Allensworth, interim co-executive directors, Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute In a teacher's shoes I profoundly disagree with the Tribune's misguided calls to turn primary and secondary education into a private business. Rather than engaging in a war of words, however, I would like to propose a challenge instead: Try it. If you are so sure that tenured, unionized teachers are the root cause of all the problems with education, I invite the members of your editorial board to make themselves available as substitute teachers in a local school district for a few weeks or even a month. Surely they will have no problem finding many opportunities to observe real teachers in action or to teach students at all levels. Perhaps their time as substitutes will confirm their arguments, but I suspect instead that it will show them all of the challenges that teachers in a public school system face that make their work so demanding and thankless, tenure or no tenure. In addition I also trust that it would allow them to see how teachers can help and improve the lives of students from difficult backgrounds in ways that no standardized test can possibly ever show. Two years ago I served as a substitute teacher for four months in the Waukegan public school district, and this experience, not my time as a student, showed me what the education system was truly like, warts and all. I encourage the editorial board members to pursue a similar experience, as perhaps then they may produce a useful opinion on education reform that is grounded in reality. The board may cite as many statistics, blue-ribbon panels and stump speeches as it likes, but until it has actually walked a mile in a teacher's shoes, its vision of education reform remains little more than a naive fantasy. — Christopher Fletcher, Chicago Top PURE writes Michele Obama asking for a learning diet of enrichment and creativity rather than teaching to high-stakes tests. May 2010 LET'S MOVE away from high-stakes testing! You are a strong advocate for our children's physical health, and for that we thank you. Today we are asking you to be a strong advocate for their mental, emotional and intellectual health, too – to promote the fitness of their minds as well as their bodies. You planted a garden at the White House to give children a hands-on experience that would help them begin to think about nutrition. Our children need a garden of learning, too, where we plant great ideas, get children excited about education, and harvest academic success for every student. You've asked children to get active, to move, play, and get involved in sports. Children also need to be freed from bubble sheet learning-- to get up off of their desk chairs in class to create, demonstrate, and integrate! We'd like you to join us in a new campaign – “Let's Move Away from High-Stakes Testing.” The goal of this campaign is to make sure that children grow up with healthy minds, learning a full, enriched curriculum nurtured by a variety of healthy, active, hands-on instructional and assessment methods. It's important that the whole country get behind healthy learning, and this includes everyone understanding more about what can happen when schools depend too much on standardized tests. Because, unfortunately, high-stakes testing is an invasive weed in our healthy garden of learning. Teaching to the test has choked out critical areas like the arts, science, history and civics along with physical activity and sports. Like fast food, high-stakes tests are easy, cheap, quick – and potentially unsafe when overused. Yet they have become the main dish of schooling despite the warnings of scientists that they should be used only sparingly, in a balanced "assessment diet." High-stakes testing seems to have a disproportionately negative impact on low-income children whose schools can be the educational equivalent of the urban “food desert.” Unlike more upscale areas, these neighborhoods don't offer a lot of fresh produce or wide varieties of foods, and their schools tend to focus more on the empty calories of test drill than on an enriched, varied curriculum. It's not by choice that this situation has developed. Schools across the U. S. have been force-fed this testing regime under the harsh test-and-punish policies of the No Child Left Behind Act. As Congress begins to rewrite this law, we are asking for your help to phase out the bad, unhealthy aspects of testing in our schools and help us replace them with an educational diet and exercise program of enriched curricula, diverse instruction, and appropriate, high-quality assessments. Woodlawn Promise and Hyde Park Academy updates March 26, 2011 update. Woodlawn Summit March 26 2011. Education Break Out Session A short video was shown. The theme was everyone taking ownership of the problems of schools and children and the importance of dealing with the whole child including physical activity and development. This somewhat merges with the theme of Race to Nowhere. A lady from the West Side Collaborative for Civic Engagement spoke. She gave a website called kettering.org/chiwestgroup? What they do is bring parents and community residents into the schools (monitors, corridors, aides and lots more) and outside (safe passage, playground... and dealing with the hurdles kids face to even get to school). They found they can do a lot without money, but you have to make a “village” of the community before the village can raise the children. Thomas Trotter, Principal of Hyde Park Career Academy, took up the majority of the time. One of the school’s big problem is that it has to take lots of kids from schools that have been closed—across multiple gang boundaries and 35 and more minutes just to get there—and Hyde Park High looks enough better than the alternatives to the parents who care about where their kids go that they sent them to HP. That doesn’t mean all the kids coming are prepared, or performers, or care. Kids have to practice strategies every day, whether going down a gang path or resisting it--- “I can’t take x bus because members of such and such gang are on it, or it will encounter a rival gang and be shot at.” He said what made a difference for him growing up is that through encouragement he took alternatives to “hanging out” on corners with gangs that seem to many kids to offer safety—instead he went to fieldhouses and playgrounds, where there were adults who mentored and kept them in line, and especially if they had sports aptitude funneled them to the school coaches. The adults also made sure it was safe to kids to get their park. He recited things that schools do provide: it’s generally safe compared to the outside. And it has adults. He touted athletics and other structured activity that teaches the interpersonal and, he said, entrepreneurial skills, including managing people and situations, that the kids need. It’s essential for community people to be with the kids after 3 pm. The high school has set up such a program and will have a full summer camp staffed largely by parents. He has put each assistant principal in charge of one of the grades, with specific goals they and the teacher are to achieve. A partnership is being developed with the Woodlawn Promise Community. He said scores and much else are turning around and this or the next should be the take-off year. Dr. Charles Payne, sociologist and author, Director of the Woodlawn Promise Community, and Interim Chief Education Officer of CPS spoke as much as was possible in remaining time. He praised the strong principals for buying into the program and working to develop and refine the model. He said the biggest problems so far (other than ramping up staff without reducing the commitment to doing program) are getting enough parents and other adults into the in and outside school program and reducing student mobility and stopping the moving of kids continually from one school down the block to the next. One strategy that is really working is going back to something they did in the 19th century—kids teaching kids. The 8th graders can’t get enough of mentoring and tutoring the kindergartners-1st graders. The older kids learn they can teach, which becomes a viable option for them. They start to compare notes and take collaborative ownership. And it starts the job of elementary kids acquiring readiness. For academics he warned that the number one thing is that schools have to increase the number of students EXCEEDING rather than “meeting” standards—the meets category is a joke in CPS and won’t prepare kids for college or much else, and if they do get to college they will waste time on remedial and get further behind. The second thing is that it’s much more than academics. “THE PROMISE CHILD IS ONE WHO IS ABLE TO BE AN ADVOCATE, ACTIVIST, AND ACCOUNTABLE PERSON, A LEADER WHO IS A CONTRIBUTOR TO THEIR COMMMUNITY—in the school years, not just after, A PERSON WHO ASKS ‘WHAT CAN I DO.” They not only get along with each other but are responsible for each other. Without that we cannot counter one of the worst problems in youth today—VIOLENCE and a general failure of interpersonal relations in which people work against rather than with each other. And being responsible to and for others is the start of being able to function in the workplace and business. A motto being used in the promise schools is “teach- lead-nurture.” And it’s making a difference especially with the boys. Of course, you have to have faith in the kids in the first place rather than considering kids to be “problems” to be managed or solved. Some of the elements introduced in the schools are Algebra labs. High school kids are paid not just to tutor but to teach the junior higher under certified teachers who manage but don’t do the teaching. The junior higher in turn tutor the younger. The parent program. 10 to 15 a year are trained and put in the schools—now each cohort takes ownership of their task—“this is our 3rd grade” or lunchroom, or… PS, most parents do care, but you have to provide supports to help them get around the barriers. The parents also do the safety patrols to school and in school, tutor, act as greeters (THAT HAS MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN BUILDING A SENSE THAT THIS SCHOOL IS PARENT-FRIENDLY) and form mothers and dads clubs. Social workers in schools (takes outside funding). Something called IDPA-free from the state under a Dr. George Smith of MPI and Associates. This includes trauma counseling and 10-week sessions with groups of students. Safe transportation to schools and recreation centers. A Faith partnership, in which the church vans take the kids to school and home in small batches—it’s helping with the ongoing absence and tardiness problems both Payne and Trotter noted. It’s under the clergy committee, with leveraging resources an centers collaboratively, creating a neighborhood directory of safe centers and services, and adopt-a-school. Note- the big problem for kids remains that the streets are not safe for them after 5 pm in Woodlawn and the feeder neighborhoods. Reentry program for people who have returned from prison ages 16-24 but don’t have schooling and skills- Woodlawn Preservation and Investment Corp. sponsors 60 at ex offenders. Health Committee—immunizations are now up 15% so fewer kids are being sent home in January. Hope is to have a social service center at 65th and Kenwood. There is a new collaboration with the Chicago Children’s Museum. Chapin Hall is starting a Needs Assessment Survey (what families and children need for support)- 1600 will be interviewed, with 200 in-depths. There is also a collaboration with Ounce of Prevention anti-violence program now also serving birth to age 8. Freedom Schools will take place in summer. (This and the previous 5 items and the clergy committee work are also in conjunction with Hyde Park Career Academy) Request that Woodlawn form a CPS Area—under consideration by CPS. And it is a Illinois Safety Area funded under IDPA Neighborhood Recovery Initiatives, which brings 80-100 jobs for youth and others for adults. Much of this is under Magic and something called MAP housed at 1st Presbyterian. There is policing team diagnostics, a parent component with stipends. Purpose is to rebuild the “village” block by block [which was the subtitle of today’s summit]. A new executive director of the Promise Community is about to be announced. Major efforts need to be made on attendance, student mobility (which is 35%) and teacher mobility (60% have been leaving these schools within 4 years), building partnership with the high school, and realizing a new team of principals and police leadership. To summarize the Promise model as articulated by the principals: Involving and being responsible to knowledgeable, responsible parents; Bringing in and training new and buy-in educators; Principal and administrators being coaches and evaluators—principal spends half the day in classrooms; Helping families and communities and their groups adopt the schools. An article from slate says education reform has been hijacked to an agenda of wealthy and corporate segments to rule America and siphon everything to themselves. This website cannot endorse this article, but presents it as food for thought. The bait and switch of school "reform" Behind the new corporate agenda for education lurks the old politics of profit and self-interest BY DAVID SIROTA Salon 09/12,/2011 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/09/12/reformmoney/index.html In recent weeks the debate over the future of public education in America has flared up again, this time with the publication of the new book "Class Warfare," by Steven Brill, the founder of American Lawyer magazine. Brill's advocacy of "reform" has sparked different strands of criticism from the New York Times, New York University's Diane Ravitch and the Nation's Dana Goldstein. But behind the high-profile back and forth over specific policies and prescriptions lies a story that has less to do with ideas than with money, less to do with facts than with an ideological subtext that has been quietly baked into the very terms of the national education discussion. Like most education reporters today, Brill frames the issue in simplistic, binary terms. On one side are self-interested teachers unions who supposedly oppose fundamental changes to schools, not because they care about students, but because they fear for their own job security and wages, irrespective of kids. In this mythology, they are pitted against an alliance of extraordinarily wealthy corporate elites who, unlike the allegedly greedy unions, are said to act solely out of the goodness of their hearts. We are told that this "reform" alliance of everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the Walton family to leading hedge funders spends huge amounts of money pushing for radical changes to public schools because they suddenly decided that they care about destitute children, and now want to see all kids get a great education. The dominant narrative, in other words, explains the fight for the future of education as a battle between the evil forces of myopic selfishness (teachers) and the altruistic benevolence of noblesse oblige (Wall Street). Such subjective framing has resulted in reporters, pundits and politicians typically casting the "reformers'" arguments as free of self-interest, and therefore more objective and credible than teachers' counter arguments. This skewed viewpoint becomes clear in this excerpt of a C-Span interview with Brill about "Class Warfare," in which Brill is talking about a group called "Democrats for Education Reform" -- a group financed by major hedge fund managers: "[The group] was created by a small group of frustrated education reformers ... They happen to be well-to-do frustrated education reformers who were Democrats and they had an epiphany ... And the epiphany they had was that the Democrats, their party, their party that they thought stood for civil rights, were the political party that was most in the way. And what frustrated them was they consider education reform to be the civil rights issue of this era. And they really couldn't believe it was their party that was blocking their idea of reforms that are necessary. So they describe it repeatedly ... as a sort of Nixon-to-China gambit in which Democrats are going to reform the Democratic Party and they've made lots of progress." (emphasis added) Though self-billed as a work of objective journalism, Brill's book reads like an overwrought ideological manifesto because -- like much of the coverage of education -- it frames the debate in precisely these propagandistic terms. As Brill and most other education correspondents tell it, those most aggressively trying to privatize public schools and focus education around standardized tests just "happen to be" Wall Streeters -- as if that's merely a random, inconsequential coincidence. Somehow, we are to assume that these same Wall Streeters who make millions off of "parasitic" investment schemes to leech public institutions for private profit couldn't have ulterior motives when it comes to public schools. No, in the standard fairy tale sold as education journalism, these "reformers" are presented as having had an honest, entirely altruistic "epiphany" that led them to discover that "the reforms that are necessary" (ie., only the policies Wall Street deems acceptable) comprise "the civil rights issue of this era." In this framing, millionaires and billionaires trying to eviscerate traditional public education from their Manhattan office suites are the new Martin Luther Kings -- even though the empirical data tell us that their schemes to charter-ize and privatize schools have been a systemic failure, often further disadvantaging the most economically challenged students of all (one example: see Stanford's landmark study showing more than a third of kids whom reformers ushered into charter schools were educationally harmed by the move). The truth, of course, is that for all the denialist agitprop to the contrary, corporate education "reformers" are motivated by self-interest, too. In a sense, these "reformers" are akin to the Bush administration neoconservatives when it came to Iraq. Some of them wanted to invade for oil, some wanted to invade to create a new sphere of influence, some wanted to invade to further isolate Iran, and still others wanted to invade to "spread democracy." But as Paul Wolfowitz famously said, they "settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on which was weapons of mass destruction" as the public rationale for war. Same thing for those who fund corporate education "reform": they have a lot of different self-interests, but they've settled on schools as a political target that unifies them all. So, then, what are those self-interests? Here are three of the biggest ones that go almost entirely unmentioned in the ongoing coverage of the education "reform" debate. Self-Interest No. 1: Pure Profit First and foremost, there's a ton of money to be made in the education "reforms" that Big Money interests are advocating. As the Texas Observer recently reported in its exposé of one school-focused mega-corporation, "in the past two decades, an education-reform movement has swept the country, pushing for more standardized testing and accountability and for more alternatives to the traditional classroom -- most of it supplied by private companies." A straightforward example of how this part of the profit-making scheme works arose just a few months ago in New York City. There, Rupert Murdoch dumped $1 million into a corporate "reform" movement pushing to both implement more standardized testing and divert money for education fundamentals (hiring teachers, buying textbooks, maintaining school buildings, etc.) into testing-assessment technology. At the same time, Murdoch was buying an educational technology company called Wireless Generation, which had just signed a lucrative contract with New York City's school system (a sweetheart deal inked by New York City school official Joel Klein, who immediately went to work for Murdoch. Such shenanigans are increasingly commonplace throughout America, resulting in a revenue jackpot for testing companies and high tech firms, even though many of their products have not objectively improved student achievement. At the same time, major banks are reaping a windfall from "reformers'" successful efforts to take public money out of public schools and put it into privately administered charter schools. As the New York Daily News recently reported: Wealthy investors and major banks have been making windfall profits by using a little-known federal tax break to finance new charter-school construction. The program, the New Markets Tax Credit, is so lucrative that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years... The credit can even be piggybacked on other tax breaks for historic preservation or job creation. By combining the various credits with the interest from the loan itself, a lender can almost double his investment over the seven-year period. No wonder JPMorgan Chase announced this week it was creating a new $325 million pool to invest in charter schools and take advantage of the New Markets Tax Credit. On top of this, "reformers'" initiatives to divert public school money into voucher schemes -- which data show have failed to produce better student achievement -- means potentially huge revenues for the burgeoning for-profit private school industry, an industry that "has fascinated Wall Street for more than a decade," reports PBS Frontline. The bottom line is clear: In attempting to change the mission of public education from one focused on educating kids to one focused on generating private profit, corporate leaders in the "reform" movement are pursuing a shrewd investment strategy. Millions of dollars go into campaign contributions and propaganda outfits that push "reform," and, if successful, those "reforms" guarantee Wall Street and their investment vehicles much bigger returns for the long haul. In light of all the money that's already being made off such "reforms" (and that could be made in the future), pretending that businesspeople who make their living on such transactions are not applying their business strategies to education is to promote the fallacy that the entire financial industry is merely a charitable endeavor. Self-Interest No. 2: Changing the Subject From Poverty and Inequality Inconvenient as it is to corporate education "reformers," the well-proven fact is that poverty -- not teacher quality, union density or school structure -- is the primary driver of student achievement. We can see this most easily in two sets of data. First, as the Nation magazine reports, "The research consensus has been clear and unchanging for more than a decade: at most, teaching accounts for about 15 percent of student achievement outcomes, while socioeconomic factors account for about 60 percent." Second, as Dissent magazine notes in its examination of U.S. Department of Education data, American students at low poverty schools consistently score near the top on international tests. Indeed, U.S. students in public schools with a poverty rate of less than 10 percent "outperformed students in all eight participating nations whose reported poverty rates fall below 10 percent." The reason America's overall scores on such tests are far lower is because high poverty schools produce far worse results -- and as the most economically unequal society in the industrialized world, we have far more poverty than our competitors, bringing down our overall scores accordingly. Predictably, as economic inequality and poverty have spiked in America during the Great Recession, those poverty-fueled education problems have gotten even worse. This reality obviously represents a problem for the growing ranks of economically struggling Americans. More and more citizens simply cannot afford to live in rich neighborhoods that benefit from a property-tax-based education financing system which has created gated communities out of school districts. As documented in a new study by the University of Kansas,this system allows wealthy enclaves to disproportionately target their tax revenue to their own public schools and "hoard" public monies -- all while other schools in low-income areas are starved for resources. This structure is hugely beneficial to the super-rich -- but the poverty question poses a potential political problem for them. As the New York Times recently put it, if America realizes that "a substantial part of the problem (is) poverty and not bad teachers, the question would be why people like (Wall Streeters) are allowed to make so much when others have so little." That question, if it became central in our political discourse, would potentially lead the growing ranks of economically struggling Americans to start demanding governmental policies that address wealth inequality and its consequences -- policies such as re-regulating Wall Street, raising taxes on millionaires, eliminating tax policies that allow revenue hoarding, and targeting disproportionately more public funds at schools in high-poverty areas rather than at schools in wealthy neighborhoods. But, then, those policies are precisely the ones that offend and threaten rich people. So the wealthiest and most politically astute among them have constructed front groups like "Democrats for Education Reform" to press a message of education "reform" that seeks to change the subject from poverty altogether. Their message basically says that the major problem in America is not the fact that our public policies are helping make more citizens poor, nor the fact that the same economic structure that allows the Walton family to own more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the whole nation has one in five kids living in poverty. No, reformers give us what I've previously called the "Great Education Myth," telling America that the real problem is supposedly the schools -- and that if we just make radical and empirically unproven school changes then everything will supposedly be great. And, tellingly, the "reformers'" specific policy prescriptions tend only to be those changes that don't ask rich people to share in any sacrifice. Thus, for instance, the "reformers" push to tear up teachers union contracts and demonize the structure of public schools, rather than, say, initiating a discussion about raising more revenue for schools most in need. Seeking to avoid any larger debate about raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for such new education investment, they float their favorite one liner about how we "can't throw money at the problem," even though many of the schools with the biggest challenges need more resources to combat poverty. You don't have to believe me to know that the need is there; just listen to the corporate education "reformers'" own much-celebrated hero, Harlem Children’s Zone's Geoffrey Canada, who insists schools in high-poverty areas "can’t succeed ... without substantially increased investments in wraparound social services," reports the New York Times. But since those are investments that probably require tax increases, they aren't the thrust of the corporate "reform" movement's agenda. In the bait-and-switch of the "Great Education Myth," then, the corporate "reformers" get to pretend that they care about poor people and brag that they are benevolently leading "the civil rights issue of this era," when what they are really doing is making sure America doesn't talk about the macroeconomic policies that make Wall Streeters so much money, and impoverish so many others in the process. Self-interest No. 3: New Front in the War on Unions Today, unions are one of the last -- and, unfortunately, weakening -- obstacles to corporations' having complete control of the American political system. Whenever there is a fight over economics in particular -- whenever a Wall Street-backed tax, deregulation, Social Security privatization or trade bill comes down the pike -- it is the labor movement that comprises the bulk of the political opposition. Therefore, crushing unions in general has been an overarching goal of the corporate elite, and one way to crush unions is through education policy that undermines one of the largest subsets of the labor movement: teachers unions. Looked at through this prism, we see a key reason that education "reformers" are not satisfied with merely finding common policy ground with unions on points of potential consensus. They don't want any agreement with unions because the underlying goal is to destroy those unions entirely. Hence, "reformers" are increasingly focused on promoting union-free charter schools and diverting public school money into union-free private schools as a means of crippling the labor movement as a whole. To know this truth is to know that the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame is now one of the biggest financial forces in the education "reform" movement. As the single most anti-union force in contemporary American society, the family now annually holds out a huge wad of Wal-Mart cash as a hard-to-resist enticement for cities to divert public school money exclusively into union-free charter schools or union-free "innovation" schools. Essentially, the money is offered, but on the condition that policymakers put it into education initiatives that undermine teachers unions. While the foundation publicly insists it is looking only to help kids excel, union busting -- not student achievement -- is clearly what drives the Walton family's education activism. As but one example proving that motive, consider that just five days after news broke that Los Angeles' traditional public schools are outperforming charter schools, the Walton family announced it is dumping a massive new tranche of Wal-Mart cash into a plan to expand the city's charter schools. If the family was truly focused on helping kids, it would have put that money into traditional public schools that were showing success. Instead, the money went to the union busters, student achievement be damned. Brill epitomizes how that motive has been ignored by establishment reporters covering education. After spending years reporting a massive tome on the education debate, he told the New York Times with a straight face that "I didn’t see it as the rich versus the union guys," as if schools' being an arena for the age-old battle between capital and labor is so preposterous, it didn't even cross his mind. Brill may be telling the truth here, because corporate education "reformers" are so ubiquitously branded as disinterested altruists, that any other motive probably never did cross his mind, just like it never crosses most other reporters' mind. But just because the union-busting part of the story isn't being told, doesn't mean it isn't a key objective of the "reform" movement. None of this is to argue that teachers unions don't act out of self-interest. They do. The point, though, is that they do not have a monopoly on self-interest in the education debate. As the modern-day version of what Franklin Roosevelt would call "organized money," the underwriters of the corporate education "reform" movement are just as motivated by their own self-interest. It's just a different portfolio of self-interest. For Americans looking for credible voices in the confusing education debate, the question, then, is simple: Which self-interest is more aligned with improving schools for our kids? Teachers unions' self-interest means advocating for better teacher salaries and job security -- an agenda item that would, among other things, allow the teaching profession (as in other nations) to financially compete for society's "best and brightest" and in the process help kids. The unions' self-interest also means advocating for decent workplace facilities, which undeniably benefits not only the teacher, but also students. And it means pressing for curricular latitude that doesn't force educators to teach to a standardized test, a notion that would help actually educate students to think critically, rather than train them to be test-taking robots. Corporate education "reformers'" self-interest, by contrast, means advocating for policies that help private corporations profit off of public schools, diverting public attention from an anti-poverty economic agenda, and busting unions that prevent total oligarchical control of America's political system. In short, it's about the profit, stupid. Neither side's self-interest is perfectly aligned with the goal of bettering our education system. But one side is clearly far more aligned with that goal than the other. David Sirota is a best-selling author of the new book "Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now." He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado. E-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com, follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com. More: David Sirota
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