District 299 The Chicago Schools Blog

Horace Greeley Is CPS's "Blue Ribbon" School For 2007

It's not much to look at, but Greeley Elementary near Irving Park Road has won a federal Blue Ribbon award according to CPS:

"Greeley, one of 12 public schools in Illinois to receive the honor this year, has improved its performance on Illinois State Achievement Tests more than 36 percentage points since 2002, to 83.3 percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards. Math scores increased even more dramatically, up almost 52 percentage points to 90.2 in 2007 from 38.3 percent in 2002.

"Horace Greeley Elementary School is a neighborchood school with a Spanish bilingual program, and a is a Regional Gifted Center for students in grades 3 through 8 who are English Language Learners and whose first language is Polish, Russian or Spanish. The school also offers a World Language Magnet program in Spanish for all students in kindergarten through eighth grade."

Click here to see the Illinois list.

PS -- Is Principal Azcoitia the son of Carlos, or no relation?

What To Make Of National Vs. State Test Gap?

Yesterday's national test scores for Illinois were up slightly but not as much as the rest of the country and they're not nearly as good as the state test scores tell us schools are doing.

From the Tribune:  "The national results in recent years stand in stark contrast to state test results released last week, which showed elementary school pupils making double-digit gains since 2003 on all but one of the grade-level reading and math exams."
Students' math scores are up Sun Times

State NAEP Scores Increase Less Than Rest Of Nation

"Illinois math and reading scores rose slightly in the only nationwide standardized tests, but not as much as the rest of the nation, leaving Illinois below the national average in some grades and subjects, according to data released today," according to this Tribune article.

AYP Threshold Up To 62 Percent For 07-08

This email from the good folks at CPS reminds you how to find your school's AYP ratings on the REA page, and what all the distinctions and differences mean.

$23 Million In Federal Parent Involvement Funds Mis-Allocated?

Complaints about the mis-allocation of Title I parent involvement funds have been around since Title I began 40 years ago, and perhaps as long in CPS.  This email sent to me by a reader suggests that the problem has only gotten bigger.  Are Title I funds being used for PI in your schools, do you know?  Lots of schools don't even have fully functioning PI Committees, last I looked.

Is CPS Billing Washington For Vacant Teaching Spots?

Following up on earlier reports, EdWeek recaps the possible misuse of federal Title I (ie, NCLB) funding by CPS and another Illionois district (Federal Audit Finds Illinois Title I Faults), and links to the report itself. The Feds want $17 million back from CPS for failing to ensure comparable services in TItle I and other schools -- mostly by charging the Feds for vacant positions.  Sounds pretty sketchy to me, but I'm not sure I understand exactly how it works.  Is this the rough equivalent of a no-show job?  Those I understand. 

Federal Funding To Recruit & Support New Teachers

Big bucks from the USDE for CPS to recruit, prepare, and support new teachers, especially those from other careers. 

Over $440K, to be exact, through Transitions To Teaching.

Click below to see the list of grants to various states announced on Friday.

Saved By The Consent Decree?

The dailies can't exactly agree on the impact of the Supreme Court's desegregation decision handed down yesterday, but it seems clear that the 1980 deseg consent decree that CPS has ostensibly been working under (and trying to get out of) may have an influence:

High court ruling likely won't shake up Illinois schools Chicago Tribune
Race is one of the factors Chicago Public Schools uses to evaluate applications to magnet and selective enrollment schools to promote integration in those ...

Ruling may affect Chicago's celebrated magnet schools Chicago Sun-Times
Thursday's 5-4 decision would only affect Chicago public schools if a federal judge agrees to free CPS from a desegregation consent decree that dates to 1980. 

Big NCLB Study Says Scores Improving

There's lots of news coverage today of a big new study from the Center on Education Policy that purports to show increases in student achievement since 2002, when NCLB was enacted. Check it all out here.

This includes some state by state information, though not every state had enough info.  Here's IL's state information, for all you testing geeks:  Download illinois_profile_cep_0607.doc

Illinois Gets Federal Choice/Charter Grant From ED

According to the Feds, IL is one of 10 states that have just gotten a piece of $284 million in federal choice and charter grants.  Illinois' share is just under $10 million.