District 299 The Chicago Schools Blog

35 "Dropout Factories" In CPS

The Associated Press asked researchers to find out how many high-dropout schools there were nationwide and by state, and found stark but perhaps not surprising results:

Study shows nearly 10 pct of high schools are ‘dropout factories’
Peoria Star Journal
At Sullivan High School on Chicago’s North Side, 479 students — the majority of them minority and low-income — enrolled in the class of 2006. By senior year, just 82 of them remained in school.

 Too few grads Chicago Daily Herald A separate report released in July by the Consortium on Chicago School Research found almost half of Chicago Public Schools students don't graduate.

Click below to see the list of 35 CPS sc hools and their cumulative dropout rates.  Click here to see the national view and where Illinois fits in.  For some reason, the local dailies do not appear to have covered this story.

Ideas From Other Cities...

Some ideas Chicago tried before:
Official Proposes Grading Parents Hartford Courant
Mike Vaughn, a spokesman for the Chicago school district, said the program was dropped after about a year in part because the superintendent who had championed the plan left for a new job.

Some folks from Chicago trying to get hired elsewhere:
Pastor's job qualifications released Arizona
In her resume, Pastor highlighted a three-year stint managing a project with Chicago Public Schools to create partnerships with museums in the city.

An idea from DC that might -- or might not work:
D.C. Mayor Appoints First Public Education Ombudsman Washington Post
The ombudsman position is considered critical to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's school reform effort.

Not Even Close

Worried about charter schools taking over CPS?  Relax.  The National Association of Public Charter Schools' latest report (Top 10 Charter Communities by Market Share) includes nary a mention of Chicago.  To get on the list, Chicago would have to have 13 percent of its students in charter schools (or way more than 43,000 kids).  I don't think we're anywhere near that, thanks to the charter cap and the small size of most charter schools. 

Teacher Training, Military Schools

Chicago's 'grow your own' teacher training program and military schools are among the largest in the nation:

Reading, writing, recruiting? Tribune
Chicago Public Schools, which already has the largest junior military reserve program in the nation, on Monday will commission the country's first public high school run by the U.S. Marines, much to the chagrin of activists who have fought to keep the armed services out of city schools.

Grow Your Own Teachers US News & World Report
Tired of seeing first-year teachers flee to suburban schools, Illinois is spending $7.5 million to help people become teachers in underperforming schools in neighborhoods like their own. The initiative is called Grow Your Own Illinois and aims to prepare 1,000 such teachers by 2016.

Philly Mag And The Vallas CEO Myth

Check out this outstanding post on the Young Philly Politics blog: Philly Mag and the Vallas CEO myth.
The post references a month-old Philly Magazine article, which, if you're interested, is here. There's nothing in it that anyone in Chicago hasn't read before.

A High School Version Of What Happened At Sherman?

Catalyst has a new piece up on how Green Dot -- LA's network of union-affiliated charter schools -- might be headed this way.  But of course you knew that already, didn't you?  Question is -- will it work?  According to Catalyst, the focus is a new committee set up in the contract to look into new Ren10 models, and a CTU visit to LA to check the Green Dot schools out.  (In LA, the UTLA opposes Green Dot, and the CTA represents them.)  In Chicago, SEIU has been active with organizing parents and might be a logical alternative to CTU for a Green Dot local.  Green Dot is playing it coy, though they were there last month (Catalyst hosted the event.)  In LA, the teachers union has threatened to sue to stop the board from giving a low-performing high school to Green Dot (sort of like was done with Sherman).

How Other Districts Do It; How CPS Is Portrayed

In Newark, they're doing a Fresh Start/Sherman-type thing to try and help one school:  Raising the Scores: For a School, Hope and a Fresh Start (NYT).  With the support of the teachers union, Newton replaced 6 of its 44 teachers — some against their will — with teachers who demonstrated a higher commitment to change or who had expertise needed in a particular subject.

Meanwhile, Chicago's principal influx is making news nationally: Rookie Chicago Principal Faces Early Challenges (NPR).  Like Chicago, many other school systems across the country are facing the same turnover, as baby boomer principals near retirement age. And for the rookie principals, challenges come early and often.

Back To School In Philly

A burgeoning parents group, Parents United for Public Education, has launched a blog and website to kick-off the school year, and the group has solicited parents (and teachers) to post comments from the first day(s) of school. Here's a sample of what parents are saying: Back to School.

Struggling High School Given Over To Union Charter Schools

Green Dot charter to take over Locke High School LA Times
The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to turn over one of the city's most troubled high schools to a charter school organization, marking the first time an outside group will run a traditional public school in Los Angeles.

How Chicago Charters Compare

Interested in learning a little more about how Chicago charters compare to those in other states?  Check out this interesting (if generally pro-charter) new report from the Education Sector, in which you'll find out how local charters differ (in terms of EMOs, for example, and pension contributions):  What States Can Teach Each Other About Charter Schooling.