Progress Illinois

Terry Mazany, the interim chief of Chicago Public Schools, says he doesn't know whether he'll seek to shut down several CPS district schools next year. It's a process that WBEZ education reporter Linda Lutton has described as a "bitterly controversial annual ritual," one that's resulted in the closure of more than 60 institutions over the last 10 years. Traditionally, the list of schools to be closed is released in the first months of each year. The recommendations from central office can include outright closures, turnaround (where all of a school's staff are fired), a phase-out, or consolidation with another school.

While CPS says it targets low-performing or low-enrollment schools, many community members, parents, staff, and students often fight -- and fight hard -- to keep their schools in operation. Teachers say struggling institutions serving children coming from low-income backgrounds can't simply be remade by upending the staff. Parents are often opposed because they see schools on the close list as community anchors with deep neighborhood ties. Aldermen have criticized CPS for a lack of transparency about the process.

With this as the context, Mazany says he needs time before recommending a new round of school restructuring; no determination has been made, and Ron Huberman left no list of targeted schools. For now, Mazany tells the Sun-Times he's focusing on the district's budget gap, on teacher and principal quality, and finding CPS a new chief education officer, a position we touched on earlier this week.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, on his way out of office, is looking to "reinvent" the City Colleges of Chicago system. The goal, the mayor said at a press conference last Thursday, is to "better prepare our students to meet the economic challenges of today and the future." It's no secret that the system is in serious need of repair; new data compiled by the city found that only 16 percent of Chicago’s 120,000 students transfer to four-year colleges and half of those seeking degrees leave the system before completing just 15 credit hours. The dropout crisis is not unique to Chicago's community colleges by any means, but it's clearly more acute than at other institutions.

The focus of the overhaul will be on student performance. Through a "highly-collaborative multi-staged process," task forces will deliver recommendations on eight priority areas for improvement, ranging from transfer rates, adult education, tutoring and job placement, and capital planning. For students who fail one or more classes this semester, Chancellor Cheryl Hyman said the department would work to develop with each student a "personal plan to help them complete or modify their course." (Over 15,000 are expected to earn at least one F.) Officials at City Hall also quashed rumors that they would like to phase out the City Colleges's "open admissions policy," which allows students in need of basic academic skills to take remedial classes to catch up to their peers. "Open access will always be here," Hyman told the Sun-Times. "We’re not trying to turn away or deny anybody."

Daniel Luzer at the Washington Monthly is skeptical that the commissions will produce useful information. Indeed, Daley did not actually set a deadline for the researchers to report their findings. Still, we're a bit more hopeful; if the city really can identify how it fails to provide basic educational services, the guideline should provide Chicago's next mayor with options that have worked elsewhere. (One of those potential candidates, it should be noted, is Gery Chico, who served as the chair of the City Colleges's governing board from March of this year until he entered the mayoral race.)