Education

Does New Group Have What It Takes To "Advance Illinois" Education?

Josh Kalven — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:40:23 -0800

A prominent line up of public officials—including former Commerce Secretary William Daley, former Gov. Jim Edgar, and former House Speaker Dennis Hastert—along with some deep-pocketed foundations rolled out the state’s latest education initiative yesterday.

For some time now, the school reform community has had its eye on the emerging group, dubbed Advance Illinois. And they’ve expressed skepticism, to say the least. Judging by today’s lackluster response to the initiative, it appears that the people of Illinois have also grown weary of blue ribbon commissions intended to study what everyone already knows: stark inequities pervade Illinois schools.

Nonetheless, the leaders of Advance Illinois have set out to draft a set of policy recommendations for repairing the state’s “mediocre” education system. In a report released yesterday, the group makes a solid case for why failing to act quickly sets the state up for failure:

Though Illinois boasts the fifth-largest economy in the United States, it is one of the slowest growing in the country. Between 1997 and 2004, only six states had slower-growing economies and, while we are still above the national average, our per capita income has been in a downward slide since 1960.

Within the next six years, 89 percent of jobs in Illinois’ fastest-growing sectors will require some education or training beyond high school. Yet, of Illinois adults over the age of 25, only 36 percent have an associate or bachelor’s degree, and just 20 percent more have pursued some other education beyond high school. As a result, thousands of well-paying jobs go unfilled each year in Illinois.

Setting higher academic standards, improving accountability, and advancing teacher training will likely be the thrust of Advance Illinois’ forthcoming recommendations, which will go before the General Assembly in a year or so.

How the group will recommend funding those initiatives remains unclear. But their initial report makes the case for why investment in education will ultimately bolster the state economy:

- More than $13 billion would be added to Illinois’ economy by 2020 if students of color graduated at the same rate as white students.

- A five percent increase in male high school graduation rates would save Illinois $379 million in incarceration costs and crime related expenses.

- If Illinois’ high schools raised standards, the state would save $81 million annually in remediation for recent high school graduates.

The thing that most Illinois school reform advocates agree on is that money matters. They argue that, without some form of tax reform, kids from low- and middle-income communities won’t have the same technology, books, and other resources needed to keep pace with their peers in wealthier districts.

For years, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) has stuck with some pretty simple talking points for how to go about reversing the decline in education, which they point out is now eroding academic achievement in middle-class communities. CTBA advocates raising the income tax on high-earners and using the additional revenue to reduce property taxes and invest in education and infrastructure.

We caught up with CTBA assistant executive director Chrissy Mancini to see what she thinks about Advance Illinois. Her response: “How many times do you have to reinvent the wheel?”

“Everyone knows what the problems are,” Mancini added. “There are disparities between rich, poor, black, white. Everyone knows how to solve it.”

Will Obama Make Some Quick Education Fixes?

Adam Doster — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:24:07 -0800

Barack Obama has made his first-term priorities quite clear: begin by stabilizing the financial system, then move to energy, health care, taxes, and finally to education. While all of these reforms are incredibly urgent, I share Dana Goldstein's frustration that education advancements are consistently put on the back-burner by our elected officials.

Yet there is reason to believe that some progress could be made on education reform even if it's buried underneath the nation's other pressing concerns. Indeed, Obama could make some quick administrative decisions that would better equip schools and communities to serve their youth. Education reporter Alexander Russo explained how on Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight. Listen:

Internal mp3

RUSSO: It’s very difficult to do. There’s the possibility that he could make some changes to the school rating system that No Child Left Behind has to give schools more credit for progress. That could be done through an administrative order, people seem to think. It’s also possible he could do some work on expanding funding for preschool education without going through the whole rigamarole of new legislation. So we can look, and the people who are advocating can push, but nothing big is going to happen very soon.

While these are only piecemeal changes, both could have moderate to significant effects, depending on the scope of the push.

Let's take early ed first. To start, Obama is well versed in the science that's proven how crucial a role early intervention can play in the life's of underprivileged kids. "Babies raised in poverty get fewer of the early experiences that spur vocabulary growth and good social judgment," the Tribune's Jeffrey Manier wrote in an excellent April piece, "making it harder for them to catch up later on."

As such, Obama favors a new program of "Early Learning Challenge Grants" that would provide states with funding to support quality child care, early education, and other services for pregnant women and children from birth through age five. He also backs the development of "20 promise neighborhoods," an idea borrowed from he the wildly popular Harlem Children's Zone. Sam Stein explains the program:

That unorthodox approach towards tackling poverty is the child of Geoffrey Canada, an urban policy guru who, in 1999, plotted out a unique way to turn around a 24-block zone in the city. Canada created a "safety net" or "conveyor belt" that has helped map approximately 10,000 children through adolescence, relying on a variety of social service programs: a nine-week parenting program; education reforms, such as after-school tutoring and intensive K-12 charter schools (with no union contract); and even improvised techniques - for instance, once handing out cash to kids with perfect attendance.

Despite starting his term as the education president, President Bush has largely ignored these types of investments. In the wake of this legacy, any boost -- even if it's not the $10 billion Obama has proposed -- could make a big difference.

So could reform of the No Child Left Behind's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rating system. AYP divides students into subgroups -- all ethnic/racial groups present in the school, low-income students, students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency -- and requires that each subgroup in a school reach state-determined levels of proficiency on standardized tests in math and reading. The problem is, if one subgroup fails, the entire school fails. And that sets off a series of sanctions and remedies that often aren't appropriate remedies for the problem.

Tweaking the way students, and by extension schools, are evaluated would fix a crucial flaw in a bill that could very well be reauthorized sometime in the near future.

Gay-Friendly School On The Ropes?

Angela Caputo — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:44:34 -0700

Mayor Daley may have come out against the idea of opening the nation's second gay-friendly high school -- one of the Chicago's most progressive education proposals to date -- but backers of the Social Justice Pride Campus aren't backing down.

"We have a clear strategy," said Chad Weiden, who's up for the job of principal at the Pride Campus. "We're organizing right now. We're beginning media outreach. ... There's more to come, I'm just not ready to say what."

The Pride Campus proposal appeared to be moving along smoothly until the school board abruptly tabled the idea on Wednesday. At the meeting, two parents spoke out against the idea, one going so far as to say: "We should be helping [students] out of that lifestyle, not helping them into it." Activists on both the left and the right have expressed their own concerns over the Pride Campus. But a series of community forums on the idea mostly drew supporters.

Following the decision, Daley spoke out:

One day after his handpicked school board put off a vote on the School for Social Justice Pride Campus, Daley explained why — by expressing his concerns.

“You have to look at whether or not you isolate and segregate children. A holistic approach has always been to have children of all different backgrounds in schools. When you start isolating children and you say, ‘Only 50 percent here, 40 percent here’ — same thing we went through with the disabled — then you want to do that when they’re adults,” Daley said.

The Pride Campus student body would include a half-and-half mix of gay and straight teenagers, so it's unclear how Daley could suggest it would "isolate and segregate" students. Daley's complaint is also undermined by his previous support for schools that similarly separate students with certain backgrounds or interests. Military academies and single-gender academies have boomed under his administration. And magnet campuses -- which tend to attract more privileged students -- have also spread.

Regardless, the show of political influence gives fodder to those who've long said that all the talk of community-driven reform, particularly under the Renaissance 2010 initiative, is unfounded -- that the decisions are ultimately made by a small circle of political insiders.

"What we all know here is that there's one person that has to be swayed to one side or the other: the mayor," said Rick Garcia, director of the gay-rights advocacy group Equality Illinois and an opponent of the Pride Campus. "I think the mayor has sent the message loud and clear."

It remains to be seen if a grassroots effort can sway the powers-that-be before the board votes on the proposal in mid-November. The protests against the Rickover Military Academy in 2005 brought hundreds of progressive opponents face-to-face with CPS officials, but also illustrated how tough it is to challenge the mayor.

Still, Edgewater residents who live near the Academy continue to press the school board, Ald. Mary Ann Smith -- and yes, even the mayor -- to move the school out of their neighborhood. The group passed a 48th Ward advisory referendum in March 2006 calling on CPS to “establish a formal process to receive community input regarding the removal of the Rickover Military Academy," but failed to get any subsequent action. Nonetheless, the group of opponents continues to meet.

With that same spirit, Weiden says that committed backers of the Pride Campus are ready to pour lots of time and energy into making sure it opens in 2010. "There are a lot of supporters around us," he said. "They still want this to happen."

NCLB Expectations Grow, Student Achievement Lags

Angela Caputo — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:19:36 -0700

With just more than a week to go before an embargo is lifted on the highly-scrutinized test score results, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released some general figures today in an effort to get out in front of what's bound to be a steady stream of reports about lagging student achievement.

As anticipated, Illinois students this year had a tough time meeting the rising expectations established under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). More than a third of the state's schools failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on standardized tests issued last spring -- up 11 points from the prior year.

With the measure of success rising by 7.5 percentage points each year -- putting expectations well ahead of last year's student averages -- many educators wonder if 100 percent of their students can possibly make the grade by 2014.

The Center For Tax and Budget Accountability reform says that until resources are redistributed to bring equity, many of the state's schools will continue to struggle. The report Money Matters offers an explanation:

To date, much of the conversation has focused on funding and quality differentials between the wealthiest school districts and the most impoverished. Certainly, the contrasts there are striking. The untold story, however, is even more compelling. It focuses not just on the very top versus the very bottom, but rather the differentials between the wealthiest school districts in Illinois—versus the vast majority of districts that provide public education to over three-quarters of the children in our state.

The data here are stark and telling, revealing meaningful differences in school funding, teacher quality and academic performance that are truly statewide ... Racial inequities also emerge as a significant problem in Illinois, with African American and Hispanic children far more likely to attend schools in high poverty areas, with fewer resources, less qualified teachers and lower academic outcomes than their white peers.

As in years past, a majority of the 339 school districts that failed to make AYP this year are in low-income communities. From the inception of NCLB, educators, particularly in high-poverty schools, balked at the notion that 100 percent of all students in the state's 871 districts would eventually make the grade.

But this year, even those schools in middle-class communities -- particularly at the high school level -- expressed concern about measuring up. That's because this year's goal that 62.5 percent of high schoolers meet or exceed state standards on the Prairie State Achievement Test (PSAE) exceeded last year's statewide average by 10 percentage points.

They hung banners, amped up tutoring, and brought in day-of-test gimmicks like DJs and fast food. But in the end, students failed to make AYP. Among high schoolers, this year's lackluster results mark the second consecutive performance dip.

The news isn't all bad, according to State Board Supt. Christopher Koch. An additional 34 districts tested off the state's list of troubled schools by making AYP for a second consecutive year. An additional 101 made AYP for the first time. In all, 529 districts are in compliance with the NCLB standards.

"Schools and districts are making significant improvement, and this accomplishment is even more noteworthy given the various performance targets that continue to increase each year," Koch said in a release. "The staffs and students at these schools and districts should be very proud of their success to improve student achievement in their schools.”

Other highlights per ISBE:

- 2008 was the first time in 18 years that student enrollment in Illinois public schools decreased, from 2,077,856 in 2007 to 2,074,167 .

- Since 1999 the percentage of low-income students has increased from 36.1% to 41.1% in 2008.

- Minority enrollment increased to 46% in 2008 compared to 38% in 1999. The increase is accounted for mainly by Hispanic students who have increased from 13.9% in 1999 to 19.9% in 2008.

After six years, the fate of NCLB remains up in the air as educators and lawmakers anxiously look to new White House leadership to set a new school reform agenda. Many hope that they'll be able to hang on to the spirit of NCLB, which has driven higher standards across the state. What they don't want, though, is another test that they're bound to fail.

Ayers And Social Justice Education

Adam Doster — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:50:04 -0700

If you want to peer into the world of right-wing school reformers, Sol Stern would be a good guide. For almost a decade, this Manhattan Institute senior fellow has contributed articles about education reform to City Journal, the neoconservative urban policy magazine funded by the same free-market think tank. And for the past three years, Stern has made it his intellectual crusade to discredit a teaching pedagogy about which he seemingly understands very little. The latest iteration in a long line of articles (and an upcoming book) is his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this morning titled "Ayers Is No Education 'Reformer.'" An excerpt:

In fact, as one of the leaders of a movement for bringing radical social-justice teaching into our public school classrooms, Mr. Ayers is not a school reformer. He is a school destroyer. [...]

The readings Mr. Ayers assigns to his university students are as intellectually diverse as a political commissar's indoctrination session in one of his favorite communist tyrannies. The list for his urban education course includes the bible of the critical pedagogy movement, Brazilian Marxist Paolo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"; two books by Mr. Ayers himself; and "Teaching to Transgress" by bell hooks (lower case), the radical black feminist writer. [...]

America's ideal of public schooling as a means of assimilating all children (and particularly the children of new immigrants) into a common civic and democratic culture is already under assault from the multiculturalists and their race- and gender-centered pedagogy.

Having spent time reporting from a social justice education conference, visiting multiple classrooms where teachers employed the technique, talking to over a dozen people highly involved with the work, and then writing a feature article about the burgeoning movement, I can decisively say that the pedagogy Stern decries is by no stretch of the imagination "a school destroyer." When applied correctly, it can engage urban students long alienated by mainstream methodologies.

At it's heart, social justice educators emphasizes dialogue while remaining attentive to each student's social environment, something standard approaches to youth development work often overlook. By taking kids' lives as a point of departure, teachers are by no means indoctrinating students politically. From my piece:

Successful social justice education ensures that teachers strike a balance between debating sociopolitical problems that affect children's lives and teaching them academic basics on which they will be tested. A science teacher can plant an urban garden, allowing students to learn about plant biology, the imbalance in how fresh produce is distributed and how that affects the health of community residents. An English teacher can explore misogyny or materialism in American culture through the lens of hip-hop lyrics. Or as Rico Gutstein, a professor of mathematics education at the University of Illinois, Chicago, suggests, a math teacher can run probability simulations using real data to understand the dynamics behind income inequality or racial profiling. These are "examples of lessons where you can really learn the math basics," he says, "but the purpose of learning the math actually becomes an entree into, and a deeper understanding of, the political ramifications of the issue."

In America, the earliest major example of social-justice based education was the Freedom School movement of 1964, a group of grassroots institutions Stern would be hard-pressed to call unpatriotic. Yet it's easy too tarnish the entire approach (and Barack Obama simultaneously) because it's one Bill Ayers has supported. Keep that in mind when reading his critique.

CPS Unveils New Slate of Renaissance 2010 Schools

Angela Caputo — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:16:18 -0700

Forget the one-size-fits-all approach. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials have announced they're preparing to open a whole new slate of niche schools next year under the reform initiative Renaissance 2010.

Most will aim to prepare students, particularly high schoolers, for specific industries and trades -- from hospitality to technology to health sciences. Others, like the "gay-friendly" Pride Campus, hope to create an environment where students can learn at ease.

The Illinois Teachers Federation and Service Employees International Union Local 73 will also partner in opening one of the more traditional high schools in West Garfield Park. Among a handful of college prep schools is the Munchin campus, which will take up space in the historic Carson Pirie Scott Building at 1 N. State.

Just where each of these new schools will be located remains largely under wraps. More clarity will likely come after administrators make decisions regarding which existing schools, a dozen in all, will close next year, CPS spokesman Mike Vaughn said.

That's a departure from years past in which CPS targeted specific, low-performing schools, then brought in teachers, private firms, and other parties interested in taking on the task of independent stewardship. This year, much of the decisionmaking took place at official meetings. A shortlist was subsequently rolled out at community hearings held near South Shore, South Chicago, and East and West Garfield Park where the majority of the Renaissance 2010 schools are anticipated to open.

Jaime Guzman, who does outreach for CPS' Office of New Schools, explained the reasoning behind the new process: "This year we didn't have any schools that were vacant or under utilized."

The buzz around the education blogosphere, however, is that the process wasn't as inviting as CPS might suggest.

Renaissance 2010 has been controversial since it was launched in 2005. Education advocates have complained that there's no hard evidence that the 75 new or revamped schools have actually led to higher student achievement. The teachers union has denounced the initiative as a ploy to break the union's stronghold. And community members say their input is diminished when Local School Councils are disbanded.

"Our research shows that we have about 200 really good schools in the city that are already operating," said Don Moore, director of the school reform group Designs for Change. "We think they ought to strengthen them."

Research conducted earlier this year by the Rand Corporation suggests (PDF) that students slated to attended three new charter high schools could fare best among the Renaissance 2010 schools. That's because Chicago high school students have performed better -- in terms of higher graduation rates and test scores -- under charter school management than elementary schoolers.

A final hearing on the plan is scheduled for Oct. 15. The school board will vote on the recommendations Oct. 22.

CPS' Duncan Renews Call For State Income Tax Hike

Angela Caputo — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 09:58:13 -0700

As state lawmakers head back to back to Springfield Monday for an overtime session to tackle ethics reform, Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan said they ought to add one more thing their to-do list: Take responsibility for funding public schools.

The Chi-Town Daily News reports that on Thursday Duncan called on state legislators to approve a “modest income tax hike” to generate more money for education:

“Keep it simple,“ Duncan said at a hearing in Oak Park convened by the Illinois House of Representatives Elementary & Secondary Education Committee. “We cannot solve every problem facing the state with a single new revenue source. Focus first on education and capital -- kids and jobs. Once we address these issues, Illinois can tackle other issues.“

City officials, in July, decided against raising property taxes on behalf of CPS. Instead, they opted to pull $100 million from reserve accounts to get the cash-strapped system through the current school year.

Duncan's voice adds depth to State Sen. James Meeks' recent calls for state officials to make reforming the school funding system a top priority. So far, it appears the message is falling on deaf ears. Determined not to let that happen, Meeks' announced yesterday a plan to take the debate to a broader audience by attracting 6,000 school funding reform advocates to protest at Wrigley Field during the Cubs' Oct. 1 playoff game.

With the state budget already in turmoil -- and a credit crunch underway -- Crain's reported yesterday that school officials ought not get their hopes up that legislators will soon find consensus on a state income tax hike:

[T]hat requires approval by the governor and General Assembly, and they continue to squabble about just about everything. With its own revenues weakening, state government has begun to implement hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts. Some may be avoided if the state draws down excess cash in special-service funds, but such one-time revenue raisers are frowned upon by fiscal experts.

New Education Study Demonstrates Why "Money Matters"

Adam Doster — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:44:10 -0700

There's a strain of thought among some conservative education reformers that goes like this: because a complex set of factors (including social and economic disadvantage, teacher quality, and parental involvement) cause disparities in achievement between students in poor and wealthy districts, education funding reform isn't the cure-all to our the nation's achievement gap. Thus, we shouldn't spend much of our political capital addressing funding inequities. Instead, more vouchers!

Of course, it's absolutely true that equal funding doesn't erase the acheivement gap on its own. But that doesn't mean money doesn't matter. A new study released (PDF) by the Illinois-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability divides schools into three distinct categories based on their local property wealth:

- "Flat Grant" districts, which have the greatest amount of available local property wealth.
- "Alternative Formula" districts, which have the second greatest amount of available property wealth.
- "Foundation Formula" districts, which have available local property wealth that ranges from very low to just above average.

And what does the research show? Academic performance -- measured by data from the Illinois State Achievement Test -- is "strongly correlated" with mild increases (between $1,000-$2,200) in spending on instruction. The academic growth is evident in both school districts with low poverty (3-8 percent low income rates) and significant poverty (27-32 percent low income rates). CBTA concludes:

The 23 percent of Illinois students fortunate enough to attend school in wealthy Flat Grant and Alternative Formula districts, receive a better education, with higher quality teachers and significantly more spent on instruction, that do the vast majority of Illinois students—the 77 percent who attend Foundation Formula districts. In turn, those same children attending Flat Grant and Alternative Formula schools out-perform their peers academically, and at least some of that enhanced academic performance correlates to enhanced funding. These educational differentials affect the entire state of Illinois, and have been particularly harsh for students of color—African Americans and Hispanics.

To figure out how your local district stacks up, check out the Chicago Reporter's research from August.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user Max Wolfe.

Mike Flannery: McCain's Sex-Ed Ad "Disgraceful"

Josh Kalven — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:44:04 -0700

On WTTW's Chicago Tonight last Friday, CBS2 political reporter Mike Flannery laid into John McCain's recent ad suggesting that Barack Obama supports kindergarteners "learning about sex before learning to read." Flannery called the ad "disgraceful" and one of several "atrociously, grotesquely misrepresentative ads that the McCain camp has been running." Flannery added that the sex-ed spot "takes some of the sheen of the McCain 'man of honor' thing" and said it's an example of "overreaching on the part of the Republicans that they're going to regret." Watch it:

The Tribune's Eric Zorn has a good rundown of the "brazen inaccuracies" in McCain's sex-ed ad, as well as a compendium of other commentary on the topic.

Giannoulias Tackles Credit Card Marketing

Adam Doster — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:02:44 -0700

Fresh off his first national appearance in Denver, Alexi Giannoulias is back on the grind. Today, the state treasurer will unveil a new bill that would restrict credit card companies from providing gifts to college students who fill out a credit card application:

"Basically we want to limit the ability of credit card companies who prey on college students," Giannoulias said. "Unfortunately this can lead to serious long-term debt for students and their families."

The credit card industry hoodwinks consumers of all ages and income levels, but its aggressive efforts to sign up overburdened and financially naive students is arguably its most insidious marketing strategy. With college tuition and living expenses skyrocketing, marketers convince students of the flexibility credit cards allow, then offer them accounts with high interest rates and never-ending fees. It's no surprise that two-thirds of college students have at least one card and the average student will graduate with more than $2,600 in credit card debt, according to a recent U.S. Public Interest Research Groups survey.

The bill won't curtail exclusive agreements in which card companies and banks pay millions of dollars to schools or alumni associations for preferential treatment with their card-marketing efforts, but it's a step in the right direction.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user pladys.