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No miracles
Chicago school reform has modest results
October 10, 2011
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Chicago has tried cutting-edge school reform after reform. In the 1990s, Paul Vallas ended social promotion and championed high-stakes standardized tests to hold schools accountable. His successor, Arne Duncan, shuttered failing schools and boldly vowed to create 100 new schools in a decade. Educators revamped reading and math curriculum. Chicago gained a national reputation for being on the cutting edge of urban school improvement. Duncan runs the federal Department of Education today.
But are those reforms really working?
The sobering answer: Not as smashingly as you might think.
Researchers at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research tracked Chicago school progress from 1988 through 2008 and concluded:
• Elementary reading scores didn't budge much over that time, despite a massive effort. While white and Asian students showed modest gains, African-American students did not improve at all.
• African-American students, particularly males, fell further behind all other students over the two decades. The pernicious racial achievement gap is growing.
• The city's high schools are the bright spot. They're performing better than many people think. Graduation rates are up: 66 percent now graduate by age 19, up from 48 percent in 1997. Impressive gains. But many kids still drop out and many who graduate remain unprepared for college.
The study didn't pinpoint which reforms were most effective. It did underscore that there are no broad miracles in education. No single reform lifts all students.
So why has appearance not matched reality in Chicago schools?
The consortium study points to state-mandated changes in the content, scoring and benchmarks of state standardized tests. Illinois sets the bar very low compared with other states, and in recent years has even lowered passing scores, creating phantom gains.
Yes, we've dumbed down our tests. This should not come as a shock.
"Many states bob and weave their way around strict school-testing standards—and Illinois is one of the worst offenders," we wrote in 2007 when the Thomas B. Fordham Institute issued a damning report, "The Proficiency Illusion."
In 2009, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago concluded Chicago's public schools had made little progress in raising student achievement over several years. Though the system reported rising student passing rates, in fact most schools were not showing significant gains. The Civic Committee has been saying for years that the city's reform success has been more modest than advertised.
Meanwhile, the challenge is getting greater. In Thursday's Tribune, national educators Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane made a sobering argument that a growing gap in family income is fueling a growing gap in education attainment between rich and poor children. The number of affluent children who complete college has soared while the number of low-income children who graduate has largely flat-lined.
Duncan and Murnane argue for more national attention to income inequality and a greater push for early childhood education. We agree.
This also, we think, argues for a tremendous push to attract and keep the most talented teachers and principals in Chicago. Organizations such as New Leaders for New Schools, the Academy for Urban School Leadership and the Chicago Public Education Fund are doing just that. Dedicated teachers and principals do produce inspiring results, student by student, school by school. This is the key to the future of CPS.
The sobering research also underscores the need to expand the school day for Chicago students. The status quo — one of the shortest school days in the nation — is a crime.
Teachers at 13 elementary schools in Chicago have voted to expand the day. The rest of the system will have an expanded day next fall, by state law.
Chicago Teachers Union officials have filed suit to roll back the hours and snatch extra pay from teachers at the 13 schools. Next year is soon enough, the union says.
Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard recently invited union leaders to help select the next 25 schools and design guidelines for expanded instructional days. On Friday, CTU President Karen Lewis invited Brizard to meet with her and other union leaders this Tuesday to talk about the plans for a longer day. We hope the union will drop its legal challenge. Dedicated teachers know how to make the best use of that extra 90 minutes of precious classroom time.
Those talented teachers and principals are key to improving Chicago's schools. More reforms are coming. New evaluations will hold teachers accountable for students' academic progress. The best-performing teachers should be paid more, the worst fired faster. Same for principals. Schools don't improve without aggressive leadership.
After two decades of school reform, we've learned not to expect miracles. Most Chicago students don't need a miracle. They do need talented teachers, talented leaders, and a sense of urgency from everyone who is charged with the noble job of educating them.
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
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