As you may recall, the initial round of hearing officer reports from the turnaround meetings didn't include any of the AUSL schools such as Casals. Well that's changed as of at least yesterday, when CPS sent out notice that the full list of hearing officer reports were online as part of a press release (see below) claiming that the hearing officers concurred with the staff recommendations on what should be done with the struggling schools. ("Independent Hearing Officers Support All 10 CPS Turnaround Proposals" is the subtitle of the press release.) I'm not sure everyone who read the Crane report will agree with that assessment, and perhaps there are interesting tidbits in the other reports as well. (The press release also cites the Consortium study that's been such a hot topic of discussion, claiming that schools being turned around right now will close the growth gap with the rest of the district in a relatively short time.) For right now, at least, it still looks like CPS will go forward in putting the full list of recommended turnarounds in front of the Board during next week's meeting. Of course, that could change during the next few days if CPS gets new information or doesn't want to be overturned by the Board. Perhaps someone will find out that AUSL fines students for eating in class like Noble Street does or creates art projects with possible gang signs embedded in them.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2012
CPS TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARD PROVIDING A HIGHER QUALITY EDUCATION FOR THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS AT 10 FAILING SCHOOLS
Independent Hearing Officers Support All 10 CPS Turnaround Proposals
CHICAGO – Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials today released the final reports of independenthearing officers containing their recommendations and findings on CPS proposed school actions, unanimously agreeing with the CPS plan to turnaround an additional 10 failing schools. The completed reports follow two weeks of public hearings and in-depth analysis of the impact such actions will have on nearly 6,000 students who are attending some of the lowest performing schools in the District. The Chicago Board of Education will vote on the proposed school actions at its next meeting, February 22.
CPS CEO Jean Claude Brizard welcomed the hearing officers’ reports noting their findings reinforce what District officials are working to accomplish.
“We have an obligation as adults to put the academic needs of our children before all else. As thesehearing officers indicated in their recommendations, the status quo that failed our students year after year can no longer be defended,” said Brizard. “Our students deserve an opportunity to access a high quality education and a chance at academic success. We believe turning around these 10 low performing schools will give them that opportunity.”
If approved by the Board, CPS will designate CPS’ Office of School Improvement (OSI) to implement the turnaround strategy at four schools serving nearly 3,000 students and the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) to implement the turnaround strategy at six proposed schools serving nearly 3,200 students.
At the hearings, CPS presented hearing officers with evidence outlining the rationale for the proposed turnaround actions. The materials presented included:
- An opening statement on behalf of the CEO by an attorney presenting CPS’ proposal to the Hearing Officer
- The proposed schools’ performance over the past years including: probation status, review of the Performance Policy, student growth scores to assess the school’s impact on academic growth, ISAT and PSAE (state standards) scores in reading, math and composite, drop-out rates and attendance rates
- District programmatic, academic and funding supports that have been provided to the proposed schools over time
- Future supports that would be provided to proposed schools
CPS has proposed six schools for turnaround by AUSL, which has a strong overall track record of increasing student academic achievement. Every AUSL school has outpaced the District in growth since undergoing turnaround, and year after year the average growth for AUSL turnarounds have significantly exceeded the District’s average growth. This past year alone, AUSL schools more than doubled the District’s average in growth.
In addition, CPS has proposed four schools for turnaround by OSI. OSI will make significant investments in teacher training, professional development and student academic supports to ensure students receive the time and resources they need to succeed. OSI elementary school turnarounds also showed academic growth at nearly twice the District average for composite ISAT scores, jumping 6.3 percentage points compared to the District’s gains of 3.8 percentage points.
Schools affected by the current turnaround proposal are:
AUSL schools:
- · Pablo Casals Elementary School, 3501 W. Potomac Avenue, which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
- · Melville W. Fuller Elementary School, 4214 S. Saint Lawrence Avenue, which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
- · Theodore Herzl Elementary School, 3711 W. Douglas Blvd., which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
- · Marquette Elementary School, 6550 S Richmond St., which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
- · Brian Piccolo Elementary Specialty School, 1040 N Keeler Ave., which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
- · Amos Alonzo Stagg Elementary School, 7424 S Morgan St., which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
OSI schools:
- · Chicago Vocational Career Academy (CVCA) High School, 2100 E 87th St., which has been on academic probation for 10 consecutive years
- · Edward Tilden Career Community Academy High School, 4747 S Union Ave., which has been on academic probation for eight consecutive years
- · Wendell Smith Elementary School, 744 E 103rd St., which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
- · Carter G. Woodson South Elementary School, 4414 S Evans, which has been on academic probation for five consecutive years
Across the District, CPS students are facing significant challenges. More than 123,000 students attend underperforming schools, which represents nearly one-third of all seats in CPS. In 2011, only 7.9 percent of all 11th graders tested college ready, and over 250 schools are on probation.
Last week, the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research released a report that stated CPS elementary schools that underwent turnaround reforms produced better academic results than other similar District schools that did not undergo turnaround. Findings of the report project that over a period of four years, the gap in test scores between turnaround schools and the District average will be reduced by half in reading and two thirds in math. During this time, test scores at similar schools that were not turned around are expected to show virtually no growth.
For a complete listing of Proposed School Action Transition Plans and Hearing Officer Reports, please visit http://cps.edu/About_CPS/
The Chicago Public Schools serves approximately 405,000 students in more than 675 schools. It is the nation’s third-largest school system.
Filed under: 125 S. Clark Street, Communities & CBOs, Events & Deadlines
The so called independent hearing officers are nothing but "hired guns", bought and payed for by CPS! P.S.- Rod, what do you think about the Crane hearing officers report now?
I thought Judge Coar's report on Crane Tech was excellent and it has been out for now almost two weeks. In fact Access Living met with CEO Brizard only yesterday and we brought a copy of his report with us to the meeting. His recommendation was that the CPS look at the community's plan for reforming Crane and he accepted the evidence we provided on why the proposed schools students are to be sent to are no better than Crane in terms of performance. His report did not support the closure of Crane based on the facts, his report did indicate that CPS followed the law in relation to the school closing proposal.
Judge Coar was an actual sitting federal judge for many years and he has heard many a special education case during his time on the bench. He fully understodd both what I wrote and said at the hearing, he is an honable man. You should not base your judgements on the CPS press release as the post below indicated.
Rod Estvan
Rod ok. Did CEO JC Brizard explain why CPS didn't separate the achievement academy students (160 students, slightly more than 20 percent of Crane;s student population) numbers CPS used in advocating for the school's four-year phase out? Did CEO JC Brizard say he or one of his staff member would not call for Crane to be phased out at the next Board meeting? Thanking you in advance.
Please read the recommendation section at the bottom of page 42 (the footnote section labeled 3) of the report for Stagg Elementary. In an unprecendented move the hearing officer clearly states that Stagg put an "exceptionally impressive" case before him but that all he was there to do as the hearing officer was to ensure that CPS had complied with all laws, policies and procedures. He even states that it is not his role, "no matter how tempted he may be", to substitute his judgement for that of the CEO. This is not what we were led to believe when we took the time and effort to pull together data and present our case. We thought that the hearing officer had such power, but now we see that as many people have said this was only a "show trial". I am dismayed and truly hurt at the level of deception by CPS. Not one person from the CEO's office came to visit our school before the decision was made to target us for turnaround. Ms. Dnoesi came for a 30 minute visit AFTER the list was released and did not have much negative to say at all. I have never truly considered leaving CPS and have been a faithful advocate and believer in the work that we do everyday for our children. But this process has changed something in me and I am truly contemplating leaving and working in the suburbs or for charters. Please take the time to read the aforementioned section and I hope that there is some kind of public outcry behind this. I checked and did not see such wording or sentiments expressed in any other report. This is a tragedy!
Also please check the footnote at the bottom of page 35. Again we did our part but yet it was all for nothing.
I think it is VERY important for Crane's hearing report to be recognized as supporting the efforts of the Crane Coalition. David Coar, the hearing officer, clearly states his recommendation that CPS NOT follow through with it's plans for a phase-out at Crane until it conducts a thorough analysis of the plan for school improvement that the Crane Coalition presented.
But, to the point that CPS put out a press release stating that all 10 Turnaround proposals are supported by the respective hearing officer reports -- I remind you that Crane was never listed as a potential "Turnaround" but rather a "Phase-out". CPS carefully worded it's press release (of course) to ignore the exception of Crane's hearing officer report and it's support of Crane's community-based anti-phase out improvement plan
There was NEVER any chance that Fred Bates would recommend against CPS - he has a history as a hearing officer for CPS and to my knowledge, has never sided against CPS. We only wish we had known that on the 30th, and we would not have wasted our time putting on a "show" for him. There was no speaker against the school that night, only CPS . In spite of giving us credit for the documents that were presented to him with data to prove that Casals is not the lowest performing in the city , that Casals outscores over 100 elementary schools, that Casals outscores even some AUSL schools, that Casals has had a 29% gain on the ISAT since 2002, that a parent vote was 171-10 against the turnaround, and on & on - no matter what, he was going to side with CPS.
So while it is disappointing that he and CPS are so predictable, it was expected and not a great shock to us at Casals. They have ignored the parents , the Community Action Councils ( CAC) , the teachers, and basically just said they are going to do what they set out to do no matter what anyone connected to these children thinks.
I am expecting that the Board will vote FOR all the school actions next week, but my hope still lies with the LSC lawsuit and the State bills , which can change things even after Feb. 22nd.
The Casals staff would like to ask the rest of the teachers / staff at all the schools to join us in the protests that the Union is sponsoring on Thursday and Monday ( details at ctu.net ). We would greatly appreciate everyone's support for the schools on this year's action list.
Thanks !
Maria Guerrero
Pablo Casals School
Dear Maria and Educator, sad but true! Continue to fight, it's not over until it is over. See you at the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:30 am at 125 S. Clark Street, 5th Floor. Yes the Board will adopt (approve) all school actions, however there is still hope in the lawsuit and the state bill.
good catch about crane -- apparently they're doing the crane re-analysis the hearing officer recommended but it isn't done yet -- i think this is already known but just in case.
I'm surprised by your word choice "apparently" in reference to any analysis of the Crane plan situation. I would love to know your source. There is some "talk" -- sure. But, if CPS is in any way even close to being "done" with a thorough analysis of the Crane Coalition plan for school improvement under SLI -- I would hesitate to call the analysis "thorough".
1. Urban charter schools require minimal public investment in physical plants, library programs, the arts, science labs, athletics, personnel, and transportation infrastructure.
2. Urban charter schools are cheaper because they depend upon an endless stream of young beginning teachers with few benefits, no retirement payouts, and no collective bargaining.
3. Urban charter schools make it easy to segregate based on race, economics, gender, and disability.
4. Urban charter schools allow for the exclusion or dumping of problem students whose abilities, behaviors, or test performance that could damage to the charter brand.
5. Urban charter schools make it easier to hide the problems of the poor by pointing to testing success by those who survive the charter gauntlet.
6. Urban charter schools allow for the imposition of cultural and psychological control techniques in urban areas that are not subject to public scrutiny.
7. Urban charter schools put decision-making and control into the hands of unelected executives with no oversight beyond hand-picked board members.
8. Urban charter schools (not for profit CMOs) allow corporations and wealthy donors to reap huge tax benefits for their generosity to corporate charter schools.
9. Urban charter schools (for profit EMOs) expand business opportunities for the education industry & testing-industrial complex.
10. Urban charter schools make it possible to take the state tax dollars saved from the forced choice of urban charters and use that money to enrich suburban public schools without raising taxes.
11. Urban charter schools are in high demand among CPS parents.
Hi: Have you found a good school for you child? Where did you choose?
Very good. That I have the luxury of choice isn't relevant to the charter school debate.
I think there will be more and more evidence that as the total number of charter schools increase in an urban area like Chicago the cost advantages decrease relative to traditional schools. This is in part due to the reality that these schools are attracting more difficult to educate students who will because of the crowding out effect of charter expansion have no where else to go to school.
For profit charter EMOs also will want as time goes on to turn a profit, right now most are lucky to break even. So the price point is going to have to increase. Not for profit EMOs will be faced with problems coming from state and federal funding sources due to on going fiscal crisis and will have to rely increasingly on the property tax levy. Charter schools will not solve the fiscal problems of public education. Eventually the conservatives who support charter schools will turn against them in favor of vouchers and then increasingly over time cut the value of vouchers given to families to balance their books.
Rod Estvan
Yes, time will tell ----- but will our city's education reporters?
12. Wouldn't it be wonderful if overcrowded urban schools could just have a wait list instead of putting 40 in a class and teaching math in the boiler room?
Another good article on how the school board is failing kids along with creating the fraudulent image of AUSL.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenzo-shibata/the-board-of-educations-c_b_1276335.html