Nothing New on ISAT's

Kudo's to the students at the various schools who scored well on the 2014 ISAT's. The schools always near the top of the list of high performing schools, year in and year out, are still right there. In Chicago these are the 'classical' and 'gifted' schools for the most part. In the suburbs, the schools are New Trier, Hinsdale Central, Stevenson and other north side suburban schools. It is what one would expect.

Yes, there were some CPS neighborhood schools who made some real progress on ISAT's this year. Well done!!

What you typically won't see, though, in terms of great gains on the standardized test are schools where 80% (and above) of the students come from low income families. I have discussed at length the many disadvantages facings students and families with high rates of poverty. In fact, poverty is just one of many variables working against these good people.

Before anyone shouts out that the parents are to blame or the schools are to blame, kindly take stock of the very real conditions that these students and families have to contend with on a daily basis and then you will understand why scores don't often go up. In fact, you'll reach the conclusion that it isn't all about the scores.

Dick

The Power of Many

Yes, there is power with many. When it comes to collecting winter wear, there are plenty of ways to engage a big group to help with this cause. Please consider any of the following!

Why not ask your son or daughters classmates to help

Get your religious affiliation or civic organization to jump in

Check with your neighbors...they are bound to have something in those closets

I bet your co-workers could be of assistance

This is a terrific project for a boy scout or girl scout

A school club or sports team might find this a great bounding initiative

Thanks for your consideration,
Dick

It's Urgent

Yesterday's call to action was an important one...let's provide warm winter clothing to the kids who need it. But a one day call to arms is not nearly enough to get the job done. I'm certain some people will heed the call to come up with the gloves, boots, mittens, coats, and hats that will keep the students warm this winter but I want to encourage everyone to see themselves as part of the answer to help those in need.

Aside from personally buying the clothing I've suggested you purchase or finding some suitable clothing in the closet, why not go a bit further? Perhaps your place of work or religious or civic organization, that you are a member of, would be willing to collect the above listed items. Maybe you are a teacher and can ask a club to pitch in and help.

I do know that the students, parents and teachers are appreciative of the generous donations that you've made in the past. I also know that providing items of need beyond the supplies received at the start of the year makes a real difference. Sadly, poverty doesn't end when a child gets his/her school supplies, it continues to hurt in so many ways; be it nutritious food, clothing, medical care and more.

Please consider asking your friends, your house of worship, your place of employment to join with us in collecting winter wear. Caring is critical, taking action is the solution.

Many thanks,
Dick

Need for Kids Winter Clothing

Cold, snow, ice, slush (an occasional warm day) and wind are all part of winter around Chicago. With the wintry weather not far away, it is time to help the students we work with in the Chicagoland area as the bad weather descends upon us! Aside from PK-8 grade winter coats, we are also collecting mittens, gloves, hats, boots and scarves for the children. These are the warm clothing items that the children are often missing and are just as necessary as a warm coat.

Keeping the children in warm winter wear has been a big part of the work of our charity over the past years and it continues to be a huge need according to school officials and parents. Many children wait for a bus or walk to school and nothing beats staying warm and dry as the students head to and from classes.

We will be collecting all of these items from Nov. 1st through Dec. 10th. As in the past, if you are kind enough to collect the clothing, I will be more than happy to stop by and pick them up. Give me a call at 630-863-6035 or email me at rich219@comcast.net and we can make arrangements. Sizes needed are children through adult medium.

As in the past, new clothing is always sought though we do accept very clean and 'gently used' items. Please accept my thanks for your consideration of helping us as we continue to support the kids.

Dick

No Way to Treat Them

I find it insulting whenever I see that various government bodies fund schools based on a given amount per student. It as if, according to their thinking, that this is a 'fair' way of dispensing money. That might be true if all the other variables were the same. That's certainly not the case.

An affluent area in a district, with little crime, high employment and other positive school/learning environmental factors shouldn't be penalized for being successful. On the other hand school children in less affluent areas where other factors mitigate against learning could use greater funding to compensate for the negative influences surrounding the learning situation.

It may sound 'fair' to dole out the same amount of money to every school based on a particular amount per student but fair is in the eyes of the beholder. Just what comprises 'fair' in one situation is not necessarily so in another instance. What I believe is 'fair' is to provide each school what the leaders of that school deem as necessary to properly educate their students. In that regard, the amount provided per student will surely differ from one school to another.

We went through an era of 'separate but equal' and we don't need to go there again!!

Dick

Well, What do you Know!!

Yesterday, CPS Board Member Andrea Zopp actually made an admission of sorts. Ms. Zopp essentially said it was hypocritical of CPS to close 50 schools in 2013 while opening new charters at the same time. In her own words, Zopp remarked, "We cannot continue to open new seats [charters] and then say 'Well we closed schools because we have too many seats.' It's highly hypocritical."

Zopp went further on charters. "But we need to be thoughtful and strategic about what schools are where, and also make sure they're performing charters. Many of our charters are not performing."

Many citizens are under the impression that just because a public school becomes a charter then all is well. That isn't the case. The name of a school system and how it is organized is not assurance of student success. Student growth and success has many, many variables and whether it is a charter or not has little to do with such achievement.

Let's hope other CPS personnel heed this warning.

Dick

Slipping Away

For the first time in some years, the population of the CPS schools has dipped below 400,000 students. To most, that isn't all that meaningful. After all, you teach whoever shows up at the door. I get that point. What is troubling is the fact that the slid has other implications for all of those involved in running and attending the schools.

For one, state and federal funding is affected by enrollment on the 20th day of classes. There is certainly bound to be less of these funds heading to CPS schools due to the decline in enrollment.

Just as troubling, at least to me, is the constant drip of students out of the CPS system into the myriad number of other school systems in the city. The reason I raise the issue is not to take a shot at these systems; rather, the more students who leave CPS the more the negativity surrounds those who remain within the hallways of CPS schools.

Critics of CPS will say that the options offered elsewhere better serve the students. Whether this is true or not may be tough to judge and never really comprehended by the masses.

For me, it is hard to watch the system lose students.

Dick

Public Schools

I was well on my way to get a cup of coffee and to add a second segment on the wonderful book I am reading entitled "How Children Succeed. Well, as I pondered the next couple of ideas I wanted to make in today's blog it suddenly occurred to me that I had a more pressing urge. That urge deals with the true meaning of public education.

There are selective schools, charters and other public school facilities that aren't really part of the normal neighborhood school. What really irks me is the fact that every darn school in this country ought to be 'selective' in the sense that it has an unbelievable faculty, great facilities (for the most part) and so very many rich programs.

Every public school in every corner of this country ought to have all the tools that selective schools have at their disposal. To ignore making every school 'selective' is to ignore the growth of children. Creating 'selectives' merely says that some students count and that other students count for less. That is the message whether people like it or not. Just a different form of discrimination!!

Dick

"How Children Succeed"

We have been going along full steam for the past couple of years being told that all educators had to do to ensure student success was to make sure that we did a great job at cognitive development. Of course that level of cognition can always be assessed/measured and that is one of the reasons for all the testing.

Some of the most recent studies have found that what matters most in terms of children succeeding is not getting young people stuffed early in life with numbers and reading. To be sure, this is not a rant about the need for cognitive development; rather, it is an examination of the forces that have a larger bearing on long term success in life.

Paul Tough has found that what really makes a difference in one life are the forces of grit, curiosity, persistence and the hidden power of character. His research, along with that of others, across many spectrum (social sciences, stress physiologists, economics and more) have found that the care and attention children receive in early life are the building blocks that shape the above qualities.

Tough has found that it doesn't matter if a child is reared in an economically impoverished home or that in a wealthy neighborhood. What matters is limiting the stress that anyone can confront and stress can be found in within any socio-economic area or locality. All of that being said, it is likely that children in locations of high crime, poverty, broken homes and the like face greater stress obstacles.

If we are truly looking at helping children succeed then we need to examine current practices and look at other meaningful ways of assisting children as we school them.

Dick

KICK keeps on Kicking In

Led by seniors; Tim Brankin, Austin Beard, Wes Begevin, Evan Floersch and Justin Yi, the Hinsdale Central Boys Soccer Team scored BIG in its KICK effort this fall. As a unit, along with their teammates at all levels, the HC teams raised $6,010.00 through various endeavors.

The KICK effort is providing the funds to Schools Count Corp. so that we can continue to aid students in both the Chicagoland area as well as in other locations. The $6,010.00 is the second highest amount ever raised during the six years of KICK's existence. To the five seniors, their teammates, HC soccer parents and local businesses, please accept my thanks for making it possible for students to have a better chance of realizing success in their studies.

Your contributions are most significant even beyond the supplies you provide to the children!!

Many thanks,
Dick

Crop Walk Success

The CWS Hunger Crop Walk in Mt. Morris was a whopping success. Thanks to our generous donors the 'Flesher' team raised $1050.00. I have participated in this walk and this is the first time we have been able to raise over $1,000.00. No doubt, some families in the Polo, IL area will be better fed because of your generosity.

Thanks,
Dick

More on "A Nation at Risk"

True to form, the commissioned report entitled "A Nation at Risk" was a scathing attack on public education. To read portions of it, as I have done, one would think we were at war both with ourselves and the rest of the world. It is clear from the harsh tone and actual language that we had lost our way. It is mind blowing to understand just what motivated this lashing-out at education and teachers. Was it because of the actual classroom conditions, perceived failures, 'the times,' the ushering in of the Reagan era (remember he didn't even want a Dept. of Education) or was it, most likely, a combination of many forces.

Whatever precipitated the onslaught, the damage was, and still is, done. We have moved towards a time when any successes/failures in the classroom and education in total must be quantified. Standardized testing, accountability, time on task, more testing, longer school days, lengthier school year, merit pay tied to student test scores and more. It is a perpetual maze of meeting standards, measuring up if you will.

Of course almost all of the above doesn't come close to dealing with students; their level of interest in material, their level of motivation, how they see themselves in the world and other issues pertaining to their lives. Much of the quantification craze also has little to do with great teaching!

To get right down to it...Perhaps the report "A Nation at Risk" has done more harm than good!

Dick

A Nation at Risk - Part II

If you read my recent blog concerning itself with the 1983 report, "A Nation at Risk," you will understand that this commissioned report has had much to do with events currently taking place in the classrooms of America. Be it standardized testing, the creation of charters or the accountability factor, it is clear that the report has had a profound influence on today's education.

Where to start. Well, first of all President Reagan refused to commission the report. His Secretary of Education, T.H. Bell set up the commission. In fact, President Reagan, as one of his goals, actually wanted to abolish the Department of Education. No wonder he didn't commission it!

It's general outcome was that America was "was not meeting the need for a competitive workforce." The thinking was that we were becoming less competitive because something must be wrong with primary, secondary and post secondary education.
I think this is an important point because it seems to assume that the goal of education is to prepare our citizens to be workers while seemingly ignoring the other crucial roles that education plays in the lives of its citizens. So, it appears that the mission of the report almost completely ignores other crucial roles that education has played throughout the course of America's history and which has helped to advance our society

The report came up with five content areas that need to be addressed. These include; content, standards & expectations, time, teaching, and leadership & fiscal support. In the coming days I will comment on these areas and do my best to demonstrate the relationship between these and what is currently taking place on the American education scene.

Dick

A Nation at Risk

That famous piece of bureaucracy encased in the report, "A Nation at Risk" certainly caused a stir in 1983 and it still, in my view, sadly remains a landmark that continues to bash public education as it set off the cry for accountability, national standards, testing and so very much more. As these particular features of American education still persist to this day it is worth noting that this report was driven during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan along with his Education Secretary William Bennett.

The report essentially said that many of America's teachers were not up to par. Of course, lots of blame was laid at the doorsteps of teacher associations...unions to many.

Though the movement spawned by this report was big on closing the gap between test scores of whites, blacks and others of color, it is worth noting that the report explicitly rejected many of the other civil rights oriented goals of the previous two decades. It's as if the report, and subsequent actions, were blind to many of the realities back then and even today. Yes, scores must improve but by not addressing those still harmed by the lack of civil and economic rights those actions were doomed to fail.

Perhaps the actions which followed in the aftermath of "A Nation at Risk," today's charters, mandated testing and the like did more to jeopardize or harm the nation than they solved. I believe it is worth thinking about!

Dick

True Reform

School reform, in my mind, is a misguided and poor term to use in discussing the state of public education. I believe what we all ought to be discussing or focused on education going forward. To say that we need to reform education smacks of 'something is terribly wrong.' It's not a matter that something is wrong; rather, that we need to make adjustments and modifications in or to move the enterprise forward.

The history of public education is laced with as many ups and downs as any institution has endured. That being said, the history of American education is one of proven success. It is critical to examine long term/larger picture in order to see that the American public education system has served this country well.

True 'reform' (if that term must be used) is one that has always been at the forefront of the discussion. This is nothing new. Nearly everyone has gone to school and/or college and that means people have a basis of knowledge because of that fact. It is understandable that everyone is going to weigh in on the state of education.

I believe that moving forward we would all be best served, not by shutting anyone out of the conversation, but by making sure that the over 3,000,000 teachers in this country are the ones who need to lead the dialogue. When we look to our teachers, professors and other professionals in the classrooms of America I believe we will find the ideas and solutions that will continue to serve the citizens of this country in the manner they deserve.

Dick

Another Myth Buster

One of the major complaints of the reformers is that too many bad teachers are protected by tenure and unions (actually most schools are part of associations not unions). Well, hold on friends, I have some news for you!! In a thoughtful and provocative recent release Dana Goldstein in "The Teacher Wars" debunks this harmful and misguided myth.

As Goldstein notes, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that companies with over "1,000 employees lost only about 2% of their workforce from firings, resignations, and layoffs combined." By the way, this is recent research from 2012. Goldstein goes on to say that "In 2007, the last year for which national data is available, 2.1% of school teachers were fired for cause, a figure that includes tenured teachers.

The fact of the matter is this...teachers are more, not less, likely than many other workers to get fired.

Maybe some out there want more teachers to be fired but that is a different proposition than saying that teachers aren't let go because of poor performance. It would serve everyone well to get their facts straight.

Just another one of those myths circulating as truth but, in fact, it is just that...a myth and not truth!

Dick

Another One Bites the Dust

The Spring of 2013 saw the closure of 50 neighborhood CPS schools. Word now comes that Hancock High, a neighborhood high school, will now become a selective enrollment school. As the Sun Times reported on Oct. 2nd, that means "the school will no longer guarantee any of its seats to neighborhood children."

Hancock will become the 11th selective enrollment high school in the city. One of the key things to understand, among many regarding the choice of Hancock, is the fact that students get into selective schools via a test. So when you get right down to it, this will not be a neighborhood school in any way, shape or form.

By the way, no public hearings were held prior to this announcement. How is that for engaging the public on such a plan? A community hearing will be held to gauge reaction to the proposal to make Hancock a selective school but you can be pretty darn sure nothing will change.

Just curious...has the current Hancock done something wrong? Can the current school's administration add the programs destined for Hancock as a selective school without gutting the current school's programs? I wonder if that was looked at...not likely!

Dick

No Cuts!!

Well, a bit of good news out of CPS late last week with regard to funding. The 10th day of school is always an important benchmark in terms of attendance as it relates to either an increase in funding or a decrease to the individual schools. Traditionally, if a school, on the 10th day of classes has fewer students than what was projected, that usually results in funding cuts to schools which have lower actual enrollment figures.

The CPS brass made a decision not to take back any of its money from schools that did come up short on enrollment. This is good news for the often cash strapped CPS-run schools. Sadly, many of these schools did see a reduction in student enrollment after 10 days of classes.

Thank goodness CPS didn't penalize the schools who suffered a shortfall of students. Any more cuts to these schools, some which face an array of problems, would further cripple learning and further inflame other issues and concerns within the various communities.


Dick