State Report Card on Schools

Today's Chicago Sun Times headline proclaimed Payton as No. 1. No doubt, the students are doing well at Payton and that is great news. Certainly the students, staff and parents are accomplishing much.

What I found most interesting in the article is the evidence - test scores - which indicate that there are some high performing selective schools but many, many more selective schools which aren't performing well. My intent is to not 'rub it in'; rather, to make the point that selective schools and charters do have the same issues to contend with when it comes to educating students.

26% of the state's top performing elementary schools are selectives ones located in Chicago. But, it is also worth noting that 76% of the worst performing schools in the state come from the selective schools in the city. The same holds true for high schools. 12% of the top 50 schools in Illinois come from selective high schools in the city while a whopping 84% of the bottom 50 schools in the state are selective.

The critics and 'reformers' must come to grips with the concerns, issues and problems associated with the educational and social environment of students in the inner cities of America. Changing the organization structure of schools will simply not take care of these. Selective schools, by nature, don't automatically take care of these problems.

Dick