for instance, during last night's board meeting, i discovered that CPS has absolutely no idea what it's doing. i mean, what's the point of designating a school a magnet school when it barely even qualifies for it? sure, studies have shown that kids at magnet schools do better - but not because it's called a magnet! they actually have a curriculum and magnet teachers to actually teach it!
anyway, i'm sitting in the meeting listening to one of our literacy task forces report why their results have been mixed and i thought i was in the twilight zone. the conversation sort of went like this:
'reading scores are down at schools AB&C.'
'but don't we have a program there to help with literacy?'
'yes, but the teachers don't like it and aren't using
it.'
'ok, but that's the district's reading tool. are we using
something different?'
'no, we're supporting the district's reading tool.'
'but they hate it. the teachers hate it.'
'yes.'
'and we're giving them money to not use something they
hate?'
'apparently, yes.'
'but aren't they a magnet school? aren't they supposed to have higher
reading scores?'
'well, yes. but they don't. they're in the 20th
percentile.'
'then why are they called a language and fine arts magnet?'
'because parents wanted a magnet.'
'but they don't have a magnet curriculum that supports higher
literacy.'
'well, right.'
'so it's a magnet in name only. underneath, it's still a crappy
chicago public school.' (this was my question)
'in effect, yes.'
'so what are we doing there, again?'
'we're supposed to be helping them read.'
'but they don't have a reading program.'
'yes.'
'and so our impact is basically zero.'
'yes.'
'why are we there, again? i don't get it.' (me again)
if i understood what the poor guy who led this task force was telling us, the city decided to create a random cluster of magnet schools in an inner city area without actually making them a real magnet school (like on the level of a peyton prep or new trier). the schools chose what kind of magnet they wanted to be but didn't actually have any standard, higher level curriculum in place so that it could actually be supported - and, apparently, the classes that are supposed to be 'magnet' level aren't comprehensive at all; they don't have the student scores to justify being a magnet and they don't have the teacher capacity to be a magnet. so why are they a magnet?
that's like saying 'i want to be a genius' and then i go up in my tree house and put out a sign that says Genius and then waiting for my geniosity to strike.
is it just me or is that utterly ridiculous and absurd?
4 comments:
Hmm, that does sound ridiculous. My kid's at a magnet school here. I think the gifted class (which my kid isn't in--accounts for maybe about 15% of each grade's kids) does the curriculum for the next grade up. And the non-gift standard curriculum may be above the standard non-magnet curriculum--my son was learning "regrouping" (the newfangled name for "borrow from the 10's column and carry the one" in subtraction) at the end of first grade, and that's a second-grade criterion in the Wisconsin schools (where my sister-in-law teaches). My sister in the 'burbs tends to view my kid's curriculum as a little ahead of her school district, too.
So yes, there's probably a magnet curriculum and teaching system that accounts for the test scores being higher than all the non-yuppie, non-magnet schools in the area.
Our neighborhood non-magnet school is Brennemann. It's got poor test scores and draws largely poor kids (Uptown). They have some great teachers (my son's pre-K teacher there had been teaching slightly older kids there for years and was terrific and motivated). They also have many needs. They were just working on opening up a school library when my son was leaving! Yes, the kids hadn't had a library for years. The computer room was a new thing, held up for years of bickering between the principal and local school council. The school nurse was there only one day a week.
With such shortfalls in services, labeling it a "magnet cluster" school (it is a "fine and performing arts" cluster school) doesn't do a damn thing to raise test scores or help kids learn. Although maybe they only got a library because they were becoming a magnet cluster school? I dunno.
it's baffling to me how these decisions get made. i mean, isn't the whole magnet thing based on the school's already existent strength? like, a school has already proven that it has an excellent math and science program so its magnet designation plays up that strength because it has a proven track record.
(this is the way i remember magnet schools working in my day.)
but if there's a school that's just randomly made a 'magnet' but it only offers one or two classes in its rumored 'expertise' then how does that make it a magnet? is it all because of funding? the funding makes it so?
and so, last night, while we're trying to figure out how our organization can still make our program work in this so-called magnet school, another board member reveals that CPS has hired some guy from the Old Town School of Folk Music to create a fine arts curriculum for a new magnet cluster and set in place better measurement, goals, programming, etc.
shouldn't they have done that FIRST??
i tell you, it boggles.
as a parent with a kid in the system, do you get frustrated with CPS?
I worked with a kid who was in a magnet school on the south side - and it was just as crappy as all the other schools (and racist beyond belief - to me at least - I was horrified at how my kid was treated there by the white teachers). It seemed to have no specialized training. The only thing it seemed to specialize in was no tolerace for anything, thus causing kids to get suspended for minor infractions, or being refused entry to classes for being seconds late.
There's been a lot of debate about reading programs (in the NYT most recently). Part of the issue with some of them is that they teach to the test, rather than really teaching reading skills. I wonder if that is part of why the teachers don't like it?
Sadly, one result of this horrible system is that when they get to college, their skills are horrific (it is not unusual to see kids with 5th grade writing and reading levels), yet they graduated high school with great grades and thus think they don't need to work or take feedback.
Mind boggling, beyond boggling. I barely understand any of this, and the bits I do understand make me go "WTF?"
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