232 schools could face big exodus
Law lets pupils flee institutions that are failing
chicagotribune.com.
July 16, 2002
'No Child Left Behind' -- failing schools and school choice
By Stephanie Banchero and Michael Martinez, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Ana Beatriz Cholo and Diane Rado contributed to this report
Published July 16, 2002
Two hundred and thirty-two elementary schools in Illinois, including 179 in Chicago, have failed state achievement tests for a fourth consecutive year, triggering a new federal law that allows students to flee chronically underperforming schools and enroll in better ones, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Taking effect this fall, the new law could create havoc across Illinois, forcing large districts to bus hundreds or thousands of pupils within their borders, while mandating that single-school districts find neighboring districts willing to accept their youngsters.
In Chicago alone, nearly 40 percent of the elementary school population attends schools on the list released by the state board Monday. All pupils at those schools could seek transfers next fall.
About 150,000 elementary pupils in Illinois, including 124,000 in Chicago and about 20,000 in the suburbs, could be affected, according to a Tribune analysis. There are about 1.5 million elementary pupils in the state.
No one yet knows how many of these children will opt for a new school or, more important, whether districts have places to put them.
"This is going to be a complicated mess," said Joseph Kaczanowski, interim regional schools superintendent for suburban Cook County.
The 232 schools on the school choice list are located in 32 counties across the state, but the bulk of the schools are in the Chicago area.
Suburban Cook County has 27 schools on the list, Will and Lake Counties have four each and Kane County has one.
Each school landed on the list because more than 50 percent of its pupils flunked the Illinois State Achievement Tests in 1999, and the pupils failed to make "adequate" progress over the next three years. For this list, adequate progress is defined as improving at a pace fast enough to meet the 50 percent bar within five years.
Illinois tests 3rd, 5th and 8th graders in math, reading and writing. Pupils in 4th and 7th grade are tested in science and social science.
The state board typically releases statewide ISAT results in October, but was forced to speed up the analysis for the worst performing schools in order to give districts enough time to plan for busing. The rest of the ISAT data will be released next month, officials said.
High schools not listed
Illinois high schools were not listed because the state switched to a new high school exam two years ago and does not have the four consecutive years of data required this year.
The "No Child Left Behind" act, signed by President Bush in January, greatly expands federal oversight of public education, mandating annual testing of children in grades 3 through 8 and one grade-level in high school , insisting every classroom teacher be fully certified and setting a 12-year timetable for closing racial and economic achievement gaps in test scores. The new law also includes a boost in federal education spending, which translates into an additional $240 million for Illinois.
But the linchpin of the law is its accountability measures, which demand that children in failing schools be allowed to move to better schools and take their share of federal education money with them beginning this fall. Under the federal law, school districts must notify parents in failing schools before the school year begins and give them 30 days to seek a transfer.
If schools continue to fail, they must offer private tutoring for students who remain. The provision will kick in during the 2003-04 school year. Beginning next school year, slightly different measures will be used to determine which schools are chronic underperformers.
78 city schools escape
Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan said he was pleased that more city schools did not land on the list, pointing out that 78 additional schools made enough progress this year to escape the list.
Duncan acknowledged that busing students out of poor-performing schools will be a challenge, but said he remains in favor of offering students as many choices as possible, and is optimistic that the new law can be accommodated in Chicago with minimal disruption.
"What we're working on now is how best to create some additional options for students who might desire that," Duncan said. "We will have more choice for transportation this fall than we've had in the past. We're working as we speak to design those additional options."
However, Chicago school officials have decided to bar students from moving into schools that are already crowded and, for the most part, from entering the desirable magnet and selective-enrollment schools. Duncan said that leaves about 100 schools eligible to accept transfers--with the possibility of 124,000 pupils trying to get into them.
He also said the district might further limit those choices by barring students from transferring from one end of the city to another.
Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, a local reform watchdog group, was pessimistic about the results of the new parental options.
"In a sense, it will be the lowest performing schools exchanging students with low- to medium-performing schools, and overcrowded schools won't be able to do anything," she said. "This is not providing parents with a high quality choice and I think it's because it's not well organized and there's not enough time to prepare the process and parents are not yet given adequate time to make a choice about their child. I think what you will have is a lot of disgruntled parents and not much change."
Officials in Elgin-based District 46 also are struggling to figure out where they could move students in failing Hillcrest Elementary School.
"Our schools are typically pretty crowded," said Assistant Supt. Ann Riebock.
Lori Lennix, principal of Doolittle Middle in Chicago, which landed on the list, said she doubts many pupils will choose to leave.
"I just don't see where they have anywhere to go to," she said. "If I was going to transfer my children I would probably look in the paper and look for schools that are in the 99 percentile, but there's not going to be any seats there. There's really nowhere to go."
Meanwhile single-school districts, such as Burnham School District 1541/2 in the south suburbs, must find a neighboring district willing to take pupils who want out.
Though the federal law came with additional funds to help low achieving schools boost test scores, Chicago could spend the bulk of its new money simply moving students from one school to another.
The new law says a district must spend up to 20 percent of its federal Title I poverty money (about $41 million in Chicago) on busing and tutors for students in failing schools.
The requirement to bus more children comes as Chicago tries to trim its transportation costs to find more money for instruction and construction. The district's spending has swelled to $122 million to bus about 40,000 children. |
