Archive for October, 2009

Am I Raising Cain?

One of my fears about entering CPS was the “Raising Cain” issue.  If you don’t know about this book, it’s about how young boys in our society are often labeled as “naughty” in class because our schools are set up so that typical girl behavior is the ideal whereas rowdy, energetic little boys have a hard time conforming to the sit still/don’t talk/don’t touch any one standards.  (Actually I think a lot of 6yo girls are like that too, but according to folklore, they can reign it in when needed.)

It took my son a good 6 months to warm up to school and his Kindergarten teacher last year and all the other kids in the class.  The teacher mentioned to me one day that “he really seemed to be coming out of his shell and showing his true personality.”  Then a week later was the first time he got in trouble in class.  So his true personality was a naughty one that had been held captive inside for many months and was ready to break free.

This year has been tougher because first grade is a bit more serious: no play time (exploration stations,) more real work time, and in general, not a lot of time to chat with friends throughout the day.  Frustrating if you are 6-7 years old.

So today my son’s class went on a field trip and he told me that he was in the teacher’s group and he thought that she put all the naughty kids with her (I think teachers do that so no parent gets stuck with the crazy kids and refuses to do field trips any more.)  I scoffed at the notion (since MY son isn’t THAT naughty) and asked for the names of the other kids in the group.  All boys.  All energetic boys.  I think he was right.  I love all those boys.  They’re all full of energy and goofiness and fun.  But of course that doesn’t fly when a teacher is trying to corral six of them at once.  In fact I remember losing a kid on that same field trip last year.

I still am having trouble understanding little boy energy.  I see them play fighting and wrestling around and whapping each other and it freaks me out, but they seem to be having fun.  I can see where a young teacher would also have a hard time just letting it happen.

I don’t know what I’d do in the perfect world to deal with the rambunctious types in a first grade class.  What comes to mind is letting them out into the hallway every hour to run like banshees for 5 minutes.

Or maybe I’ll form P.O.N.K.  Parents of Naughty Kids and fight for our rights.

10 comments October 27, 2009

Voice your opinion about the end of the Consent Decree

A parent at school tipped me off to this link where you can give your opinion about the end of the Consent Decree to CPS (assuming somebody there is actually reading and doing anything with these comments, of course.)  Oh, do I sound bitter?  I have a major rant about CPS bureaucracy brewing within me  that I must spew forth this week.

In the meantime, you can spew forth with you opinions on the topic here.  At the very least, perhaps tell them that there’s probably a heck of a lot of CPS parents who don’t know that this has ended.  On the other hand, there was probably a lot of parents who never knew it existed!

Changes Due to Federal Court Decision
October 2, 2009

On September 24, 2009, the federal court vacated the Chicago Public Schools desegregation consent decree. As a result of that ruling, the race-based criteria referenced in the Options for Knowledge Guide and the applications and other materials related to the 2010-2011 admissions process will not be used to make admissions decisions.
Alternate admissions procedures are currently being developed and will be available for public comment in the near future. This website will provide information regarding public meetings. Please check back often.
The Options for Knowledge Guide was already printed in anticipation of the start of the application period. Each printed guide is now labeled to advise parents and guardians of the upcoming changes in the admission criteria.  This information is also printed in the electronic version of the guide available online.
Applications from this website (found under “apply”) and in the Options for Knowledge Guide, can be submitted immediately.
Updates can also be found at www.cps.edu.
Comments and suggestions are welcomed at 773.553.2060 or at http://cpsoae.org/apps/contact/?rn=9229812.

1 comment October 27, 2009

CPS Grading Scale

I got a note this week from my son’s school that referenced the CPS recommended grading scale, which I have to admit surprised me.  Here’s how it looks:

A    93%-100%

B    88% – 92%

C    78% – 87%

D    70% – 77%

F    0% – 69%

I don’t have anything insightful or witty to say about this.  It just strikes me as weird.  Why is CPS so much tougher than the typical grading scale?  Whatever happened to the old-fashioned 90% is an A, 80% is a B, etc?  I can’t figure out the reasoning behind it.  Grade inflation? (Or is it deflation?)  The appearance of high academic standards?

C supposedly stands for “Meets the Standard” so I guess I wouldn’t want the standard to be in the 70%’s.  Then again, I guess I never thought of getting C’s as meeting a standard.  So maybe that’s the confusing part.

In any case, our school officials voted to revise our grading scale, which is great.  But I think about the grades needed to get into the Selective Enrollment high schools and how strange it is that each school can determine their own grading scale.  Heck, make it really lax and all our students can get into a good school! (kidding.)

As usual, if anybody has insight into this, please share.

13 comments October 20, 2009

The 20th Day of School

If you’re lucky, you’ve never been in a situation where understanding why the 20th day of the CPS school year is important.  That’s because it’s a day immediately after which chaos can explode.

Each year, principals across the city have to estimate their student population for the upcoming school year.  CPS then assigns a certain number of teachers to the school based on the expected number of students.  CPS uses a formula to determine the number of teachers that a school gets based class sizes of 31 in the upper grades and 28 in the lower grades.  This works out nicely for schools that have roughly 28-31 kids per grade (or in multiples of 2, 3, etc.)  But things get extremely problematic if there are say 70 kids in one grade.  They don’t break out nicely into 2 or 3 neat classes.  Or when a school is light in the upper grades and heavy in the lower grades.  Or when a school comes up just a few kids short to get a needed teacher.

The other challenge is the difficulty of estimating the number of kids who will be enrolled during a given year.  Some families say that they’re coming then they don’t show up.  Others show up the first week of school without having registered.  Also, the principal has to make a good guess on how many out-of-neighborhood kids to let into the school through the lottery.  In schools that are growing popular or have changing demographics, guessing the enrollment can be tricky, even for an experienced principal.

Because the number of students tends to fluxuate during the first weeks of schools, CPS waits until the 20th day of school to take the “official” student count.  (Honestly, I can’t imagine how flaky parents are to let things drag on that long, but hey, I’m crazier than the average parent.)  After that 20th day, a school can get an extra teacher/s or lose a teacher/s.  And as you can imagine, that is just enough time for kids to have gotten attached to their current teacher and get used to a schedule, only to have it put into upheaval after day 2o in school.  If a school ends up with a few students over prediction, they most likely get lucky and have small classes.  If a school falls a few short, they often end up getting the short end of the stick and have a couple really big classes.  This whole allocation process applies to Kindergarten, but separately from the rest of the school.

So what can you, as a parent, do about it?  The ideal scenario would be to butt into the administration’s business and inquire about it before school starts.  The later it gets into the school year, the harder it is to get families to switch schools.  Be proactive in finding out what your school’s expected enrollment is and the first week of school how well they’ve guessed.  Some principals may not want to share this information.  Others may be fine talking about it.  But it can’t hurt to ask.

I just hate it when parents are suddenly surprised on day 21+.  Try to stay informed.  The CPS teacher allocation system may be crazy, but knowledge may help ease the pain a little.

Add comment October 16, 2009

The Big Book of Schools

Every year, CPS prints a giant phonebook-style guide to the Elementary and Preschools.

Their track record of getting it out hasn’t been stellar.  In fact last year I believe it was distributed to the libraries about 3 days before the end of the application period in December (that isn’t an exaggeration.)

I tried to find the 2009-2010 guide online but it’s been taken down so I called the CPS office who distributes it, ready to give them grief for taking so long.  To my great surprise I spoke to a very nice helpful human who says they are aiming to have it out by the end of October.  She pointed out that the book is really a year early since it is for next school year, at which point I pointed out that in fact it is not early, but in fact LATE given that the application period will end 7 week s after the book comes out.  (I did compliment them on being earlier than last year though.)

She says she’ll contact me when it’s ready.  Yes, I could not believe I was speaking to a CPS employee.  So we’ll see….. when I get the word I’ll let people know.  These are usually available in the libraries and park district buildings.  In the meantime, the CPS web site allows you to look up each school but it is a bit more time-consuming.

7 comments October 14, 2009

Great new DVD/CD

This isn’t CPS related, but is educational in nature.  I highly recommend the new They Might Be Giants DVD/CD set called “Here Comes Science.”  For a mere $9.99 on Amazon you get both the video and music.  The songs are catchy and teach kids about science topics.  I’ve learned stuff myself from them.  Just a note that they’re very pro-evolution-as-science so if you don’t believe we’re related to monkeys, just keep that in mind.

Giants

Here’s the Amazon link that includes a sample video:

http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Science-Might-Giants/dp/B002FKZ4UO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1255494540&sr=8-1

4 comments October 13, 2009

Race Information from CPS

This was posted as a comment but is worth its own post:

Dear Parent and/or Guardian:

On September 24, 2009, a federal court decision vacated the Desegregation Consent Decree that has governed the student selection process in the Chicago Public Schools for nearly 30 years.

As a result, race-based admission criteria will no longer be used to make admissions decisions. The Board remains committed to creating diverse
learning environments for our students. We are currently considering alternate admission procedures which will utilize selection factors other than race. We anticipate the new procedures will be presented to the Board of Education at its regular meeting on November 18, 2009.

It is likely that sibling and proximity considerations will be maintained, as well as the current status of our magnet schools and programs. Parents and guardians and other members of the public will have an opportunity to provide input into the new procedures; please check our website (www.cpsoae.org) for information related to the development of the new policy and how you can provide your thoughts on this process.

The enclosed Options for Knowledge guide contains information on all our programs, schools, and processes, as well as Standard and GEAP applications. The Options guide identifies schools by school type and by program, includes helpful tips for applying, and outlines new application submission procedures for GEAP schools and Selective Enrollment High Schools. We encourage you to apply to as many schools as you would be satisfied to have your child attend.

Please note: Because the Options guide and applications were printed before the federal court decision was handed down, they still contain language related to the use of race in the selection process. Any information regarding racial/ethnic selection guidelines or minority transfer programs that were governed by the Consent Decree is now obsolete and should be disregarded.

Add comment October 13, 2009

Back to Business

Computer virus is finally gone.  Thanks to the reader for the suggestion – that did the trick but I still had to have someone come look at it to fix my email.

So….the big news among CPS parents and potential parents is the end of the consent decree, which means the end of using race to assign spots in magnet, gifted, and classical programs.   For decades, CPS has balanced these classes by race (Caucasian vs Non-Caucasian) to ensure that minority students (who are actually in the majority in CPS) get spots in the desirable schools/programs.

One could argue for hours (or years) about the social implications of this decision but for now what it comes down to is: “What does it mean for my kid.”

The problem seems to be that despite knowing that this change was possibly coming down the pike, CPS seems to have no idea WHAT criteria, if any, will be used to balance the classes.

And this is resulting in chaos out on the front lines.  From what I’ve been reading on the NPN message boards, the schools themselves don’t know whether parents should fill in the race bubble on the application form.  In typical CPS bureacracy, the exact policy (if it exists) hasn’t been communicated to the school offices, nor to parents.  I’m thinking that if I fill something out this year (I probably will not, but then again that’s what I thought last year) I will fill in the race bubble just in case.

The scary thing for the parents with kids entering K next year (or trying for a spot in a higher grade) is that it is a total unknown.  In the past you kind of had an idea of where you stood in terms of odds.  Now it’s anybody’s guess.  And THAT is torture for an obsessed parent.

What the new policy will be, when it will be communicated, and HOW it’ll be communicated is all up in the air. This oughta be interesting…..

1 comment October 12, 2009

Computer Virus agony

There’ve been a lot of great comments and ideas for posts lately.  I’m plagued with a computer virus that is making it reallyhard to post so please be patient and I’ll respond soon (computer Gods willing.)

2 comments October 4, 2009

Upcoming School Fairs

I should have posted this information sooner, but I’ve been pestered by what feels like the 10 Plagues of the Modern Age: Computer virus, broken Blackberry, broken toilet, non-working heater, non-spinning washer, and taxes due.  I don’t know what to conquer first.  I’d rather have locusts or cattle plague at this point.

Options for Knowledge Elementary School Fair

Time: 9 a.m. to 12 noon
Place: Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Van Buren
 
Parents can obtain information about a variety of elementary magnet and gifted options, meet school and program administrators, and prepare for the 2010-2011 school year.

 

NPN Preschool and Elementary School Fair

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Horner Park Fieldhouse
2741 W. Montrose Ave. Chicago (at the corner of California and Montrose)
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

You can register online at: npnparents.org

You don’t need to be a member to attend but it looks like you DO need to register in advance.  I believe it’s free.

I love that The Latin School and Near North Montessori will be one of the schools participating….as if they need to drum up business.  Strangely, Dairy Queen will also have a table there.  This fair has traditionally be pretty mobbed, but is a great place to gather information on a lot of schools at once.  A large number of Catholic schools exhibit.  It’s good for pre-school information too.

1 comment October 2, 2009

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