Archive for March, 2010
Some good budget news
Here ya go Mr. Huberman!
Apparently principals got news from Ron Huberman today that the state has allocated some extra money to help the CPS budget crisis (reducing the CPS deficit from $1 billion to $600 million.) So they kicked in $400 million?
In any case, this is great news, but it also delays the budgets that the principals were waiting for (such as will there be Pre-School for All next year? Will they lose teaching positions?)
So CPS is working out more details.
Hopefully someone runs across a sack of money with $600 million in it and this all goes away……
Post your news here, Part 2
UPDATE: According to one of our field reporters, Academic Center letters were mailed Monday night (March 29.)
Well, my loyal obessers, here’s the lowdown right now….
First of all 5,850 blog hits yesterday. Thank you, my fellow crazies! And thank you all for the kind words. I’m glad to provide a place where people can share information and find out the scoop from other like-minded parents.
And yes, I decided to “out” myself for a recent Tribune article (I’m posting the link even though I look utterly pained in the photo – which I was since my son was being crazy after 30 min with the photographers.) His long hair was a major photographic obstacle and I had to finally hold it out of his face. Sigh..
And I swear, I did tell the reported that having a good neighborhood school as a back-up (as I do) is the best way to sleep well at night.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-schools-search-20100327,0,5712084.story
But, back to business!
So far, the Acceptance letters for the Gifted and Classical schools have gone out. It sounds like the non-acceptance letters are starting to arrive too (nothing at my house yet.) No one has reported on letters from the Academic Centers.
The Classical letters give a score and percentile. The Gifted letters give a score but not a percentile (but you can call the testing office to get that percentile.) The scores seem really high again this year, as they were last year (as compared to previous years when scores in the low 130′s was considered near the top of the heap.)
I’ll say it again, but keep in mind that there is a LOT of movement after this first round of offers. Kids will leave classes for a range of reasons, parents will turn down spots, etc. It’s far from over, so don’t despair.
Keep the posts coming. We all love to hear what’s going on in other households….
Gifted/Classical/Magnet Letters – Post Updates Here!
Is THIS what you're looking for?!
***UPDATE: The office of Academic Enhancement started mailing letters (gifted/classical/acad centers) Thursday 3/25 and there have been reports today (Friday 3/26) of Classical and Gifted school letter acceptances received. It appears that only ACCEPTANCE letters have gone out yet. So information is on its way…..***
***UPDATE 2: Saw this link on NPN that says that principals will find out Monday 3/29 whether their Pre-K for All will continue next year:
http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/611 ***
OK, fellow obsessers, this is our big week!
With just a few precincts reporting, we hear that letters from the following schools have been received so far:
Disney
Disney II
LaSalle II
Franklin
Mark Sheridan
Hamilton
Pierce
Prescott
Apparently Franklin and Disney say that you need to come in to the school to find out your wait list number. Efficient! (Insert eye roll.)
(I’ll update as the news comes in.)
GEAP reports that we’ll have gifted/classical scores by the end of the week (they may have more faith in the USPS than some of us do.)
So good luck to all. (And remember, neighborhood schools are a wonderful place to be a part of.)
Also, please report if anything about TIER is mentioned in those letters. How are those waiting lists ranked? Are there 4 waiting lists? Inquiring minds want to know!
Defining academic rigor in CPS
Could you guys help me out with something? As part of the LSC for my neighborhood school. we’ll be helping define the SIPAAA, or school strategic plan for the next 2 years. Parents have been talking a lot about wanting more “academic rigor” and I’ve been having a hard time verbalizing what that really means.
The more I thought about it, I think one of the fears of having a child in a big urban school system is that they’ll make it through 8th grade and attend some good high school where they can’t quite cut it. I don’t want MY kid to be one of those who can’t punctuate, barely knows the basics of math, and doesn’t know that Paris isn’t a continent, you know?
As I’ve been thinking this weekend, my current theory is that academic rigor is a gradual process that builds up so kids have the following skills when they enter high school:
-Good reading, spelling, and punctuation skills
-The basics of geography, science, and technology (enough not to embarrass themselves if they showed up at a good suburb school)
-Can write in an organized way
-Have written reports that go fairly in-depth (rather than just regurgitating facts from the Internet.)
-Can engage in some level of critical discussion
-Know how to research and write a basic paper
-When posed with a school project can come up with creative and interesting idea on their own
-Some self-regulation skills at doing school work
I feel like the middle school grades should be working hard towards these goals, with the elementary goal being to get the kids ready for the middle school level of focus on these. So sort of working backwards from 8th grade graduation.
I can’t tell if I’m totally missing the boat, if any of these are too advanced for 8th graders (I don’t know any and I can’t recall that far back!)
Please share your thoughts on what academic rigor means to you and how you feel it is implemented in a school.
Does it makes sense to public acknowledge kids who excel? Or does it make others feel bad?
What can school do to aim high? Is it more than just giving work beyond grade level?
Any input is greatly appreciated.
Gifted/Classical letters delayed until next week
This deserves front page status: Thanks to NS Mom for making the call (but fer cryin’ out loud! Next week? Well, at least we know.)
Just FYI: I called the GEAP Office this afternoon re the letters for Gifted/Classical. They said the letters will go out Monday (3/22) or Tuesday (3/23).
Eric Zorn on the SE High School Process
Not for me, but for my 12-year-old son. He had made a short movie to fulfill a language arts class assignment and the film was due. But he couldn’t find a disc to burn the movie onto the night before, so he went to bed.
I shouldn’t be out here, dodging puddles, crossing busy streets.
I should be in the kitchen, reading the paper, having a cup of coffee and preparing to deliver the classic “Let This Be a Lesson to You …” speech when my son realizes that the DVD fairy didn’t come overnight to save him from the penalty associated with turning in an assignment a day late.
Yet instead I’m playing DVD fairy and preparing the feeble “Don’t Let This Happen Again” speech.
It’s the next morning.
I’m supposed to be working.
Instead I’m engaged in a complex e-mail negotiation involving my son’s teacher and his principal over the way a portion of a recent exam was graded. I’m building the case that he deserved five more points (and one higher letter) than he got.
And even though my appeal is successful, I have enough self-awareness to be dismayed that I’ve become an archetypal pushy, enabling father.
My excuse:
My son and his twin sister are in the seventh grade, “Hell Year” for students in Chicago who are hoping to win a spot at one of the city’s elite public high schools.
Historically, only about one in five applicants get in. They compete more or less on a point system — one third of their application score is based on their seventh-grade classroom grades and another third is based on the results of standardized tests taken in seventh grade. The final third is based on an entrance exam they take in eighth grade. And the average score for admitted students has been creeping up each year.
So could one DVD being turned in one day late or one dropped letter grade on one exam in one subject in March of 2010 cost him a place at one of the top city public high schools in the fall of 2011?
And is it necessary to pay hundreds of dollars to have him and his sister enrolled in a weekly, after-school program run by SelectivePrep, a 5-year-old local company modeled after businesses that prepare high school students for their ACT and SAT college-entrance exams?
Maybe not. But the stakes for being wrong are high. At the city’s top four public prep schools, 90 percent or more of the students test at or above grade level. At our local public high school — the default option — fewer than 20 percent of the students test at or above grade level. These same four elite schools rank in the top five in the state for test scores and regularly launch students to the best colleges and universities.
“The system forces 12-year-olds to deal with pressures that are worse than what 17-year-olds deal with” as they prepare for college, said Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, a watchdog group. “And because the requirements seem to change every year, they never know when the ground’s going to shift under them.”
The “safety” schools for Chicago elementary pupils are either private or suburban, options that are expensive or disruptive at best, out of reach for their parents at worst.
Chicago has increased the number of selective-enrollment programs in recent years, but not nearly fast enough to meet demand or allay the anxieties of neurotic parents like me.
“The two-tiered system was created to keep advantaged families in the city,” Woestehoff said. “But the bigger it gets, the more harm it does to the neighborhood high schools.”
Long-term, she said, “the solution is to fix all the high schools so that, 15 years from now, anyone would feel comfortable sending their kids there.”
I believe this. Just as I recognize that no one is forcing me and my wife to raise our children in the city and that, unlike many parents, we have the luxury of enduring this drama by choice.
Short-term, though, the solution is soggy shoes, a fresh sleeve of blank DVDs and a guilty conscience.
LINKS:
An annotated version of this column — the director’s commentary, as it were — is posted here.
Chicago Public Schools Office of Academic Enhancement’s web page on Selective Enrollment High Schools
If anyone cares…
I found out that Blago’s daughter will be going to a Catholic high school next year (no idea which one – I know nothing about them.) No snarky comments please, or I might lose my information source.
Da budget
Well, here are the details on the budget. Horrifying is the 37 kids per room.
Don’t blame CPS. Blame our beloved state and the politicians who won’t vote ti increase education funding in Illinois.
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/district-299/FY2011%20Budget%20Briefing.pdf
The Gifted/Classical selection process
I’ve been writing a page that will be a FAQ for the Gifted/Classical program, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve written about the selection process for those who don’t know.
I would pay good money to get to be in the GEAP office during this whole process. (Hey, there’s a CPS fundraiser idea!)
As a disclaimer, this is my interpretation. Please add any information or other interpretations you may have…
How does GEAP select who gets in?
Once all the kids have tested, they rank the kids in test score order. They start at the top and see what school those kids picked and assign them their top choices. They keep moving down the list of test scores, assigning kids, trying to get you into your highest choice.
In the past, there were 2 lists of kids: Caucasian and Non-Caucasian. Caucasian kids could get up to 35% of the spots in a class (they make up about 9% of CPS overall.) So the GEAP office worked its way down the 2 lists separately.
For the 2010/2011 school year, CPS is using a 4-Tier system that assigns kids to schools based on the socio-economics of their census tract. 40% of gifted/classical spots will be assigned based on test score alone, and the remaining 60% of spots will be evenly divided by Tier. There is no gender balancing in the gifted/classical program.
Once the first round of spots are offered and some families turn spots down, GEAP will continue to call to fill the spots, moving down the list (by Tier) until each class is filled. You could even be called the week before school starts.
If your child scores really high, they’ll probably get a spot in your top choice. If they scored well, but not super-great, they may get in your 3rd or 4th (or last) choice.
As note on strategy: If you accept your #4 choice, you won’t get to move up to your #1 if a spot opens. That is the tricky part – do you take #4 or take the chance of turning it down in hopes of a better (or closer) position being offered.
Those letter are coming soon…
Just for fun, I called the GEAP office to inquire about the letters on Gifted/Classical testing.
The woman who answered said that on March 19 (1 week!) they will mail out both the test scores and initial school assignment together.
She didn’t know whether a percentile would be included. (One year I’ve seen one, one year I didn’t for gifted. Classical had a percentile both years.)
I’m really interested to see whether the scores that kids need to get into the gifted programs are as high this year as they were last year.
UPDATE: Unofficial reports on NPN say that the magnet letters will be delayed.
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