Report Card MAKING THE GRADE? A first semester assessment of the latest effort to reform Chicago's schools by Michael Hawthorne There's a new team heading the Chicago public school system. The state gave the city's officials more responsibility and more authority. So, how are they doing? Following years of dismal student test scores, divisive battles over teacher salaries and seemingly endless stories about waste and corruption, the Chicago public schools have a new management team riding a wave of political good will. Thanks to a revamped reform law crafted by Gov. Jim Edgar and the Republican-controlled General Assembly, the new Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees has set a dizzying pace during the past year. Led by former top aides to Mayor Richard M. Daley, the board plugged a $150 million deficit, hammered out a four-year contract with teachers, promised a four-year balanced budget and cut millions in waste. The system's improved outlook persuaded the financial community to issue $806 million in bonds to build new schools. This new phase of reform has been a boon for Daley politically, even though he complained last year that Republican legislators gave him vast new powers to reshape the city's schools without the money to back it up. Instead, the law gave Daley's hand-picked team power to shift money within the existing budget to eliminate the deficit and finance new initiatives. The mayor, the governor and legislative leaders now squabble over who gets credit for the new system. "People feel pretty good about what's happened there in the last 12 months," says Edgar. "The Chicago schools always complained they didn't have enough money. The new school board at least has taken care of that issue so there is more time to spend on what's happening in the classroom." Many risks remain. Compared with the daunting task of improving student achievement, the cost-cutting measures were easy. For instance, a recent survey by the Consortium on Chicago School Research indicates the older students become, the more likely they are to skip school, ignore homework, fail major courses and drop out of school. The report concluded the city's massive high schools are failing despite years of reform efforts. "It's not simply a matter of fixing a dysfunctional LSC [local school council], changing a principal or improving the curriculum," says Penny Bender Sebring, a consortium director and co-author of the report, which was based on a 1994 survey of 39,000 students. 32 ¦ September 1996 Illinois Issues Paul Vallas, the public school system's chief executive officer and Daley's former budget director, is credited with steering the system in the right direction, but analysts say it may take years to boost test scores, reduce the dropout rate and curb truancy. "The next year will be critical," says Larry Braskamp, dean of the college of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "While Vallas has made tremendous strides, people eventually are going to demand some demonstrable results in the classroom." Perhaps the most striking result of the new phase of Chicago school reform is the generally positive outlook of administrators, teachers and community leaders. Vallas has strategically sought the advice of principals and provided them with money to develop a training academy. Teachers got raises and limits on class sizes. The CEO even solicited his rivals in Catholic schools for ideas about how the public schools can be improved, including breaking high schools into smaller units where students can receive more individual attention. "There have been some wonderful things happen in the past year," says Beverly Tunney, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. "Paul is very bright and politically astute. If we can keep people focused on our goals instead of fighting with each other, I'm optimistic we can turn things around." There are signs the sheen may be wearing off Vallas' armor. At first, teachers and administrators welcomed Vallas' call for mandatory summer school for struggling students. The $25 million program is part of an effort to end "social promotion," where students are sent to higher grades even if they fail to demonstrate the necessary skills. Eighth- graders who scored below certain levels on standardized tests were required to participate this year. Third-, sixth-, ninth- and tenth-graders will be added next year. Vallas initially proclaimed the system was ending social promotion altogether, but that hasn't happened. Many of the students are years, rather than several weeks, behind in such crucial subjects as reading and math. Some teachers say the summer school program was slapped together without a clearly defined curriculum or reasonable goals. "Part of the problem is there seems to be a sense of desperation among people at the top for results," says Joann Podkul, a social studies teacher at Bowen High School. "They try something for two minutes and if it doesn't work they try something else." Moreover, Vallas angered some reform groups by quietly shepherding a measure through the General Assembly this spring that gave the board authority to establish more stringent standards for hiring and retaining school principals. Some reformers say the measure is an attempt to take power away from the local school councils, panels created under the 1988 reform law that, among other things, hire and fire principals. Illinois Issues September 1996 ¦ 33 "We're concerned about this recentralization of power," says Joan Jeter Slay, associate director of the reform group Designs for Change. "Our city already has a horrible reputation when it comes to patronage. Does this mean a principal will have to be a supporter of the mayor to get or keep their job?" Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw, a Naperville Republican who sponsored the measure at Vallas' behest, says there were no nefarious motives behind the new criteria. Having standards in place for such an important position shouldn't be controversial, she says. "I know the LSCs may look at this as a threat to their authority, but that's not the intent," says Cowlishaw, chair of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. "All we are trying to do is help them as they try to select the best principal for their school." Many observers say the new management team must produce results to protect Daley from suffering an embarrassing defeat. But putting the mayor in charge of this latest effort increases the chances of coordinated action among various groups within the city to improve the schools. "You cannot talk about Vallas without talking about his support from the mayor," says Jim Nowlan, a senior fellow at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. "Vallas' stock is very high right now among corporate CEOs, the media and political players in both parties," says Nowlan. "That has helped him deal with the unions and the overall political culture that has run other administrators out of town. The paradox is you can't expect to see changes in test scores overnight, and yet that is what so many of us want to see now instead of five years from now." Michael Hawthorne is the Statehouse bureau chief for The News-Gazette of Champaign. He is also the Springfield correspondent for Catalyst, a publication that focuses on Chicago schools. One assessment A conversation with Linda Lenz by Michael Hawthorne Linda Lenz is editor and publisher of Catalyst, a publication that focuses on Chicago schools. Lenz covered education for the Chicago Sun-Times for 11 years. She launched Catalyst in 1990 after state lawmakers approved the first Chicago School Reform provisions. She talked with Michael Hawthorne about the latest efforts to improve that city's education system. Q. Mayor Richard Daley has a lot riding politically on this latest reform effort. How is his hand-picked team faring after a year on the job? A. In the public's eye, I think people believe they are doing a great job. It's a big plus for the mayor. They've taken the right steps to make sure kids are going to learn more, such as more preschool education and sending kids to summer school if they don't have a certain grade point average. But I wonder if they've started so many things that they're going to lend up bumping into each other at the local school level. There have been cases where strong leaders charge in and force-feed innovations to faculty, and it just doesn't work. Q. Suburban Republicans once described the Chicago school system as a drain on the state. Now they've crafted this plan to improve the system. Have their changes been helpful? A. Certainly taking the shackles off the way the [Chicago School Reform] board spends money has made an enormous difference. If legislators hadn't done that, the board wouldn't be doing all these things that are generating hosannas. I also think it makes sense for accountability to be with the mayor. There are a couple of things the legislature mandated that have simply been ignored, such as the accountability council that was supposed to help place schools in remediation. My reading of the winds is [schools' CEO] Paul Vallas would just as soon do it himself. Q. Vallas and the new school board have generated a slew of positive headlines during the past year by plugging the system's deficit, exposing waste and fraud and talking tough about improving student achievement. Are there any signs they are succeeding in actually helping students learn? A. Test scores in general went up, and most people say this is a result of many of the changes the schools implemented during the first phase of reform. It's important to note the two levels at which the scores went up the highest were sixth and eighth grades, where kids were facing summer school if they didn't post a certain score. I don't know if the kids learned any more or simply paid better attention to the test, but it's an indication that particular initiative is working out. The board also says it has ended social promotion, which actually hasn't happened. You still are going to have kids going to high school who haven't met the cut-off score. If you are 15 years old, you go to high school, no matter what your test score is. 34 ¦ September 1996 Illinois Issues
Q. What do you make of recent reports that conclude reform efforts have failed in the city's high schools? A. The system loses its better kids after eighth grade because many go to private high schools. That's one reason why the scores at public high schools are so low. The high schools also are not organized in a way to serve the kids they are receiving. But the problems are deeper than that. Many kids come from poor families and just aren't equipped to do well in school. Q. Some people say public schools no longer work. What do you tell those people? A. You can go to classrooms in the city where kids are learning, but those classrooms typically are staffed by a good teacher and a good principal. It's tough to find quality people to teach 400,000 children. For example, there are more lucrative alternatives than teaching for women today. At the same time, there are programs out there that make teachers better teachers. Nobody wants to hear that schools need more money. It's true that it doesn't take money to teach well, but if you look at where schools are and where they need to go, it can't be done simply through exhortation. The new school board is using exhortation very effectively, but there are limits to how far that can go. Q. Some reform groups aren't too happy about some things the new school board is doing. Why are they so upset? A. What you have here is pretty much a one-man band. Paul Vallas is largely determining the ways schools should change. He's playing very well up to this point, but there is a question about how far you can go with centralized leadership. While it's true local school councils still maintain some control, there is a lot of strong-arming from the top. They haven't really followed through on developing leadership at the local level. The people who favor decentralization appear to be whiners because Vallas' initiatives have appeared to be good so far, but research shows the changes that really make a difference come from the local level Q. Where else do you see potential points of friction? A. I think there will be a conflict over whether kids can move on to another grade even if they don't scow well enough on tests. There also will be increasing friction over money. And then there are all these different initiatives they've started: freshman academies, small schools, summer school and so on. They know some things schools have to do, but I'm not sure they fully understand what it takes to get the faculty to do it. Q. How should this latest reform effort be judged? How long should people wait before they see results? A. Right now people feel the reform board walks on water. The principals got substantial raises and are getting more power. Teachers have a four-year contract with raises and limits on class sizes. The test will be whether they can put together a system of accountability that has objective standards and can demonstrate progress. The previous reform effort gave them a good head start. I think we will be able to see results in another four or five years. A primer: Explaining school finance So complex is the system for financing Illinois public education that Alan Hickrod, an Illinois State University professor and singular expert on school funding, has often quipped: "Only four people completely understand the Illinois school funding formula, and they are not allowed to travel on the same plane together." Numerous efforts have been made to explain the system, with varying degrees of success. Now the Illinois Tax Foundation has tried its hand in a booklet entitled A Guide to School Finance: What taxpayers, school board members & administrators need to know about Illinois public school funding. While author R.E. Everett (a professor at Northern Illinois University and the executive director of the Illinois Association of School Business Officials), can do little about the byzantine system he describes, he manages to explain it in an understandable way — although the reader should be forewarned that it will require a good deal of attention and patience. Those willing to stick with it will learn about "average daily attendance, or ADA," the significance of the "resource equalizer" and how a school district budget is put together. If enough people manage to read all of this, we may be able to let those four hapless souls take a trip somewhere together. Unfortunately, changing the system is even more difficult than understanding it. Anna Merritt Illinois Issues September 1996 ¦ 35 Charter schools: Maybe folks want to see if they'll play in Peoria As the flavor of the month in school reform, charter schools would seem to have a lot of market appeal. They're supposed to be grass-roots schools: chartered by parents, teachers, business folks, anyone with an idea on ways to meet a need or fill a niche. The idea is that creative people can start a school that serves children, rather than bureaucrats or teacher unions. Those who have tried charter schools, or studied them in other states, have generally applauded the concept, arguing that freeing educators and administrators from stultifying state regulation and stifling local bureaucracies empowers teachers to tailor classes to students' needs. (See Illinois Issues, March 1994, page 20.) Gov. Jim Edgar championed charter schools as part of his effort to repair Illinois education, but until this year, he couldn't get the idea passed in the Republican legislature. Finally, during their spring session lawmakers authorized 4 5 charter schools in the state: 15 in the city of Chicago, 15 in suburban counties and 15 in the rest of the state. Edgar promptly signed the legislation. For all the hullaballoo surrounding the idea the past few years, one would have thought charter schools would have popped up as soon as Edgar's signature dried on the law in April. But the flavor of the month apparently has yet to find a following. As summer gave way to a new school year, just one charter school — in Peoria — had been proposed to State Board of Education officials, who must approve such schools. The Peoria Alternative Charter School was set to open August 30, serving students in grades six through 12 who have been suspended from other schools and otherwise would have nowhere to go. About 60 youngsters will attend. The Peoria school board has named a committee of 11 local officials and residents to oversee the school, which will have a budget of $435,000. Jennifer Halperin |
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