By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Wirepoints has assembled an individual report card for each of Chicago’s 600 neighborhood schools. They can now be found here along with the report cards we’ve completed for Illinois’ 850 other school districts outside of Chicago.
The student outcomes are dismal across the board and the failure of CPS to educate Chicago’s children becomes evident rather quickly.
Wirepoints’ Report Cards can be found here.
Take, for example, Juarez Community High School, the location of our recent press conference for Chicago Public Schools fails its Hispanic students: Only 17 of every 100 read at grade level.
Just 4 of every 100 students could read at grade level in 2022, while in math, it was just 3 of every 100 students.
Don’t blame covid. In 2019, student proficiencies in reading and math were just 9 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Clark Academy High School, in Mayor Johnson’s home neighborhood of Austin, has the inauspicious honor of being one of 30 schools in the state where not a single child is reading proficient. Yet nobody in the system cares and 94 percent of students end up graduating anyway.
Of course, Chicago has some top performing schools among its magnet and selective enrollment schools, but they include just a small fraction of Chicago’s children.
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On Wednesday the Chicago Public Schools Board will vote to hike the district’s property tax levy by 5 percent.
We’ve already written about why Chicagoans can’t afford an even higher tax burden: So much for Chicago Mayor Johnson’s promise of no property tax hikes. And we’ve explained why CPS officials don’t deserve more funding considering how badly they fail to educate the city’s children: Chicago Public Schools doesn’t deserve another penny.
Now Chicagoans can decide for themselves if Chicago’s annual hikes are worth it on a more personal level – their neighborhood school’s report card.
A mess of uncertainty and litigation is sure to follow.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
Audio and summary
While I have no love for CPS, CTU, and the bureaucracy, it’s a bit more complicated than „the teachers do nothing. Many of the comments below actually hit the nail on the head. As we suspect, the students who are achieving, do so because they have what they need – support, stability, etc. But for every one of those, there are 10 others like …. Those same groups of kids going out at all hours, taking over neighborhoods, jumping on cars, and fighting with the police, are the other ones walking into the school buildings every day. You think that… Read more »
Those who’ve never done it as you have generally will have no really solid understanding of all the variables at play in all that’s absolutely essential for the success of the teacher-student relationship to work successfully over a prolonged time period. Then, as you described very nicely there are pressures from students, parents and administrators brought to bear upon the teacher to overlook bad behaviors and bad test scores to make the end results look better than reality. If you want to survive you have to play the appeasement game! Otherwise you may win a battle every now and then… Read more »
Can you explain how teachers’ ‘milieu is forever threatening it”? If “Threatening” is your definition of being given enormous defined benefits and raises which destroy all Illinoisans’ property values, and working 1/2-2/3 as long as Medpros each year, and zero personal liability, and rights to strike and determine ‘safe’ conditions for themselves which involve nipslips on Mexico beaches, and the right to be so careless with clients as to leave the vast majority of them, if you were in a different profession, defined as clinically dead…threaten the rest of us, please. “Those who’ve never done it as you have generally… Read more »
You are off and running on your own political tirade here. I have no interest whatsoever in being your victim of the moment. What I said is true and should be illuminating on its own merits. Your statements generally are peripheral matters to mine. Go do your gas bagging elsewhere.
Amen, Susan! Admittedly, teachers have a difficult job and, in some cases, aren’t paid enough for the role they play in education. We should sympathize with the good ones like Waggs. But with such poor performance in Chicago classrooms, why aren’t more teachers revolting? Because they’re afraid. The medical professional is similarly in a difficult job. Susan, you didn’t even mention the physical risks that can cause serious illness if exposed. And yet, many medical professionals aren’t afraid to speak out and revolt if necessary. What’s the difference? A corrupt, criminal union and the power upon which it’s been bestowed… Read more »
Thanks. You are 100% correct about the fear many teachers have, though I disagree with your assertion that doctors/nurses are willing to speak up… they were awfully quiet during Covid. Just sayin’. Usually, after I shoot my mouth off in staff meetings, I either get the figurative „everyone takes three steps back and leaves me standing by myself” or they one by one come to my classroom, close the door, glance around furtively, and whisper „I agree with you”. **head slap*** But when I ask them to stand up with me, I get crickets. It’s exhausting.
Maybe you forget how nurses went from heroes to zeroes for refusing to be vaccinated and questioning its efficacy. They were fired and ostracized. But assuredly, not enough spoke up.
You will get no argument from me. Nor would I ever compare my profession to that of medical professionals. Both have unique variables affecting performance, retention, and efficacy. If you have ever read any of my posts over the years, you would know that I do not support the idea of unions for public sector employees, advocate for the dismantling of the US Dept of Education, constantly harp on the ever expanding layer of bureaucracy in the public school systems (thus adding to the tax burden), support merit pay, am in favor of complete local (read neighborhood) control of schools,… Read more »
I apologize for not being more articulate, that is certainly not the point I was trying to get across. Your comment is terrific!
I was replying to the comment by James beneath yours.
His reply indicates that Everything is everybody else’s fault…except his….and he seems willing to do absolutely nothing to fix it.
How many times have we been told: It’s what the voters want Don’t like it, get a bigger mob of voters to change it Who voted for Randi Weingarten, Becky Pringle, Stacy Gates- and by large margins? Education is an insular field, no outsiders allowed. Educators in the classroom. Educators running the administration of schools. Educators choosing the curriculum. The situation you rightly deplore is the result of policies and choices made by educators. It will only be fixed by educators making different choices. Years of hiding failure to teach students behind inflated grades and graduation rates is coming home… Read more »
Let’s just say I’m not the one making the “strategic” decisions as to how public education works in practice. If I were chances are it would be more standards oriented rather than feel-good oriented. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings way, way too much! A lot of that is to simply reduce chances for excessive criticism and fear of either an unwanted job site change, a reduction in pay and perks or maybe being put in some probationary status at the very least. Nope, in lots of places you have to go along to get along. Every argument you… Read more »
James, you seem like a nice person. Do you realize that when you speak only of “threats against job security”, it makes teachers sound guilty of exactly what many accuse them of: only worried about making it through for a paycheck and their pension. But the parents made us give out those deceptive grades! As I said earlier, teachers need to stop blaming everything outside the education system and start working to fix the problems that they are acutely aware of. How do they expect to get better parents and a better society by turning out a high percentage of… Read more »
My message in summary is that teachers feel pressure from students, parents and administrators to show results better than reality would suggest. Those who will not conform to that will feel be made to feel continuing discomfort. The rest of it is your take rather than mine.
OK. Maybe some day you can explain why my “take” is wrong.
I’m not that interested really.
I understand. Just keep those pension payments coming, right?
You people are very narrow minded! That’s more your issue than mine. While we all need currency to survive that’s not my overwhelming obsession in life. I’ve given my version of how teaching works as a career, and your snide comment shows you haven’t a clue about how to relate to any of that politely. You’re not worth my time!
How discouraging. How can teachers work, collect a paycheck and benefits, and accomplish NOTHING? These kids get absolutely nothing from these teachers. Teachers know they don’t have to do any real work. They’re setting an awful example. As adults, these kids will expect a Universal Income for doing nothing because they won’t be smart enough to do anything while teachers retire and collect pensions for years of doing nothing. Is that the plan?
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Marie… have you even ever met a teacher? I hold no love for the idiots in my profession, but really, I have to ask again, do you even know anyone who teaches? Especially in CPS?
Kinda a hoot to compare Austin CPS Clark Academy to Postage Park Thorp Academy where CTU/Brandon sends his kids, ( i believe is approx 7% African Americans kids). We know CTU/Jessie skips the neighborhood cps schools for his kids, the question is do any CTU brass or teachers use the neighborhood schools for their kids?
per Chalkbeat, the majority of CPS kids no longer attend the neighborhood schools. A suggestion for WP article-research could be to find out how many kids still attend neighborhood schools and how empty they are vrs magnate/ selective enrollment/ charter schools. CTU wants to spend a ton of taxpayer $ and relabel these empty neighborhood school as “Sustainable Community Schools” which I’m positive CTU brass & members will still NOT send their kids to but will want the jobs
That would be interesting. Only about 10% of my school is not from the neighborhood, and that is because we offer specialized programs that their home schools don’t (autism, communicative disorders, etc).
With such low achievement scores, you wonder whether majority CPS-CTU teachers have any meaningful impact whatsoever on education-achievement of their public school students. Don’t think so. These scores demonstrate abject failure of CPS public school system. That handful of students achieving grade-proficiency levels at poor-performing schools are likely home-schooled too, tutored, received supplemental education after-hours. Their families probably realize their children won’t receive education without direct intervention sourced elsewhere. Most low/moderate income CPS children are simply warehoused in underperforming schools, minimally supervised by ineffective and often poorly-educated teachers. For many CPS students, its institutional K-12 daycare, minimally-served, at factory-level scale.… Read more »
From the few things I’ve read this is more than a Chicago or IL problem, it appears to be nationwide. The only good way to view the results is with an in depth report on how other locales compare. I think it’s an attempt to purposely keep those at the bottom of the economic ladder at the bottom of the ladder.
CPS Miseducation of Black youth is the New Jim Crow
I have mentioned several times that the poor state of education is the most important civil rights challenge of our time. I inexplicably receive down votes for saying so.
Yes, but not the way you think. The civil rights violation is that white and asian students receive an education too good compared to black and brown students. And equity, and anti-racism, requires that white and asian students receive the same poor education as their black and brown counterparts. That’s why districts are getting rid of AP classes, honors classes, not tracking students anymore…
https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-increase-equity-school-districts-eliminate-honors-classes-d5985dee
To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes:
Supporters say uniform classes create rigor for all students but critics say cuts hurt faster learners
Feb. 17, 2023
Again – the downvote could be trolling, but an organization such as the NAACP happens to view the dismal state of performance as a significant civil rights issue. I am struck by the comments of Karim Walker, an Oakland teacher who in conjunction the NAACP is petitioning the school district to teach phonics – stating that civilization can’t exist with this rate of literacy. The Baltimore NAACP – where the organization is headquartered- is on a similar campaign with the Baltimore schools. While many would disagree with the NAACP’s methods, they are not wrong with the identification of the problem.… Read more »
Don’t worry about one downvoter, they are hate readers, it’s a real thing, they read the comments to get angry and downvote.
You’re right what the issue is and the NAACP is also correct. But the elites in society have decided that the solution is for everyone to receive a poor education instead of just blacks.
Downvotes are a badge of honor. Typically happens whenever the subject is CPS or CTU. They can’t refute what you say so they downvote.
Agreed. Happens to me all the time because people don’t like the truth. The less they are able to refute the more downvotes that come your way.
Everything is down except salaries, benefits, and pensions.
Pay for nonperformance is good work if you can get it.
The teachers are not only stealing from the taxpayer, but more importantly they are stealing the students’ future earnings for a lifetime.
Well CPS really doesn’t exist to educate children….
Exactly correct. If actually teaching kids to read, write and add were important to the people who collect, spend and receive all those K-12 tax dollars we wouldn’t see these results.
Nor would we constantly be reading about some ‘new plan’ that’s really just more of the same old plan.
There is absolutely no way any sane, rational person could defend any of the enormous failure of CPS to the community. In fact you can easily conclude CPS is no more than organized child abuse for profit.
There is, apparently, a sizable group of Chicago voters who believe that CPS is a sacred cow, that it can’t be dismantled in favor of charter schools and parent choice. And, yes, there also is, perhaps, a large contingent who doesn’t care. For those parents who have succeeded in securing a seat for their child in selective enrollment and magnet schools, I ask them why shouldn’t ALL parents have that option? Because there isn’t enough capacity is not an answer. Until every child has that option (translation: CTU is dethroned), Wirepoints’ charts, graphs and reporting will repeat the same maddening,… Read more »
“On Wednesday the Chicago Public Schools Board will vote to hike the district’s property tax levy by 5 percent.”
And we all know, next year and the following year will also be 5% (or the max allowed).
With their comrade now firmly installed, the Communist Teachers Union will now roll over taxpayers as the Soviets did in Eastern Europe ten minutes after WEII ended. And the taxpayers, like the Europeans, can only stand there and watch. And keep working.
If only those taxpayers had the right to vote for different leaders. Maybe Chicago voters should protest and demand elections for choosing their leaders.
You’re right – the taxpayers are outnumbered.
Outnumbered by other voters that want these policies. Always the victim with you.
Illinois and Chicago are supremely guilty of voter suppression by the use of maps and rules which defeat many would-be challengers before they ever appear on a ballot. The system is rigged in favor of incumbents. Illinois and Chicago offer few ballot choices, giving voters little reason to vote and even fewer “leaders” from which to choose. You can call that victimization if you want, but let’s really call it what it is: political corruption, pure and simple.