Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Alderman O’Connor Hosts a 41st Ward Listening Tour with Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard.

Readers,

Good to see Alderman O'Connor making good on a campaign promise. This was a great first step. Lets see what happens next. If anyone attended today's forum, please send in a comment.

From Alderman O'Connor's Website: A 41st Ward Listening Tour with CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, Septmeber 21, 2011. http://www.ward41.com/ Check out the photos.

Alderman O’Connor organized the event as part of an effort to strengthen the relationship between our schools and the new administration at CPS.
Parents, teachers, administrators, Local School Council members and principals from every public school in the 41^st Ward were on hand to discuss the many challenges facing our schools.
Representatives from our local schools discussed the following issues at great length:

What Makes our Schools Unique
Our Shared Concerns
Inadequate Funding
The Need for Greater Program Equity
Selective Enrollment
Early Childhood Education
Special Education & Transportation
Facilities and the Need for Capital Improvements
A Parents Perspective on the Challenges We Face
The Proposed Longer School Day

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

What do you think about a 41st Ward Intraschool Council?

Readers,

So much media attention has been paid to the Mayor, the Chicago Public School System and the Chicago Teachers Union lately, that I think parents, students and communities have been left out of many of the important public education conversations.

We have strong, active Local School Councils (LSC) and Parent Student Teacher Associations (PSTA) within the 41st Ward, and I remember attending a few of the recent aldermanic debates sponsored by LSCs. The LSCs advocated for and promoted education reform & academic excellence for their schools; they made it clear they wanted to work with the new alderman to improve and enhance public education for children attending their schools.

During one of the aldermanic forums, I remember an idea, I believe came from Alderman O'Connor, that appealed to many of the parents and community members in the audience. She proposed bringing together LSC and PSTA representatives from all of the schools in the 41st Ward to work on specific issues related to education reform in the 41st Ward. The purpose was to specifically advocate for a fair share of resources for schools in the 41st Ward that have been short changed in the past. And by working collaboratively, local schools would have a greater/stronger voice with the school board and the mayor.

I remember sitting in the audience listening to this idea, thinking that genuine, effective education reform should begin with and be sustained by the community. Leaving such a task to small LSCs seems overwhelming and not as effective as a community approach. I thought this was an awesome idea and my hope is that there can be serious discussion about bringing all the local schools in the 41st Ward together to work on community based education reform, and that a strong community voice can convince the Chicago Public School Board that we are serious about receiving our fair share of services, support, and resources from CPS.

There was a CPS budget hearing held on the north side about a month ago. No one from specific communities testified about the disproportionate appropriation of CPS resources to north side/northwest side schools (especially related to Taft High School). It was very disappointing to hear nothing from taxpayers who pay some of the highest taxes in the city, and in return receive overcrowded schools, little if any technology and in some cases, poor to average report cards from places like University of Chicago Consortium on Education Research.

Send comments and thoughts...

Sunday, September 18, 2011

September 26^th

Oriole Park Community Meeting

Oriole Park

5430 N Olcott

7 pm

Alderman Mary O’Connor will address issues and available services in the 41^st Ward.
There will be an Open Forum and people will have the opportunity to learn more about the Community Club’s programs for the upcoming year.
Refreshments will be served.
For a full schedule of the Oriole Park Community Club’s meeting and events, visit the website at: www.orioleparkcommunityclub.org.

Just Released: Your CPS Report Card

Readers,

The University of Chicago's Consortium on School Research just released important reports about each CPS school. If you go to this website: https://ccsrsurvey.uchicago.edu/2011/ you can enter the name of the school or zip code, and see the report. I cut and pasted Garvey School Report here, so you can see what it looks like...

John W Garvy Elementary School 5 Essentials Report

FAQs and Support

5225 N Oak Park Ave

Chicago,

60656

5 Essentials Overall

Garvy is organized for improvement

Garvy’s overall performance is based on its strength in each individual essential:
5E Overall: Net = 1, Organized

Instructional Leadership (average)
Professional Capacity (average)
Family & Community Ties (strong)
Learning Climate (average)
Ambitious Instruction (average)

5E Framework

Overall 5E Performance

5E Score

Trend

John W Garvy Elementary School
Overall Performance on the 5 Essentials

What are these results based on?

This school's overall performance is based on the 5 Essentials shown below. Click the

to learn more about each Essential and its underlying concepts (measures).

	Essential	Essential Performance
	Instructional Leadership In schools with strong Instructional Leadership, people, programs, and resources are focused on a vision for sustained improvement.	Average
	Professional Capacity In schools with strong Professional Capacity, adults work together as a community to promote professional growth and create an atmosphere of collaboration.	Average
	Family and Community Ties In schools with strong Family and Community Ties, there are strong relationships with students' families and the surrounding community.	Strong
	Learning Climate In schools with a strong Learning Climate, students feel safe and teachers expect students to perform their best.	Average
	Ambitious Instruction In schools with strong Ambitious Instruction, instruction is clear, well-structured, and is conducive to building and applying knowledge.	Average

Garvy is organized for improvement

Garvy’s overall performance is based on its strength in each individual essential:
5E Overall: Net = 1, Organized

Instructional Leadership (average)
Professional Capacity (average)
Family & Community Ties (strong)
Learning Climate (average)
Ambitious Instruction (average)

5E Framework

Overall 5E Performance

5E Score

Trend

John W Garvy Elementary School
Comparative Performance on the 5 Essentials

Overall performance is based on the following essentials.

	Essential	Essential Performance
	Instructional Leadership In schools with strong Instructional Leadership, people, programs, and resources are focused on a vision for sustained improvement.
	Professional Capacity In schools with strong Professional Capacity, adults work together as a community to promote professional growth and create an atmosphere of collaboration.
	Family and Community Ties In schools with strong Family and Community Ties, there are strong relationships with students' families and the surrounding community.
	Learning Climate In schools with a strong Learning Climate, students feel safe and teachers expect students to perform their best.
	Ambitious Instruction In schools with strong Ambitious Instruction, instruction is clear, well-structured, and is conducive to building and applying knowledge.

Garvy is organized for improvement

Garvy’s overall performance is based on its strength in each individual essential:
5E Overall: Net = 1, Organized

Instructional Leadership (average)
Professional Capacity (average)
Family & Community Ties (strong)
Learning Climate (average)
Ambitious Instruction (average)

5E Framework

Overall 5E Performance

5E Score

Trend

John W Garvy Elementary School
Overall Performance on the 5 Essentials Over Time

Overall performance is based on the following essentials.

	Essential	Essential Trends
	Instructional Leadership In schools with strong Instructional Leadership, people, programs, and resources are focused on a vision for sustained improvement.
	Professional Capacity In schools with strong Professional Capacity, adults work together as a community to promote professional growth and create an atmosphere of collaboration.
	Family and Community Ties In schools with strong Family and Community Ties, there are strong relationships with students' families and the surrounding community.
	Learning Climate In schools with a strong Learning Climate, students feel safe and teachers expect students to perform their best.
	Ambitious Instruction In schools with strong Ambitious Instruction, instruction is clear, well-structured, and is conducive to building and applying knowledge.