Setting students' sights on college: Chicago public schools: Case study

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Chicago Public Schools

Constrained Consumers: Middle-Class Parents’ Resistance of School Closure and Consolidation in Chicago

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 1372-1396
Author(s):  
Beth Wright-Costello ◽  
Kate Phillippo
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Portfolio Management ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Chicago Public Schools ◽  
Policy Theory ◽  
Unusual Position ◽  
Democratic Control

Many urban districts use a portfolio management model, hoping to promote school choice and improve school performance. This model requires school closure, which has predominantly impacted lower income families. In 2013, Chicago Public Schools relocated Granger Elementary into one of 48 schools it closed, placing its middle-class parents in the unusual position of resisting a school closure-related decision. Our case study explores parents’ resistance from a perspective of capital use and parental agency. Interview participants leveraged extensive capital in response to the proposed closure–relocation. When their efforts failed to halt the directive, they used their resources as consumers, largely finding their children spaces in other schools. Parents were unable to effectively exercise agency to influence district-level policy, but they secured educational advantages for their own children by leveraging their capital. Findings inform implications for market-based policy theory, equity, and democratic control of public schools.

scholarly journals Understanding Achilles’ Heel: Information Dissemination, Readability, and Marketing in Urban School Choice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 1007-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Delale-O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Chicago Public Schools

Scholars have long acknowledged that the information parents have about schools is the “Achilles’ heel” of school choice. Although much has been written about school choice, far less is known about the information disseminated to help families make choices. I construct a case study of the dissemination and accessibility of choice information in the Chicago Public Schools. I find that both the readability and content of the information disseminated limit its usefulness. In addition, a lack of centralized resources leads to both limited and disparate access. I conclude with modifications for improving information dissemination and accessibility.

scholarly journals Viewing Sexual Health Education through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy: A Case Study in Chicago Public Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Jarpe-Ratner ◽  
Booker Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Chicago Public Schools ◽  
Sexual Health Education ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
State And Local

Comprehensive sexual health education (SHE) programs are being implemented in many state and local jurisdictions. Much research has focused on the strength and effectiveness of such programs. However, the experiences of teachers and students in their implementation is underexplored. A case study of the implementation of the SHE policy and curriculum in Chicago Public Schools sought to explore teachers’ and students’ experiences. Sixteen teachers were interviewed and five student focus groups, including 46 students, were conducted. Both teachers and students identified opportunities to improve upon the current program, including to (1) incorporate more student-centered learning opportunities and allow for tailoring to each specific group of students; (2) use discussion and dialogue to encourage students’ exploration of their own opinions and identities and development of a sense of agency over their own learning; (3) shift focus from risk reduction to a more holistic focus on healthy sexual wellbeing; and (4) directly discuss current health inequities, contributing factors, and intersectionality. These findings align with a critical pedagogical approach and underscore the need to understand SHE implementation within its sociopolitical context. Implications of the use of critical pedagogy as a framework for SHE in Chicago and beyond are discussed.

Predicting and Preventing Shootings among At-Risk Youth

2011 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Chandler ◽  
Steven D Levitt ◽  
John A List
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Predictive Model ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Chicago Public Schools ◽  
At Risk Youth ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Mentorship Program

Each year, more than 250 students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) are shot. The authors of this paper worked with the leadership of CPS to build a predictive model of shootings that helped determine which students would be included in a highly targeted and resource intensive mentorship program. This paper describes our predictive model and offers a preliminary evaluation of the mentoring intervention performed by Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP). We find little evidence that the intervention reduces school misconducts or improves educational outcomes. The scale of intervention was too small to generate meaningful findings on shootings.

Hypermobility and Educational Outcomes: The Case of St. Louis

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 774-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly W. Metzger ◽  
Patrick J. Fowler ◽  
Todd Swanstrom
Keyword(s):  
Urban Education ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Urban Neighborhoods ◽  
High Rate ◽  
School Mobility ◽  
Mobility Rate ◽  
School Year

The school mobility rate in St. Louis Public Schools was 40% in 2011-2012, meaning that nearly half of students exited or entered a given school midway through the school year. This alarmingly high rate of churning across schools is accompanied by high neighborhood turnover, particularly within low-income, urban neighborhoods. This constant, disruptive change presents a serious and fundamental challenge for urban education. In this article, we summarize the literature linking mobility to educational outcomes, examine the causes of hypermobility in the case study of St. Louis, describe some of the current approaches to this challenge, and propose additional policy and program solutions.

The Institutionalization of Stewardship: Theory, Propositions, and Insights from Change in the Edmonton Public Schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Segal ◽  
Mark Lehrer
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Principal Agent ◽  
Stewardship Theory

Prior scholarship on stewardship as a principle of administration largely portrays stewardship as too idealistic and dependent upon situational factors to be institutionalized in large-scale organizations. Through a case study of the Edmonton Public Schools, this study explores the extent to which stewardship can be institutionalized as a central organizing principle, thereby ensuring performance and checking corruption in ways that are consistent with the primacy of intrinsic motivation. The study deepens our understanding of the challenges that managers face in reconciling stewardship with a bureaucratic context, documents practices that have been used to deal with these challenges, and more broadly discusses how it might be possible for islands of stewardship to emerge in a world governed by assumptions of human opportunism. To this end the paper develops a model of the choice that organization members face in deciding to elect a principal-agent or a stewardship posture within large-scale organizations. This model draws on assumptions of human ambivalence in choosing between self-serving and altruistic modes of conduct.

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