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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

CPS school closings driven by politics, not data. « Fred Klonsky

CPS school closings driven by politics, not data. « Fred Klonsky:

CPS school closings driven by politics, not data.

When Rahm’s hand picked members of the Chicago school board meet today to vote on a half dozen school closings and turning 10 more schools over to private management, it will be a decision that has nothing to do with data or student needs.

The data was provided yesterday in a report by Designs for Change, a Chicago-based school research group headed by Don Moore.

Moore’s exhaustive study compares the performance of turnaround schools to what he calls “school-based democracy, with high-poverty high-achieving collaborative Chicago elementary schools — in which parents, teachers, the principal, the community and students work together to strengthen to quality of education and achievement.”

Among the study’s conclusions:

  • The Chicago turnaround strategy does not meet the needs of high poverty students.