President George Bush is visiting Greeley Elementary School on Sheridan, near Broadway, today to recognize the school. Bush and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will tour Greeley to tout "No Child Left Behind." Federal officials tagged the high-performing, high-poverty school with Blue Ribbon status for its high test scores. Approximately 80 percent of Greeley students passed state exams last year, beating city and state averages.No plans have been announced for his overnight accommodations, but the Hotel Chateau is believed to have some vacancy.
I saw Marine One, da chopper, flying up and down the Lakefront. I guess they were practicing.
ReplyDeleteYesterday........I saw Marine One..just wanted to clarify.
ReplyDelete"Approximately 80 percent of Greeley students passed state exams last year, beating city and state averages."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to take that. On one hand, good for those kids.
On the other, what the hell's up with the city/state schools?
The funny thing about this is that the school has improved almost entirely because of gentrification and the influx of middle-class students into this once struggling school. "No Child Left Behind" has absolutely NOTHING to do with this school's success.
ReplyDelete"The funny thing about this is that the school has improved almost entirely because of gentrification and the influx of middle-class students into this once struggling school."
ReplyDeleteI lived in the area and can definitely attest to the fact that although the area is becoming more gentrified, the immediate areas that most students are coming from have lower SES.
Most middle-class and Upper-class Chicagoans put their kids in private schools.
Private schools? You've got to be kidding.
ReplyDeleteEven the more affluent (in relative terms) condo owners who have moved into the area cannot afford private schools. As one of those new condo owners, I can attest to that. It's a struggle sometimes to make ends meet after paying the mortgage.
As a teecher at Joan Arai skool, I can tell you from experience the reason for the increase in scores is teachers and administrators have had several years of rigging the system under their belts, and they've become more proficient at it.
Plus, the administrators and teachers "teach to the test" rather than encouraging learning in all its varying forms. It's just drill, drill, drill.
And what happens to those kids who we fear will pull down our scores? Take a guess.
For all of you, the scores went up so impressively because Greeley initiated a program for gifted students. They are attracting gifted Hispanics, Polish, etc. If I not wrong, they also received some press about this in the "Booster."
ReplyDeleteJust for laughs, see the comments and photos of our local birdwatcher surrounded by armed helicopters after pointing his huge, telephoto lens at Marine Squadron One.
ReplyDeleteCut and Paste this link into your browser, then click.
http://www.ilbirds.com/index.php?topic=1684.0
Anon@10:05 has hit the nail on the head. Greeley is a Regional Gifted Center for English Language Learners whose native language is Polish, Russian or Spanish. These gifted students are pulling the average scores up, and that's the only reason they're not just like Stewart, McCutcheon, Brenneman, etc.
ReplyDeleteLitterbug in the 46th ward. If you guys see any violators please contact the 'Broken Heart'.
ReplyDeleteI spotted at least 10 of these signs on Montrose and Clark (east side from Montrose to Irving) yesterday.
According to the Sun-Times, 90 percent of Greeley students are from low-income homes. Which seems to be the trend now in CPS. Even the public school I went to, in the solidly middle-class Old Irving Park neighborhood, is more than 80% kids from low-income families.
ReplyDeleteI do the Santa's helper thing through the Sun-Times every year, and every school I get "assigned" is 100% low-income. This year, the one I got gives every kid breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every day.
At what point did Chicago Public Schools turn into a social services provider?
President Bush isn’t the only government official visiting the
ReplyDelete46th ward. I spotted and greeted Governor Blagojevich jogging down the Sunnyside Garden Mall solo on Sunday afternoon.
I heard Bush stopped outside the U-Haul office for a meet & greet
ReplyDeleteOn average, 85% of the children attending public schools in Chicago live in poverty. In the schools in this area, it's around 95%. Many middle-income parents either send their children to private schools or they move out of Chicago. Senn's high school graduation rate is just over 50%.
ReplyDeleteThe city worries about low wages, but it's a guarantee that someone will have low wages if they don't have a high school diploma. There certainly needs to be efforts to ready children for the real world after high school, but I believe part of that also includes creating a plan that encourages middle-income parents to send their children to the public schools in the area. They won't do that under the current circumstances and we should be listening to those reasons. We're not.
Just curious...did the Prez read "My Pet Goat" to the kids?
ReplyDelete"My Pet Goat"
ReplyDelete*yawn*
Bill Maher would be proud that someone still thinks that haggard old quip is worth repeating.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAlmost very child in a Chicago Public School is in poverty, whether their family is truly poor or not.
ReplyDeleteThat is how the schools get more public money.
Perhaps this is hair-splitting, but "poverty" as defined by the Census Bureau, is not the same as "low-income" for CPS purposes.
ReplyDelete85% of CPS students are "low-income" for purposes of free or reduced-price lunches, but this can mean up to a household income of $38,203 for a family of 4.
Census Bureau poverty thresholds for 2006 were around $20,500 for a family of 4.
Did the Gov stop and buy any drugs on the Sunnyside Mall? Business is booming there.
ReplyDelete"85% of CPS students are "low-income" for purposes of free or reduced-price lunches, but this can mean up to a household income of $38,203 for a family of 4."
ReplyDeleteThis can mean that, but it typically doesn't, especially in parts of Uptown.
In the Wilson Yard census tract (tract 031600), the per capita income is $13,904; 52% of the households earn less than $25,000 in yearly income; there's a 17% unemployment rate; and the poverty rate is 33.6%. HUD discourages building any low-income buildings in neighborhoods with poverty rates exceeding 25%.
Senn, the high school that many Uptown neighborhood children attend, has around a 50% graduation rate. That should be frightening to a lot of people.
I wonder if the President enjoyed the graf art on the dog groomer building next door and whether the man was still lying by the alley dumpster drinking his M80?
ReplyDeleteWow, they brought the President to a school across the street from the Chalet Hotel. That's showing him some real urban grit.
ReplyDeleteHorace Greeley is in Lakeview - South of the Irving Park dividing line.
ReplyDeleteBut it is also in the Ward of 46.
ReplyDeleteThis blog covers both and even slightly outside the area.
Ok, then let's go all the way and get a photo of the owner of the Chateau - who is also the owner of the Diplomat down by Belmont - cruising up to his fine establishment in his Jaguar someday. I'd love to see that posted for all the world to see.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just love Ill Senator Rahm Emanuel. He's been distancing himself from the Democratic primary, refusing to chose between supporting Clinton or Obama, even though he worked for Pres. Clinton. But, he couldn't resist dissing President Bushes visit to Uptown with Daley, promoting the federal No Schools Left Behind Program, which is up for renewal. Emanual went out of his way to say that Greeley School improved for reasons other than that Federal program, which Daley supports. First, when was the last time anyone saw Rahm Emanual at a school council meeting in the neighborhood (Never.) Second, the best thing to happen to that school was getting Helens patronage army forced out of there. Now if they could just oust Helen's patronage crew from sucking the funds out of Stockton and what is left of Joan Arai and they might improve also. Then, they should get her former boyfriend and unqualified gym teacher out of the principal position at the Uplift school on Wilson and the kids around here might actually have a chance at a decent education.
ReplyDeleteWhat School Council are you a member of?
ReplyDeleteI know Helen's people have worked especially hard to be a part of the school councils at Stockton and Uplift. It seems that they want to make sure the children know they are victims of gentrification and that they should be angry and alienated from the rest of society so that they can remain poor as adults. What did Greeley do to get rid of Helen's people?
ReplyDeleteWhat community are you a member of JP troll?
ReplyDelete