By George N. Schmidt
The September 13 release of the list of semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition by the College Board was ignored by the Chicago Board of Education’s publicity department and by both Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan.
The story was big news in many suburbs, so why was it ignored in Chicago? If, as the prevailing myth claims, ten years of mayoral control over Chicago’s massive public school system has showed increasing “gains” in test scores across the board, why was the most important standardized testing program of all — the program administered by the College Board — ignored in Chicago.
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As if to say, “Of course the test scores went up. When I say so everyone makes them go up...” Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (above right) gesticulates at the June 9, 2005 press conference at the Michell Elementary School to announce that scores in the annual Iowa Tests of Basic Skills had again gone “up” in Chicago (in reading, but not in math). Daley and his entourage deflected questions about why the Chicago Board of Education’s testing department had rescored the entire battery of tests after a first scoring showed that both reading and math scores had gone down. A few weeks after the June 9 media event above, the Board of Education dropped the Iowa tests. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt |
Perhaps the reason is that the data released by the College Board show that Chicago’s massive nationally lauded corporate version of “school reform” was a failure even in its own terms. When Chicago public high school students take the most significant national test of academic achievement, Chicago high schools can’t even compare with any two of the city’s wealthiest suburbs.
According to data released by the College Board, Chicago’s public schools had 43 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists out of the city’s more than 100,000 high school students for the 2004-2005 school year.
These 43 students came from five out of Chicago’s 105 “high schools.” The five Chicago public high schools that produced National Merit semi-finalists were:
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Lincoln Park (15)
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Whitney Young (12)
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Northside College Prep (9)
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Payton College Prep (5)
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Von Steuben (2)
Even schools that have routinely produced National Merit semi-finalists (like Lane Technical High School and Lindblom high school) are now failing to produce National Merit semi-finalists. Four of the city’s six “College Prep Academic Magnet” high schools — Jones, Lindblom, King, and Brooks — failed to produce any National Merit semi-finalists.
By contrast, public schools in Chicago’s more affluent suburbs continue to produce large numbers of National Merit semi-finalists.
Seven suburbs saw their public schools produce 150 National Merit semi-finalists.
- Naperville (40)*
- Winnetka (27)
- Hinsdale (21)
- Barrington (16)
- Oak Park-River Forest (16)
- Lincolnshire (16)
- Evanston (13)
In three public high schools
Although affluence (as measured by the socio-economic indices of the ZIP codes served by the school) are still very good predictors of which public schools will do best in the greater Chicago area on the National Merit Scholarship exams, this is not always true.
Even some of Chicago’s less affluent suburbs produced more National Merit semi-finalists than most of Chicago’s selective enrollment public high schools. For example, West Aurora High School (Aurora), Eisenhower High School (Blue Island), Maine West High School (Des Plaines), Elgin High School (Elgin), Thornwood High School (South Holland), Community High School (West Chicago), and Woodstock High School (Woodstock) each produced at least one National Merit semi-finalist, while Chicago’s Lane Tech, Jones College Prep, Lindblom College Prep, King College Prep, and Brooks College Prep produced no National Merit semi-finalists.
Failure of small schools
Despite the recent reams of propaganda about how all high schools should be turned into “small schools”, large schools seem to work best in producing Merit Scholars, whether in the city or suburbs. The suburban high schools with the largest number of merit scholars are also those with the greatest variety of course offerings — especially in advanced level courses — and the largest number of sports, extra-curricular, and co-curricular activities.
A growing number of scholars across the country are demanding that a hard second look be taken at those who prescribe “small schools” for urban minority children but don’t acknowledge the fact that large, mostly white, suburban schools offer their students more options and variety — from college-level courses to shop training — than the widely praised “small schools”
Failure of charter schools
Another Chicago fad that seems to be waning in the suburbs is the charter school. Despite claims that charter schools will provide children and teachers with the kinds of innovation they need to do better in school, charter schools failed completely to produce Merit Scholarship semi-finalists in the recent testing cycle.
And a closer look at Chicago charter schools show that it takes more than big promises and rhetoric to create a successful high school for kids from tough neighborhoods. Despite the routine citing by Chicago school officials of the promises of certain charter schools, there is simply no evidence that they are actually producing the college-bound success stories their publicity proclaims. Just as a business plan is no substitute for the actual manufacturing and marketing of a product, so glossy “mission statements” are no substitute for classroom performance year after year.
While in Chicago the failure of both the “small schools” and charter school fads is still a long way from being recognized by the mainstream media, the recent Merit Scholarship semi-finalist lists should give those who pay attention to performance and harsh realities — as opposed to propaganda and spin — pause to take a hard second look at Chicago’s educational realities during the years of what will some day be called the “Daley test score bubble.”
‘Teach Peace’ proclaimed the banner outside Chicago’s Senn High School September 6, as activists protested another year of militarism at the school. Photo by George N. Schmidt |
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