Children as 'collateral damage'

  While the eyes of the world have been focused on the horror of “collateral damage” in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, in two major cities in the USA, the same right wing ideologs who got us into the Middle East wars are creating thousands of children as “collateral damage” in their zeal to replace public schools with cockeyed “market driven” choice schools, most of them charter schools.

    The two countries that are ground zero for Neoliberal  and Neoconservative insanity are Iraq and Afghanistan. The two cities that are ground zero for this insanity are Chicago and New Orleans. And in both cities, the “Chicago Boys” are running the show and destroying the lives of thousands of children.

    In this Substance, we continue to publish our charter school stories and inaugurate our coverage of the destruction of thousands of children’s lives by the school closings fomented by Mayor Daley and his appointed minions at the Chicago Board of Education. We hope that these stories and reports will bring forth others to tell their stories, honestly and in their own words.

High school test scores still being analyzed

    Last month in Substance we delayed publication of Chicago’s high school test scores because of the strange ways in which the data became available and the unusual patterns we discovered when we began to analyze them.

    Most notably, the Chicago high school scores distribute on a “double bell” curve, not on a standard deviation curve. Generally, as most of our readers know from basic statistics, such a curve indicates that you are dealing with two separate and distinct systems. The Chicago curve shows a significant number of high schools “below” the Chicago median (roughly 31) and a substantial number of high schools “above” the Chicago median.

    We have begun receiving the help of several colleagues, both in the media and in the research community, with this project. But it is much more complex — and worthy of attention — than a simpleminded, and simplistic, “bottom line” approach can elucidate.
    We are adding additional data into the mix to help elucidate what we are seeing. And we are also reviewing data on racial segregation going all the way back to the Brown decision (which is having an anniversary this month).

    The most basic fact is that Chicago has pioneered most of the noxious high-stakes consequences for “low” test scores. And Chicago has also maintained, with the blessings of the Bush administration, the most segregated public school system in the USA. We owe it to ourselves to take a very close look at Chicago’s high schools and the data they yield in this “data driven” age.

    While Chicago fancies itself a “world class city” and Chicago’s political and corporate leaders have Olympic fantasies, what the city’s high school test data are showing is that Chicago should not be compared with Paris, London, or Barcelona — but with the Little Rock, Arkansas, of 1959, or the Birmingham, Alabama, of 1964.

    School data show many things. What they have always shown where  the most segregation occurs is the impact of that viciousness on children.

Mail problems not over yet

    A number of readers called us in mid-April to say that their April Substance had arrived by mail. One of the reasons for the call was that they had also received their March Substance — either at the same time or later.

    One reader called us April 18 to say that his April Substance had arrived on April 16 — one day before the March issue arrived!

    We first brought the crisis in mail delivery in Chicago to our readers’ attention back in November, after our October issue was illegally dumped behind the mass mailings USPS was handling for the November election. We’ve continued to track the problem since and appreciate our subscribers’ staying on top of this massive problem.

    Continue to let us know, by phone or e-mail, when you receive your Substance each month. Although we believe that the USPS will improve its Chicago delivery, we will not be able to rest assured until Substance has been delivered on time every month. That means it is delivered within seven days after we mail it, as the law requires for Periodicals Rate publications such as this one.

    We’ve also urged our readers to keep track of the arrival date of their other mail. Some people have been hit with hefty late fees for credit card bills that they didn’t receive in the mail until after the due date had passed. You can wind up paying a “Late Fee” of $39 on a balance of less than $100 if Chicago’s post office screws up delivery.

    One of the most dramatic examples of these problems took place with the Chicago White Sox teacher night ticket information. The White Sox mailed it to one of our staff on February 24. He received it April 10.

    Chicago may be solving these problems. By June, we may know.