Five Chicago charter schools face the threat of being shut down now that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials have learned they failed to meet academic standards. CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said Thursday that if the schools don't shape up academically by June 2014, they risk being closed.
The schools that landed on CPS' warning list include: Catalyst Circle Rock, Catalyst Howland, Chicago International Charter School Longwood, EPIC Academy and UNO Tamayo.
This is the second straight year Howland has made the list.
“I’m confident that our overarching process to identify low-performing charter and contract schools is going to result in increased accountability and, I think, higher quality schools for all of our children,” Byrd-Bennett said.
By next month, the schools have to turn in a plan on how they will improve their academic standing, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.
Chicago Teachers Union spokesman Michael Harrington called the list "suspicious," saying “Only five, really?”
Meanwhile, 52.5 percent of 3rd through 8th graders across the CPS district met or exceededstandards on the 2013 Illinois State Achievement Test (ISAT) for math, reading and science, preliminary results show. That's a drop from 74.2 percent in 2012. The decrease in test scores is credited largely to tougher scoring on state standards.
“I actually believe this is much better for our children, in the long run it’s going to help our children to be far more successful in getting ready for college,” Byrd-Bennett said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel noted that the city has room for improvement.
"But, these are indicators of where progress is being made on the importance of an education of our children ... You want a highly-educated, highly-skilled work force and that’s gonna happen at schools. And a school system that is improving each year in its graduation rate, its college attendance and its test scores” will deliver that, he said.
The 48 schools the board approved to shut down last May were behind 12 percentage points compared to their designated receiving schools. Composite scores show 23 out of the 48 closing schools did better than in 2012 and 23 did worse. One did the same as the previous year. The remaning school is a high school, and those students don't take the ISAT.
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