Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/author/phyllis-tate/)
Motivation. Motivation. Motivation. That is the key word for success these days in the Chicago public schools. Students must be motivated, parents must be motivated, teachers must be motivated, and yes, even principals must be motivated.
The Reform Board of Trustees might call it accountability, but those of us in schools see it as motivation. Those of us whose schools are on probation are really motivated to get off, and those not on probation are motivated to stay off. The Office of Accountability’s designation of schools as “A,” “B,” and “C,” based on year-to-year changes in test scores, was so motivating that test scores rose to such an extent that almost all schools are now “A” schools.