The investment
In addition to the per-pupil funding provided by the district, the Academy for Urban School Leadership gets extra money from the district to spend on turnarounds. AUSL Executive Director Donald Feinstein says that the additional money is still not enough to provide all the resources and professional training that a school needs to be rejuvenated. He also relies on private philanthropy, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave AUSL $10 million in 2006 to use for five years. When that grant ran out, AUSL won another two-year, $2 million grant from Gates.
How money was spent |
Per school
|
All schools
|
Hire a principal and administrative staff, provide professional development for new team of teachers |
$300,000/school
|
$3 million
|
Security guards, support staff, curriculum, material, ongoing professional development, after-school programs |
$412/student
|
$6.6 million
|
Uneven achievement
Based on ISAT scale scores—rather than the percentage of students who meet or exceed standards, the measure that is typically reported—the AUSL turnaround schools have higher achievement, albeit marginal, than comparable neighborhood schools. The lowest scale score is 120 and the highest is between 329 and 410, depending on grade.
Math 2010
|
Math 2011
|
Difference
|
Reading 2010
|
Reading 2011
|
Difference
|
|
AUSL turnaround schools |
221
|
229
|
+8
|
209
|
212
|
+3
|
Other CPS schools |
235
|
238
|
+3
|
222
|
223
|
+1
|
Area rankings
Morton School of Excellence is the only AUSL school that out-performed other schools in its network in reading and math. Howe Elementary School, also on the West Side, was a top performer too. The three schools that outranked Howe are new magnet or contract schools.
Gains over two years
|
||
AUSL schools by CPS network | Reading rank in network | Math rank in network |
Austin-North Lawndale Elementary Network | ||
Howe School of Excellence | 4 of 34 schools | 4 of 34 schools |
Johnson Elementary | 7 of 34 schools | 5 of 34 schools |
Garfield-Humboldt Elementary Network | ||
Morton School of Excellence | 1 of 27 schools | 1 of 27 schools |
Bethune Elementary | 12 of 27 schools | 12 of 27 schools |
Pershing Elementary Network | ||
Sherman Elementary | 21 of 29 schools | 8 of 29 schools |
Rock Island Elementary Network | ||
Curtis Elementary | 8 of 28 schools | 8 of 28 schools |
Skyway Elementary Network | ||
Harvard School of Excellence | 11 of 37 schools | 10 of 37 schools |
Bradwell Math Science and Technology Academy | 19 of 37 schools | 9 of 37 schools |
Deneen Elementary | 27 of 37 schools | 3 of 37 schools |
Dulles Elementary | 29 of 37 schools | 17 of 37 schools |
Value-added scores
Based on the district’s value-added test scores, only one AUSL school, Curtis, made better-than-expected gains in reading compared to similar schools. According to the district’s color-coded ranking, green means students are making faster growth than their peers in similar schools, yellow signals similar growth and red is slower growth.
School |
ISAT value add color – Math
|
ISAT value add color – Reading
|
Deneen Elementary |
Green
|
Yellow
|
Johnson Elementary |
Yellow
|
Red |
les Elementary |
Green
|
Yellow
|
Harvard School of Excellence |
Green
|
Yellow
|
Howe School of Excellence |
Green
|
Red
|
Bethune Elementary |
Green
|
Yellow
|
Morton School of Excellence |
Green
|
Yellow
|
Bradwell Math Science and Technology Academy |
Green
|
Red
|
Sherman Elementary |
Green
|
Red
|
Curtis Elementary |
Green
|
Green
|
NOTE: The value-added metric controls for student demographics such as poverty, limited English proficiency and race/ethnicity. |
On the bubble
CPS has trumpeted the improvement in ISAT scores made by AUSL turnarounds. But ISAT improvement can be deceptive: Schools can look as though they are improving dramatically simply by moving a group of students just over the line into the “meets standards” category. More AUSL turnaround students are in this category than at neighborhood schools in general.
Percentage of students who are just above “meeting standards” in ISAT reading
|
||
Grade | Neighborhood schools | AUSL turnarounds |
3rd grade | 21% | 30% |
4th grade | 28% | 42% |
5th grade | 28% | 44% |
6th grade | 25% | 37% |
7th grade | 23% | 40% |
8th grade | 24% | 39% |
Percentage of students who are just above “meeting standards” in ISAT math
|
||
Grade | Neighborhood schools | AUSL turnarounds |
3rd grade | 19% | 26% |
4th grade | 19% | 23% |
5th grade | 22% | 39% |
6th grade | 18% | 21% |
7th grade | 17% | 20% |
8th grade | 21% | 31% |
NOTE: Based on discussion with experts, Catalyst Chicago’s criteria for placing students at just above standards was within 10 percentage points of the “meeting standards’ benchmark. |
Tougher tests
CPS leaders have been pushing the notion that the ISAT is a faulty barometer of student learning, but the district still relies largely on it to rank schools as Level 1, 2 or 3–the best to the worst schools. This year the district published school-level results on the NWEA and on the 8th-grade EXPLORE, both of which are considered more difficult than the ISAT and give a better picture of how CPS students perform compared to children nationally. The results show that the ISAT-based rankings are no predictor of achievement on these tougher tests.
NWEA math, 3rd-5th grade
|
NWEA reading, 3rd-5th grade
|
NWEA math, 6th-8th grade
|
NWEA reading, 6th-8th grade
|
EXPLORE math
|
EXPLORE reading
|
|
Level 1 (excellent standing) |
52%
|
45%
|
57%
|
51%
|
28%
|
39%
|
Level 2 (good standing) |
36%
|
31%
|
42%
|
37%
|
13%
|
25%
|
AUSL turnaround |
25%
|
25%
|
29%
|
28%
|
6%
|
15%
|
Level 3 (poor standing) |
22%
|
19%
|
28%
|
24%
|
7%
|
18%
|
Note: The CPS rankings are based on a variety of factors such as student attendance, ISAT scores and value-added test scores. |
Strict discipline
AUSL turnarounds emphasize a calm school climate. Principals insist that students are capable of adhering to the strict discipline, but the turnarounds have more misconducts than other schools.
Type of school |
Misconduct per 100 students
|
AUSL turnaround schools |
51
|
Lowest-achieving elementary schools (without AUSL) |
40
|
All elementary schools (without AUSL) |
22
|