U.S. Department of Education: 79% of Chicago 8th Graders Not Proficient in Reading

U.S. Department of Education: 79% of Chicago 8th Graders Not Proficient in Reading

With the Chicago teachers on strike, we will certainly start seeing many "facts & figures" about Chicago Public Schools as well as other public school "systems".

One Chicago fact is that 8th Graders have trouble reading.

Another is Chicago teachers are among the highest paid in the country.

(CNSNews.com) - Seventy-nine percent of the 8th graders in the Chicago Public Schools are not grade-level proficient in reading, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and 80 percent are not grade-level proficient in math.

Chicago public school teachers went on strike on Monday and one of the major issues behind the strike is a new system Chicago plans to use for evaluating public school teachers in which student improvement on standardized tests will count for 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation. Until now, the evaluations of Chicago public school teachers have been based on what a Chicago Sun Times editorial called a “meaningless checklist.”

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Education administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in reading and math to students around the country, including in the Chicago Public Schools. The tests were scored on a scale of 0 to 500, with 500 being the best possible score. Based on their scores, the U.S. Department of Education rated students’ skills in reading and math as either “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” or “advanced.”
U.S. Department of Education: 79% of Chicago 8th Graders Not Proficient in Reading

Who is at fault here?

Just look at the mess the "Highly Educated" systems have caused !

It's not the Kids' fault is it?

Kids' don't seem to have the capacity to screw things up this bad...

It must be the adults !!

more info:

CHICAGO (AP) — City officials vowed to keep hundreds of thousands of students safe when striking teachers hit the picket lines Monday and school district and teachers union leaders resumed negotiations on a contract that appeared close to being resolved over the weekend before the union announced both sides were too far apart to prevent the district's first strike in 25 years.
Chicago Teachers on Strike, But Many Schools Opening to Serve Free Meals

They are the highest paid in the country because the teachers are basically security guards or at the very least risking their life every time they step into that class room.... These schools that we went to are not the same as they used to be, especially in gang territory etc...

Usually I would blame the teachers for failing their students but in these types of cases the kids are already beyond saving and their true school is the prison system.....

Yep that teachers paycheck and benefits is "more important" than a child's education.

The kicker is Apparently they are not earning that paycheck in the first place as the topic says

79% can't even read.

what's not to get? this is what collapse looks like.

you take away the economy from the people, and they'll degenerate into illiterate fools.

1st world status, denied!

The teachers respond to this little problem with a strike and a demand for a 19% pay increase over 4 years on top of benefits!! They are already the highest paid on average in the country and even had the balls to turn down a 16% raise offer. Here's the kicker.. They want higher pay in order to counter INCREASED healthcare costs.

OOF!! Rahm is certainly in the deep poo in Chicago...

One of the other issues that these poor teachers are angry about is evaluations. They think the new system is too punitive. Sorry Kids.. better work on your reading skills in the next grade level, we're passing you on through the system..

It's always the kids who end up on the wrong side of the self serving adults!!! It's just pathetic... from one school district to the next the teachers cash in and the kids have to sacrifice.

What Chicago needs is a good community organizer. Let’s give them back Obama.

It is critical that the US education system identify a way to compensate for the lack of leadership, role-modelling and general concern parents are displaying toward their children. I realize this sounds harsh, but right now, there isn't a way to suddenly cause parents to feel concerned for their childrens' future - hell, we can't even get the lot of them to actually PLAN when they begin a family, or take their economic resources into account when deciding it's time to try for a baby.

Therefore, Chicago schools - heck, many of them eventually - need to begin kicking out the teachers who do not have the inherent gift nor the aptitude to lead these children in the process of becoming independent, contributing adults. I agree that, at its inception, this is a cruel tack to take. However, by the third round of firing the teachers, a new way to "reach" these children nobody can seem to inspire and teach will be identified and implemented.

It's a generation's only hope.

reply to post by xuenchen


Perception and spin...

Chicago's 8th grade reading profficiency levels are average for it's size. I went to the actual website cited by the partisan hack of an outlet, CNS News...."Conservative News Service"...and checked the cherry picked numbers.

Here it shows Chicago (8th Grade - Reading Proficiiency) compared to the nation..

Link

So this seems a hit piece aimed at the striking teachers...

The problem isn't the teachers or the bad @ss kids that go to school. It is the public education system. Put communities back in charge of educating their young. Who would have more of a vested interest?

reply to post by xuenchen


Yes, this is what's wrong with the public(socialist) system, crummy teachers demand bigger pay and don't get fired for being crummy.

And yet, the American public is puting their trust in Obama for the education of their youth. He can't even take care of his own state, much less the nation. m.billingsgazette.com... .html

Their parents are failures.

Government school is a failure.

And this generations culture is a failure.


What do you expect out of them?

Highest paid yet lowest literacy rate???? Something's rotten in Denmark......I mean Chicago.

I would not send my kids to Chicago Public Schools, but that is just me. The schools suck, the administration is innept, and the teachers are terrible. That is fact. There is no excuse for that perecentage of children not being proficient in reading! Reading is Fundamental. Although, I am not surprised. Driving home yesterday, a guy called into "The Roe Conn Show," a local Chicago talk show, and spilled some beans about CPS. He said that they would entice students to attend school with parties, donuts, and pizzas.

Attendence affected their funding. Then some teachers would tell the kids to behave, and retreat to the lounge to watch soap operas all day. I can only imagine what went on in those classrooms? The guy that called-in was a retired teacher. That is what the guy saw during his time on the job. Note, not all teachers are bad, but there are some bad ones. I would suspect that some of the bad ones are out on the picket line along with the good ones.

Chicago is a trainwreck, and it is not only the schools. The public administration is horrible, the budget is running annual deficits, high taxes, corruption, ect. The city has become one big sewer. These teachers are always going on strike. They could not work out a deal during the summer? No, they wait until the start of the school year? Disgusting!

Here's an op-ed piece from Al Jazeera.

Liza Featherstone is a public school parent in Brooklyn, New York. She's also a contributing writer to The Nation, and writes on education for Newsday, the Brooklyn Rail and many other publications.

Liberals, you know what hurts children? Look in the mirror. Your complicity with a regime of austerity that deprives poor people's kids of everything they need in order to thrive. That's what the teachers are protesting. Not only are they seeking to improve their own dismal labour conditions, they are fighting to save Chicago’s public schools - and kids - from Democratic politicians who seek to destroy them.

As I've said in other threads on this topic, the issues that teachers are striking over go much deeper than salary. Salary just happens to be the only thing they can legally go on strike for.

If the city were to stop spending vast sums of money on privatisation experiments, it would cost relatively little to give all Chicago children the well-rounded, quality education they need. By going on strike, the teachers are building political power, putting themselves in a position to force such changes.

That's probably why so many parents support the teachers. The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, which loves neo-liberal school reform and hates teachers, in a news story today, attempted to show how disruptive the strike was for working-class families. This was not, of course, difficult to demonstrate.

Whether parents work in offices or a bakery, bringing kids to work is stressful, and in some jobs simply untenable. Yet most parents interviewed in the Journal article supported the teachers' strike.

Indeed, a poll today published by the Chicago Sun-Times, a Democratic-leaning paper biased against the teachers, found that - even using "likely registered voters", a poll sample that would likely be more conservative than the general population - nearly half the Chicago residents surveyed supported the strike.

Sure, it's inconvenient for parents to find childcare - or bring kids to work - when teachers are on strike. It's also inconvenient to go to the doctor, or take medicine, but worth it if the patient would otherwise die. Public education can't be saved without a serious political shock to the system. Chicago's teachers understand that.

Conservatives, are you going to again be brainwashed by the GOP propagandists within your own media sources and miss the boat like you did with Occupy? Leftists are breaking with Democrats right before your eyes but all you see is 'Union, Socialism, Communism!'

You know, we are never going to see eye to eye on a most everything but for the love of our country can we meet in the middle for a while and the get these corporate whores who are destroying it, out?

Of course Chicago teachers earn above the national average. I wonder if it might have anything to do with living in Chicago where the cost of living is also higher than the national average. Furthermore, I think I heard something about a 4% raise that was negotiated in their last contract that was never paid, so at least a fourth of the 16% in raises they're asking for, were already owed to them.

I also listened to Chicago teachers being interviewed who stated that they had over 40 students in their classes. I wonder if this might have anything to do with their below average reading skills, not to mention the below average comprehension skills exhibited by Xuenchen on this site..

Originally posted by Indigo5
reply to post by xuenchen

 

Perception and spin...

Chicago's 8th grade reading profficiency levels are average for it's size. I went to the actual website cited by the partisan hack of an outlet, CNS News...."Conservative News Service"...and checked the cherry picked numbers.

Here it shows Chicago (8th Grade - Reading Proficiiency) compared to the nation..

Link

So this seems a hit piece aimed at the striking teachers...

I couldn't agree with you more, but then I've learned to expect nothing less from Xuenchen. Inflammatory hit pieces are like five-a-day vitamins to Xuenchen. If he/she doesn't post them first thing in the morning, he/she just doesn't feel right for the rest of the day.

I officially nominate Xuenchen as the "Sorcha Faal" of ATS, do I hear a second?

Originally posted by Flatfish
Of course Chicago teachers earn above the national average. I wonder if it might have anything to do with living in Chicago where the cost of living is also higher than the national average. Furthermore, I think I heard something about a 4% raise that was negotiated in their last contract that was never paid, so at least a fourth of the 16% in raises they're asking for, were already owed to them.

I know many Chicago teachers as my wife used to be one.

Here are some things that some folks might not know..

Yes...the class sizes are too large..My wife's friend teaches 6th grade in the city and has a class of 38 students, some of them share desks and take turns sitting. Other teachers have more than that!

No air conditioning...imagine almost 40 kids packed into a small classroom. I know a teacher who had a thermometer at her desk and counted 5 days where the crowded classroom was above 100 degrees....how on earth can Children learn in that climate.

Most Chicago school teachers pay for classrooom supplies out of thier own pocket. They want to excel at thier job, they love to teach and want the kids to do well in life. This means when the school has no money for supplies beyond the essentials, often teachers save and spend thier own money on classroom supplies.

Lastly...a non-partisan view for anyone capable....

Rahm Emanuel stepped down from leading Obama's campaign before this hit the fan for a reason.

It is complicated....

He didn't want to drag the President into it. Rahm...AND the President have been trying to reform the Unions...while at the same time they need thier support.

Teacher Unions are neccessary to ensure basic healthcare, basic pay and yes pensions...all good and neccessary things for teachers who forgoe potentially profitable careers to teach our kids for little money. If we want our kids to learn from the best, we need to attract the best and guarantee minimum pay, benefits, pension are needed for frankly a job that asks a great deal of you for very little up front pay.

That said...Rahm, Pres. Obama and others want to make it easier to get rid of bad teachers. And that is one of the 3 primary sticking points in this strike.

(1) Evaluations...Teachers want evaluations to take into consideration...class sizes and conditions. It is not fair to expect a class of 40 in an impovershed school district with no air conditioning, little school supplies etc to perform the same as a wealthy neighborhood where the ratio might be 15 or 20 students to one teacher...loads of supplies...computers, books, resources etc.

I am with the teachers here..

(2) Pay...for the love of god, they are teaching our children...pay them more.

(3) Right now the Union is demanding that when a school wants to hire teachers they must first hire back teachers that have been laid off previously...

I am not with the Union here...nor is Rahm...nor is Pres. Obama

They want a Principle to be able to make the best hires for thier school, not be forced to hire back teachers that they let go...and be able to get rid of underperforming teachers. I strongly agree..and many teachers agree...My wife, her friends etc.

I will be happy if the Union relents on that one front. If schools are going to be judged and funded on thier performance then they need the freedom to fire bad teachers and hire great ones.

reply to post by Indigo5


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Wow, 8th graders. It is like 13-14 year-olds. It seems as a truly disturbing fact.

I don´t remember anybody from the schools I´ve been at after 5th grade having any trouble with reading. There is too much obligatory reading. If you are not good, you will fail and not pass to next grade.

I personally learned to read when I was around 3 and half. That helped a lot when getting to school. Most schools have some kind of tests, kids have to take tests to get into better schools. It is not easy to get to a good school, when one does not know the letters and numbers before starting school and can not read or do math on a very basic level (some simple sentence to read and 1+1 or 1+2 simple calculations) Kindergartens teach it. Most of the kids in my kindergarten could add and substract number under 10 and read a bit before going to first grade.. Also the foreign languages sometimes start already at kindergarten (although it is voluntary). I started learning English in kindergarten. That is one thing I have noticed as a huge difference between different European and US schools, as lots of countries have a lot of extra languages obligatory (In high-school for example, I had 5 different obiligatory language courses, which were needed to be completed to pass the grades. And the amount reading was also a lot. In high-school there was probably more than 150 pages needed to be read in a week in obligatory literature + all the different materials for subjects, if 89% of kids can not read well in 8th grade, I would not imagine they would be able to even pass most schools here. I sincerely hope they start doing something about the schools soon and raise the standards a lot.