Chicago launches high school reform plan

The projected cost of the High School Transformation Project is $50 million to $100 million.

Highlights of the plan -- funded partly by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- include better classroom instruction, enhanced teacher training, higher expectations, more transparent school performance indicators, greater accountability, a higher student retention rate, and more high school options and opportunities.

The program is scheduled to begin next fall with 15 volunteer high schools. Fifteen schools are expected to be added each year until all 107 high schools in the 435,000-student district are participating.

The costliest elements of the plan are the development of new instructional packages for English, math, and science. Administrators at participating high schools will choose from two or three instructional models for each core subject that are aligned to state standards and college entrance requirements. Currently, school leaders can choose from among dozens of curricula, few of which are aligned with state standards or with each other.

The district is also developing a new “scorecard” for each high school that not only tracks test scores, but also student outcomes after graduation, school climate, student participation in extracurricular activities, teacher absence rates, and other indicators.

Students and their parents will be able to use this information when choosing a high school for the following year.

“As a graduate of the Chicago Public Schools, and as a parent of a child who currently attends the school system, I am extremely pleased to see this comprehensive plan,” says school board member Rufus Williams. “These are exciting times for public education in Chicago, and as a board member, I look forward to a bright future for our students.” The high school reform plan builds on the contentious, business-supported school reform policy called Renaissance 2010, which was approved in September 2004. Under that policy, the district is closing underperforming elementary and high schools and plans to open 100 new, smaller schools by 2010.

Ten new high schools opened this year with the goal of offering a full menu of choices, such as selective enrollment, military academies, international baccalaureate, career academies, vocational education, math and science, world languages, and performing arts.

The Chicago school system has invested heavily in improving teacher quality, recruiting nationwide for high-performing teachers, and streamlining the budget and student enrollment projection process so principals can hire earlier in the year.

The district intends to give principals more autonomy in running their schools and has established an Office of Principal Development to attract and support better school leaders. A full-time principal recruiter has been added, and area instructional officers have been directed to devote 30 percent of their time to identifying and developing principal candidates.