Chicago Schools With Mostly Low-income Students See Inequita

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Chicago Schools With Mostly Low-income Students See Inequita

Most parents assume that their children are getting an equitable education, regardless of where they attend school or in what district. However, Chicago schools may differ in educational opportunities, depending upon several factors ?the most prominent being the percentage of low-income students and the quality of property values within the different districts. With many of the Chicago schools providing education to low-income students, these factors impact the quality of education your children may receive.

Let? look at Chicago schools General George Patton School District 133. Its low-income students comprise 97 percent of the overall students educated within the district. The state standard per student funding is $8,786. Patton receives $10,144 per student, 15 percent above the standard. Sounds good? It? not.

Low-income Chicago schools must provide for the special needs of the low-income students, such as extra tutoring programs, remedial programs, preschool, and free lunches. Once the normal costs of special education and transportation are added in, there is little left of the school? budget for typical needs, let alone educational enhancements. Some of the Patton students cannot even take textbooks home to study, because there are not enough for each student.

Low-income Chicago schools must provide such services to ensure the children living in poor families have the same education advantages as their other children. With no formal education before kindergarten, they need the extra schooling that many times must continue throughout elementary school.

Now let? compare Patton to Northbrook School District 27 (not in the Chicago schools area). It has a school budget of $20 million per year for 1,310 students ?$15,308 per student. It has only 0.6 percent low-income students and a sky-high property tax base from which to draw funds ?according to the Northern Multiple Listing Service, the average home in this school district carries more than $2 million in value.

Northbrook spends very little on low-income student services. They can afford well-educated teachers. Students have access to wireless laptops starting in fourth grade. They provide continual teacher professional development and administration support. Student has daily physical education classes, art and music twice a week, and daily interaction with technology ?they have over 700 computers and a seven-person technology staff. Their gifted program meets several times a week for children in kindergarten through third grade, and daily for as long as three periods for fourth graders. They provide after school activities, such as the broadcast club, chess club and competitive sports.

The low-income Chicago schools cannot compete with wealthier districts, and the children are not as prepared for college or post-graduate careers. Chicago schools education advocates are concerned with the wide variation in school district per student funding amounts across the state, which ranges from $4,437 to $23,798 per student. They believe it is unfair that poor Chicago schools have to choose between the basic needs of children in poorer families and education enhancements that are demanded by parents in wealthier Chicago schools.

Some of the contributing factors for inequalities in Chicago schools are:

?Chicago schools have to pay teachers more than rural schools, since their cost of living is higher in Chicago; but much less than wealthier schools ?many teachers do not have a college major or minor within the subjects they teach (mathematics, for instance),

?Most Chicago schools spend more on bilingual education to serve the growing immigrant populations,

?Low-income Chicago schools have higher costs for administration and support services to address the students?attendance, emotional and academic issues, and

?Low-income Chicago schools receive most of their funding from state and federal government grants; whereas, wealthier school districts receive the bulk of their funding locally, most of which is from property taxes.

The funding source also causes difficulties for low-income Chicago schools. State and federal grants come with more strings attached than local funding. They dictate to the Chicago schools how the money is used and cause more administrative costs in dealing with the associated red tape. These Chicago schools are vulnerable to the whims of the politicians, who may create or cancel a program to ensure reelection. The financial status of the state and federal budgets affect low-income Chicago schools annually. Lastly, many grants are tied to specific programs and initiatives, taking away a lot of the choices and flexibility that the wealthier schools enjoy.

So, when choosing a school for your children from the Chicago schools system, determine the percentage of low-income children that make up the school? student body and research the median property values for the area. Ask the school principal what percentage of their funding is from government grants and what comes from local funding. You will be glad you did ?and so will your children!

New High School Is First In Arizona Schools To Have No Textb

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New High School Is First In Arizona Schools To Have No Textb

Empire High School in Vail, located on the edge of Tucson, is the first in the Arizona schools to be all-electronic. Instead of textbooks, the 350 students use wireless, Apple laptop computers to research, organize their data, write and graph assignments, and create class presentations.

The Arizona schools Empire High is a new school with a blank slate. Arizona schools officials could hire new teachers committed to technology-based teaching and purchase computers instead of textbooks. The Arizona schools officials wanted to move teachers away from habitual teaching from textbooks, cover-to-cover, and gave area students the choice to attend Empire or another school.

Having researched schools in other states prior to the all-electronic decision, Arizona schools officials found students who were clearly more engaged in their studies and unusually enthusiastic about school. One reason was that they took a more active part in the lesson process, rather than everything being ?ed?to them. Another advantage to laptops over textbooks is that groundbreaking information takes five to six years to get into textbooks, especially in the science fields. Of the few all-electronic schools across the nation, many are doing well from the perspective of both the students and the educators. The Arizona schools officials clearly felt they could enhance their students?educational experience with technology over textbooks.

Replacing textbooks with laptops for other Arizona schools would prove expensive at $850 each. For Empire, they took the usual $500 to $600 cost per student for a complete set of textbooks for four years, as well as the cost of a computer lab, and used this money to purchase the laptops and added technology needs.

Some new challenges had to be faced by the Arizona schools?new Empire High and research was done to address them. They had 350 students, who needed to be continuously and reliably connected to the Internet at high speed. All the laptops had to be configured to best suit the needs of the students for learning. The needed educational material had to be located on the Internet and integrated into lesson plans. A method for students to submit assignments across the Web was needed. These were problems they knew had to be resolved before the school year began.

What the Arizona schools officials had not planned on was a different sort of technological problem. It seems that many students who used home computers for gaming, surfing the Internet, and X-Box, had a difficult time translating these skills to those needed in school, such as using word processing software, saving documents to specific locations, and being able to retrieve the files later. Skills training had to be added to the lesson plans.

For other schools that are interested in setting up an all-electronic school, the Arizona schools officials advise that it must be a public choice. You cannot force such drastic learning changes. Include the parents and teachers in the planning at the ground floor.

After a year, the system is working well overall. The Arizona schools plan to increase enrollment at Empire High to 750 students in the near future.

Breakfast Pays Big Dividends In Boston Schools

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Breakfast Pays Big Dividends In Boston Schools

For many years, scholars have recognized the link between a good breakfast and improved student behavior and academic performance. Boston schools see breakfast as their first tool of success.

In 2000, the Boston schools partnered with the Massachusetts General Hospital to conduct a study on the impact of the federal School Breakfast Program in 16 of their elementary schools. Researchers found that a simple breakfast of milk, juice and cereal provides a fourth of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of key nutrients needed by growing children. Breakfast reduces hunger in the classroom and improves the overall nutrition of the students. They found that student behavior and grades improved, especially in mathematics. Students were able to spend more time on tasks and were more creative. Attendance improved. Students demonstrated better concentration facilities and improved emotional functioning. Trips to the nurse? office were drastically reduced.

Breakfast is by far the least expensive program for improving academic achievement, yet less than half the children eligible for the free or reduced price meals participate nationwide. One major obstacle is perception ?breakfast programs are viewed as programs for the ?oor kids? a label many students wish to avoid. The other major obstacle is timing. Most schools across the country serve breakfast before the start of school ?children who arrive late due to tight morning schedules or on buses that are late, miss breakfast.

Many of the Boston schools have implemented innovative strategies to overcome the obstacles of perception and timing:

Nearly 80 elementary schools now offer a universal breakfast ?all children eat together for free. The ?oor kid?stigma has been eliminated.

?Participating Boston schools make breakfast a normal and expected part of the morning schedule ?no different than taking attendance.

Boston schools serve breakfast in a variety of ways, using the method that works best for each individual school? culture. Methods range from serving cold or hot food in the classroom from a cooler or thermal pack; grab and go, brown bag breakfasts; sending students to the cafeteria after attendance; or a combination of these approaches.

Involving the children makes the program more successful. Children rotating being in charge of food delivery to the classroom, after-breakfast trash removal, and returning leftovers to the cafeteria instills pride and responsibility. They become part of the program, not just participants.

The Boston schools have been recognized for their efforts in the School Breakfast Program. Project Bread, the state? leading anti-hunger organization and Boston schools partner in the School Breakfast Program, awards Boston schools that have achieved an 80 percent or greater student participation the point at which the breakfast program pays for itself with federal dollars.

In 2002, Project Bread recognized 10 elementary schools with the School Breakfast Excellence Award. Each award is $1,000 that the school principal can use for any school-related expense.

The Boston schools have found that when their educators make it a priority and part of the daily schedule, it is more acceptable to the students and has a better chance to succeed. Breakfast is such an inexpensive way for Boston schools to achieve substantial academic results ?especially in the children who need it the most.