Head of the Class
Chicago’s eight “selective enrollment” public high schools are fielding some of the city’s top graduates, giving parents an attractive alternative to fleeing for the suburbs. But are these elite institutions draining the brains out of the neighborhoods?
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The display of Chinese newspapers and magazines is the only indication that Walter Payton College Prep is pre-paring to become the Midwest leader in Chinese language and cultural education. Tucked into a corner on the first floor of the school is the future home of the Confucius Institute of Chicago, a partnership with the Chinese government similar to the well-established Alliance Française. Once the books from dozens of boxes are unpacked and shelved, the institute will support Payton's growing Chinese language curriculum and integrate the study of Chinese culture into such regular courses as literature and art. The institute eventually will offer community programming, such as tai chi classes, movies from China, and programs for parents who have adopted Chinese children.
"The business community in Chicago has said they need people who speak Chinese and understand Chinese culture," says Robert Davis, program coordinator. "Motorola, Boeing, United, McDonald's, and John Deere are all Illinois companies that have a major presence in China." While Chinese study is spreading across the country, fewer than one percent of students in the United States are studying the language, says Davis. "We're ahead of the game and we expect student interest to continue to grow."
Arne Duncan says that selective enrollments strengthen the district by keeping more families in public schools and adding new students to the school population. While he acknowledges that many kids pass up their neighborhood school to attend one with selective enrollment, he notes that "getting into a top high school can be a life-transforming opportunity for a high-performing low-income student who needs to remain in the public system."
Duncan believes the record of elite schools has created a sense of academic rigor that has spread throughout the district. His goal is to create more "schools of choice" in neighborhoods and to provide families with more strong options for high schools.
"We have opportunities in a lot of neighborhood schools to replicate what the selective enrollments are doing at a smaller level," he says. "In my monthly meetings with selective enrollment principals, I'm always asking, What can we learn and apply to neighborhood schools? How can we raise the bar for the entire system? The goal is to offer a great menu of high-quality offerings and let parents figure out which is the best choice for their kids, to let the demand drive the marketplace."
In an effort to beef up neighborhood schools, 15 high schools have added the international baccalaureate (IB) program, a rigorous, internationally recognized diploma program that some believe is tougher than a selective enrollment curriculum. The independent IB organization, headquartered in Switzerland, authorizes schools, trains teachers, and oversees student assessments to ensure consistency with international standards.
"For a long time, Lincoln Park High School had the only IB program [in Chicago]; now there are 15 schools with IB programs," says Lalley. "And for a long time there was only Whitney Young. These are very special, rigorous, challenging programs. Why should there be only one?"
Approximately 75 CPS high schools now offer nearly 500 AP classes, and the number of students taking AP classes jumped 61 percent in a five-year period beginning with the 2000-2001 school year. Four magnet high schools-Chicago High School for Agricultural Science, Clark Academic Prep High School, Curie Metropolitan High School, and Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center-also serve up a rigorous curriculum, with a specific academic focus.
"I would love to give every student six to ten good high-school choices," says Duncan: "an IB program in their neighborhood school, a math and science academy, a military academy, vocational ed, a performing arts school."
All those ambitious plans cost money, and Illinois has a dismal record for funding education. In the 2002-2003 school year, Illinois was ranked 49th, ahead of only Nevada, in the percentage of public education dollars received from state sources, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
"Every school in Chicago, including the selective enrollment schools, is dramatically underfunded," says Duncan. "It's heartbreaking; it's my biggest battle. The way our state funds education [through property taxes], the children of the rich get more, the children of the poor get less. It's absolutely unequal, and resources have never been tighter."
In February, facing a $328-million deficit, Duncan announced $77 million in school cuts that were expected to slash spending in special education, magnet schools, and high-school programs. While cuts had not yet been finalized at press time, approximately 60 teaching positions used for special classes and extra programs were on the proposed chopping block at the eight selective enrollment high schools.
"We are pretty much at our limit for cutting administrative costs, so we now need to start looking at our core functions," says Jones Principal Donald Fraynd. "If I had to lay off two or three teachers, we would lose higher-level language classes or classes like calculus that are slightly underenrolled. But what's a selective enrollment school without calculus? The most frustrating part is that there is no sustainable solution. When are we not going to have this conversation?"
At Gwendolyn Brooks, Assistant Principal Robert Kobylski is concerned that renovation of the 40-acre South Side campus, which began in 1998 and has cost $34.5 million to date, will not be completed. Brooks still lacks an auditorium, a fine arts building, and a swimming pool, all part of the original construction plans. CPS estimates it will cost an additional $15 million to $20 million to complete the project. "These are all amenities that are found at our sister schools to the north," says Kobylski. "It's an ongoing frustration for us. We lose candidates to schools that do offer these programs. We are competitive in academics, but behind the times when it comes to our facility."
Despite the budget pinch, Jones College Prep, which was converted in 1998 from a two-year vocational school to a selective admissions high school at a cost of $25 million, is moving forward on its long-awaited expansion into the former Pacific Garden Mission building, in the South Loop. The $42-million project, which includes a library, fine arts wing, and gymnasium, is part of a tax increment financing (TIF) plan, which brings monies from the neighborhood's property taxes, not from the CPS operations or capital budget. The expansion is expected to be completed by the start of the 2010-2011 school year.
Last year, CPS announced plans to build the city's ninth selective enrollment school, this one on the West Side. The proposed $47-million facility will replace a vocational education institution, the Westinghouse Career Academy High School, with a new building that houses both vocational ed and selective enrollment programs. The school is slated to open in 2008.
"Facing a financial crisis, will these [selective enrollment] schools take an equitable share of the cuts that are coming or are they more or less protected from anything that might make them less attractive to the families who are already in?" asks Donald Moore, executive director of Designs for Change, an educational research and reform think tank based in Chicago. "If we were to put money in an excellent school, it should be a school like Little Village that has a lot of exciting programs but can serve a wide variety of kids."
The new Little Village Lawndale High School, which opened last fall at a record-breaking cost of $63 million, was the product of more than a decade of heated community activism and neighborhood fundraising. The city's Renaissance 2010 initiative, which aims to open 100 new small elementary and high schools by 2010, counts the Little Village school among its success stories even though it contributed no funding.
"There are physical inequalities and resource inequalities that plague the district. There are disparities that need to be addressed," says Sue Sporte. "But I think expanding AP offerings, adding more IB programs, and creating stronger neighborhood schools are attempts in the right direction. It speaks to a willingness not to just put all the resources in schools with high achievers."
While the process is anything but easy, Kelly Ford had good news waiting for her when she returned from a weekend church retreat earlier this year. She was accepted at all three of her selective enrollment choices and plans to attend either Whitney Young or Jones in the fall.
"We're thrilled with the way it worked out, and in retrospect, maybe we put too much pressure on ourselves and our kids, but I don't know that I'd do anything differently," says Sharon Ford. "Are we building it up to be more difficult than it really is? Since you don't know what the other factors are, I'd be nervous to let my guard down."
Photography by Anna Knott
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