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SCHOOL CHOICE AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

PART 1: SUMMARY

In this section, topics regarding the issues surrounding the Chicago Public School

system’s school choice lottery were discussed. Throughout this section, many articles and guides

were referenced in order to obtain a thorough understanding of the issues that the Chicago lottery

system can cause for students and teachers. In the first article “How School Choice Became an

Explosive Issue” published in The Atlantic by Kevin Carey, Carey talks about how school choice

is viewed by conservatives and liberals, and details the ways in which the system must improve

in order to be successful. Throughout the article, the ultimate point that Carey is trying to make

is that in order for the school choice system to work, there need to be “good schools from which

to choose [from]” (Carey, 2012); a goal that, once met, will have lasting benefits for a large

number of students and educators.

In the second article “Dear Secretary DeVos, If You Want to Grow Great Charter

Schools, Do This, Not That” published on the74million.org by Richard Whitmire, Whitmire

writes an open letter to the United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos regarding the

Trump administration’s plans for charter schools. Throughout the article, Whitmire presents his

own research that he has completed on charter schools while demonstrating that Trump and

DeVos’s plans to have charter schools follow a business-like model are likely to be ineffective.

His ultimate call to action is for the administration to look at charter schools that are currently

successful, such as ones created through the independent group Building Excellent Schools, and

to model new schools after these past successes.

In the third article “And You Thought Getting Into the Ivies was Hard – Try These

Chicago High Schools” published on educationpost.org by Marilyn Anderson Rhames, Rhames

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outlines the struggles of her young daughter, who is preparing to enter a Chicago high school in

the next school year. Due to the lottery system her daughter’s fate is up in the air; because she

struggles with test taking, she can’t simply “test into” a great school or pay for a private

education. Instead, she must hope that her name is drawn so that she has access to a better

education.

The fourth reading item assigned was the CPS High School guide for the 2017-2018

school year, which showcases every school in the Chicago Public School system. This guide

outlines the ways in which the lottery and selective enrollment systems work, making it helpful

for families who may not have had a student in the school system prior to this. Throughout the

guide, each school is designated a page that shows necessary information that students and

parents will need: this includes the average test scores, graduation rate, college enrollment

percentage, bus routes, extracurriculars, in-school programs, and a wide variety of other

information that will be helpful for families as they decide where their students should enroll.

In the fifth article “Chicago Public Schools to Revamp High School Application Process”

published in The Chicago Tribune by Juan Perez Jr., Perez writes about the Chicago Public

School system’s plan to streamline the high school application process for their incoming

freshmen students. This plan would allow for families to apply to schools through a singular

online application, instead of through multiple processes when students are applying for options

such as “military, magnet, international baccalaureate, selective enrollment, or privately run

charter programs” (Perez, 2017), making the process more effective for both students and the

school administrations.

In the sixth article “Reviewing a Hollowed-Out High School” published in The Atlantic

by Kate Grossman, Grossman looks at Austin High School in Chicago, Illinois as an example for
Urban Program Taylor Belleville

Abstract Assignment 5 T550

why the school choice system is failing Chicago students. Throughout the South and West side

of Chicago, students are falling behind academically because the schools are not getting the

financial support that they need from the administration. This leads to these schools being

overlooked and then going through even more budget cuts; it’s a system that can’t fix itself.

TECHNIQUE 39: DO IT AGAIN: PAGE 191

This technique puts an emphasis on making sure that your students are successfully completing

basic tasks by having them repeat tasks until they are done correctly. Lemov suggests using this

technique in order to cultivate good behaviors within your classroom; by correcting incorrect

behaviors immediately, your students will be more likely to emulate them on their own. This

technique can be used time and time again until your students have mastered all of your

classroom rules. I think that this is a great technique that I will definitely by using in my own

classroom. This technique allows for you to show your students the correct practices that you

would like for them to follow without using punishment for incorrect behavior. I chose to write

about this technique because it is a practice that I have seen played out, but I did not have a name

or a reasoning for the practice.

TECHNIQUE 9: SHORTEST PATH: PAGE 64

This technique puts an emphasis on making sure that when you are planning a lesson you are

choosing the one that is the simplest and the most effective. Lemov suggests utilizing this

technique because it ensures that you are not creating a lesson that is overly complicated or

difficult for both you or your students. By making sure that your lesson plans are effective and

simple, you are cutting out all of the other “fluff” that can bog down your lessons. I think that

this is a very interesting technique, but I am unsure if it is one that I think I would like to use
Urban Program Taylor Belleville

Abstract Assignment 5 T550

myself. I think that complex lesson plans can be fun to create, and if you always take the

simplest route you can miss out on a really great and engaging lesson. I chose to write about this

technique because I am unsure how I feel about it; I think that the idea behind it is reasonable,

but I don’t think it’s wise to use it all of the time.

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PART 2: EVALUATION AND PERSONAL REACTION

In reading this collection of articles, I was blown away at the severity of the issues being

caused by school choices and lack of parental involvement in the Chicago Public School system.

In my own hometown, it was simply expected that students would go to the high school located

in their neighborhood. I truly had no idea how nuanced school choices can be, especially when

using a lottery system to determine which students are able to receive their education at a school

of their choice. This system seems like it makes it nearly impossible to win; they either need to

live in a great school district, have a family who has the money to move to a great school district,

or rely on luck alone to determine their education. If I was a student or the parent of a student

living in Chicago, I would feel so hopeless having to utilize a system such as this one.

Moving forward, these articles also sparked within me an internal debate regarding my

future experience as a teacher in the Chicago Public School system. As a first year teacher, I

know that it is going to be important to me to work in a school that has access to a variety of

resources, as this will help to diminish some of the stress that comes along with your first year of

teaching. But if I choose to teach at a school that has more resources – and therefore more

students who are attempting to obtain admission through the lottery system – am I feeding into a

toxic system and disregarding schools who have students who need teachers that care? It feels

wrong to say that I want to be at a school that I know will provide me with the support and

resources that I crave, because that means that I am limiting my own options severely if I do end

up teaching within the Chicago Public School system. I know that this is an issue that I probably

won’t be able to solve until I have completed my student teaching and have started applying for

jobs, but I am at the very least thankful to have been confronted with it now so that I can have it

on my mind while I am finishing up the remainder of my education.

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Overall, I think that these articles provided a great perspective on an issue that many pre-

service teachers are probably unaware about. Reading these articles gave me the opportunity to

reflect on where I will fit into this school system, and to realize that I need to begin thinking

about these struggles and issues now before I confront them as a member of the CPS workforce.
Urban Program Taylor Belleville

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PART 3: APPLICATIONS

In reading these articles, I once again struggled to think of applications for the knowledge

that I learned. While I think that all of the information here is very pertinent to pre-service

teachers who plan on teaching with the Chicago Public School system, it feels overwhelming to

look at everything that has been presented and say, “Ok, so what can I do to fix these issues?” I

think that the most important thing that teachers in the Chicago Public School system can do is to

be aware of the issues that school choice cause. If teachers are unaware of these issues, they

won’t be able to combat them when they have a chance to make their voices heard. As teachers,

our voices are our most powerful tools; we need to use them for purposes beyond educating our

students and make sure that they are working to fight for our students too.

I don’t think that there is one clear action that teachers can take to combat the issues that

arise from a school choice system. Instead, I think that there are several paths that teachers could

choose from in order to get their voices and opinions heard. One such path is participating in

strikes and/or rallies. Chicago teachers have participated in rallies and strikes before in order to

get their voices heard, and I think that having a rally or strike that aims to benefit the students

and the community would gain a lot of support. I also think that teachers – in particular those

who are new to education – should choose to work in schools that are historically

underperforming. While this may be a sacrifice for teachers who may want to work at schools

with more resources or a more prestigious reputation, doing so would allow for these

underperforming schools to have access to quality teachers, instead of rotating through lackluster

ones. I think that doing this would begin to close the gap between the various different schools in

the Chicago Public School system. While this would not solve the issue of school choice, it
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Abstract Assignment 5 T550

would make the selection of choices that the different communities have more equitable, and

would hopefully encourage more students to attend schools in their own community.