Pre-School for All: Progress in the State and Region
December 4, 2007 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion entitled Pre-School for All: Progress in the State and Region. The discussion was introduced and facilitated by Sara Slaughter, McCormick Tribune Foundation, and featured contributions from Elliot Regenstein, Holland & Knight, Barbara Bowman, Chicago Public Schools, and Margie Wallen, Ounce of Prevention Fund.

The Pre-School for All program is a significant step toward improving early childhood education in Illinois, but more steps remain, including finding qualified teachers for the program, ensuring that effective curricula are used, and making sure that all children who need pre-school education have access to a quality program.

As the Pre-School for All program moves forward, some of the challenges it must face include:

• Outside of Chicago, most pre-school programs are housed in schools. Inside Chicago, by contrast, community-based programs play a more significant role in providing pre-school education. This means that in any given kindergarten class, there are some children who attended school-based pre-school, others who attended community-based pre-school, and still others who had no pre-school at all. Kindergarten teachers face a tremendous challenge working with this range of children. Efforts to make sure as many children as possible enter kindergarten with a basic set of cognitive, social, and emotional skills would help this situation.
• Some of the money budgeted for the Pre-School for All program is set aside for infrastructure development, which includes teacher training and development. This training can be vital to the success of pre-school programs, especially since there was a tendency in the past to assign lower-performing teachers to pre-school classes. Principals and school administrators need to be able to work with teachers and help them develop their skills; they also need the flexibility to be able to say when a particular teacher may not be working out and may need to leave the pre-school field.
• There are existing models for pre-school education programs that have a definite positive effect on cognitive skills and IQ, but the costs of these programs is far beyond what Chicago schools (or most regional schools) can afford. Part of the continuing task is to find ways to replicate some of these results through less expensive means.
• As is the case with all levels of education, the input and participation of parents is important to pre-school success. However, teachers should be aware that not all parents have the skills they may need to help their children develop basic literacy; therefore, classroom time should be dedicated to developing cognitive abilities as much as possible, rather than simply providing free-play time or nap time, which children are apt to already be receiving at home.
• Pre-school programs could have a stronger mental health component, performing screening for mental health issues and interventions when they are needed. Programs should also be certain not to cause stress or discomfort in children in ways that could lead to future behavioral issues.

In facing these ongoing challenges, the early education field will have the benefit of the results of several ongoing evaluations. These include a study examining which curricula work best for which groups of children; studies evaluating which children gain the most from full-day programs or from being in pre-school for two years; and evaluations of the effectiveness of teacher development efforts.

District Reform: Creating Effective District-Level Organizations
November 28, 2007 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion entitled District Reform: Creating Effective District-Level Organizations. The discussion was introduced by Peter Mich, McDougal Family Foundation, and Peggy Mueller, The Chicago Community Trust; facilitated by Terry Mazany, The Chicago Community Trust; and featured contributions from Richard Elmore, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Arne Duncan, Chicago Public Schools, Barbara Eason-Watkins, Chicago Public Schools, Hill Hammock, Chicago Public Schools, and James Cosme, Chicago Public Schools.

Multiple studies have shown that the classroom has the most dramatic effect on student performance. Differences between individual students and between various schools are not as important to academic success as is the quality of classroom instruction. Any district reform plan that does not include comprehensive measures for improving the classroom experience is not likely to deliver district-wide improvement.

In its ongoing reform efforts, the Chicago Public Schools system must work with schools that are at various levels of achievement. High-performing schools can be given a certain degree of autonomy, and the methods they use can be taught to and replicated by other schools. Middle-performing schools can adapt these techniques as they work to push themselves to the next level. Low-performing schools may need more help, up to and including complete reinvention, to help them build a new culture of success.

Working with this large number and wide variety of schools requires a strong district (which is not necessarily the same thing as an autocratic or dictatorial district). Without a strong district influence, the changes needed to elevate instruction in every classroom in the district cannot occur; instead, reform efforts are likely to be more hit-and-miss, with isolated but not comprehensive improvements. The intervention of a central district is also necessary because schools are not always able to heal themselves; the persistence of low-performing schools bears this idea out.

Some of the key elements of a district reform strategy involve presenting a coherent message at all levels and parts of the district while aligning district functions to core goals (such as CPS' goals of improving instruction, building leaders, and expanding educational opportunities). When different parts of the district are presenting a consistent message, that message is more likely to carry through to all parts of the district and into all classrooms.

Initial reform efforts in the Chicago Public Schools have focused on improving early education, and the system has seen improvement in student competencies and academic abilities in the early grades. The next challenge will be to carry these improvements through to the mid-grades; some measurements have shown that students (in Chicago and other locations) actually lose academic abilities between the fifth and seventh grades. The district must work hard to help the students maintain "academic literacy," meaning they can read textbooks and understand what they read well enough to grasp the more advanced concepts of higher grade levels.

Efforts to reform mid-grade instruction will be aided by some of the same tools that helped early education efforts, including improved data collection and use by the school system. Teachers and administrators are able to receive more information about their students' abilities and performance in a shorter period of time, and they also have the tools they need to use this data to help their students. Additionally, new ways of tracking financial data will help the district use its funds more efficiently and effectively.

As efforts to improve mid-grade instruction move forward, funders are interested in examining what programs currently exist to improve academic literacy at these ages and to help map what efforts are currently ongoing. Some members of the Education Funders Group will meet to discuss these tools and look at ways to improve their collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools' efforts.

A Discussion With David Roche and the Staff of the CPS Office of Fine Arts / Education Update from the Illinois Arts Alliance's Julie Adrianopoli
May 30, 2007 - The Arts and Culture Funders Group hosted A Discussion With David Roche and the Staff of the CPS Office of Fine Arts / Education Update from the Illinois Arts Alliance's Julie Adrianopoli. The discussion was introduced by Mark Murray, Field Foundation of Illinois, Sydney Sidwell, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and Jennifer Siegenthaler, Terra Foundation for American Art, and featured presentations from Ra Joy, Illinois Arts Alliance; Julie Adrianopoli, Illinois Arts Alliance; David Roche, CPS Office of Fine Arts; Nancy A. Cortés, CPS Office of Fine Arts; Emily Hooper Lansana, CPS Office of Fine Arts; William Braddan McClellan, CPS Office of Fine Arts; Charles Thomas, CPS Office of Fine Arts; and Frank Quinn, CPS Office of Fine Arts.

The most significant challenge in expanding and improving arts education efforts in Chicago and across the state is getting educators, from administrators to principals to teachers, to perceive the arts as a core curriculum subject just as important as any other core matters. While surveys show that parental support is very high for expanded arts education programs, translating this into the political will to make systemic change is difficult and will take time.

As part of their advocacy efforts, the Illinois Arts Alliance is looking for ways to boost the importance of arts as a core subject area. They hope to have measures of arts education activities (such as the number of certified arts teachers at a school and the average arts instruction time per student per week) included in school report cards that are collected by the State and made available to the general public. The Alliance is also organizing a conference to take place in March 2008 that will bring leaders in arts education from five states together to share ideas and engage in strategic planning.

On the city level, the new Chicago Office of Fine Arts is learning the territory and evaluating the state of current arts programs. They have made significant strides in meeting with representatives from local arts programs as well as individuals administering arts education programs in other cities to learn from their experiences. The Department also has to deal with a mindset that often considers arts classes to be a luxury or enrichment activity-or even primarily as a break for regular classroom teachers. Their mandate is to consider arts education from kindergarten to 12th grade, and they are working to design curriculum that will include expected goals and skill sets students should obtain as they progress through grade levels.

Chicago is a major cultural center, and the arts play a significant role in the regional economy. Understanding the role of the arts in the region may help schools understand that they need to help students not only express themselves creatively but also be prepared to enter careers in the culture economy.

Many of the existing arts programs in the Chicago Public Schools take the form of city-wide contests. While these can be great experiences and can provide both recognition and possible scholarships to many of the participants, the contests could be changed in ways that better integrate them into a larger arts curriculum. If every school had a full-time arts teacher and adequate facilities (such as a music room, instruments, a dedicated art classroom, and a dance studio), participation in these contests could be broader. Using themes for some of the visual arts contests could develop greater cohesion among the entries while giving teachers the opportunity to help students develop their art in a specific direction. Also, balancing the contests with permanent, year-round displays of students' work would allow a greater range of their efforts to be displayed.

Going forward, the Office of Fine Arts plans to serve as a clearinghouse of information to help connect schools to arts programs. They are developing an interactive website that will have a full searchable database of schools and arts programs to help find and nurture matches between the two groups. The Department will also continue work on its curriculum mission, working with teachers and other experts to develop curricula with measurable results. By emphasizing how arts can help create better students, better schools, and better members of the community, the Department hopes to build support for their curricular efforts.

Black Youth Project
April 30, 2007 - The Youth Task Force, the Education Funders Group, the Community Building Task Force, and the Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues hosted a session on The Black Youth Project. The discussion was introduced by Jane Kimondo, Crossroads Fund, and included contributions from Cathy J. Cohen, University of Chicago.

While issues and policies that affect black youth often make headlines and are the subject of much discussion, the voices and perspectives of the youth themselves are frequently overlooked or ignored. Public issues like education, poverty, HIV/AIDS, welfare reform, affirmative action, sex education, and others play a direct role in the lives of black youth, which makes it crucial to better understand their beliefs and opinions.

The Black Youth Project surveyed 1,590 youths, including black, Hispanic, and white youth between the ages of 15 and 25. Approximately 40 in-depth follow-up interviews were conducted with survey participants. The survey included over 200 questions, and a large amount of data is still being analyzed. The project will also include a forthcoming analysis of the content of popular rap songs from the past ten years.

Some of the findings of the survey include:

• While rap music and rap videos are a frequent presence in the lives of many black youths, a majority of black youths agree that rap videos are too violent and that rap videos portray both black women and black men in "bad and offensive ways."
• Black youth are more likely than Hispanic and white youth to believe it is hard for black people to get ahead because of discrimination (61 percent of black youth agreed with this statement, compared to 45 percent of Hispanic youth and 43 percent of white youth). Follow-up interviews showed that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina played a pivotal role for some youth in making discrimination plain to see.
• Black youth also differed from white and Hispanic youth in their perception of the quality of education black youth receive compared to the quality of white youth's education. Fifty-four percent of black youth agree that black youth receive a poorer education on average than white youth, while 40 percent of Hispanic youth and 31 percent of white youth agree with the statement.
• Responses to questions about the criminal justice system showed that black youth respondents were more likely to have been stopped by police officers than were white youth, and they were also more likely to have been arrested. White youth who were arrested were more likely to be convicted of a crime than black youth, but black youth were far more likely to be convicted of a felony.
• While a majority of black youth (79 percent) believes they have the knowledge and skills to participate in politics, most of the black youth surveyed (56 percent) believes that the government cares very little about people like them. Sixty-eight percent of the black youth surveyed believed the government would do more to find a cure for AIDS if it affected more white people.
• While only about one-fifth of the black youth surveyed indicated active political participation, they showed involvement in some non-traditional forms of action, including "buycotts" (purchasing goods or services because they like the values of a company), electronic petitions, and blogging.
• All youth surveyed are heavily in favor of mandatory sex education in school, and they also strongly disagree with government funding of abstinence-only programs.

Data analysis will be ongoing, including matching the data to community profiles to see if the racial and ethnic makeup of the respondents' communities had any bearing on their responses. More data and updates are available at www.blackyouthproject.com.

Teacher Quality & New Teacher Induction
March 28, 2007 - The Education Funders Group hosted a session on Teacher Quality and New Teacher Induction. The discussion was introduced by Amy Short, The Chicago Public Education Fund, and featured contributions from John Luczak, The Joyce Foundation; Kavita Kapadia, Consortium on Chicago School Research; Larry Stanton, Chicago Public Schools; and Max Barry, Boston Consulting Group.

Improving the quantity and quality of mentoring and other supports received by teachers in their first two years in the classroom can greatly improve their job satisfaction, increasing the likelihood that they will stay in the same school and reducing teacher turnover. Finding and retaining quality teachers can be crucial to improving education, and induction can play an important role in building teachers' skills and encouraging them to stay in the classroom.

Chicago Public Schools has an induction program for new teachers, but not all teachers participate in it, and it is on the lighter end of the spectrum of services offered by induction programs. A plan for future induction efforts could include funding teaching coaches at each school, individuals who focus on helping teachers develop their classroom skills while integrating them into the school-wide team. While this model would be more expensive than the existing induction program, it could significantly reduce teacher turnover, resulting not only in reducing CPS' costs related to finding new teachers but also in improving the experience and quality of teachers in the classroom.

CPS' ability to improve their induction programs depends in part on funding provided by the state and the availability of personnel-finding people who are both qualified and willing to leave the classroom and serve as coaches will not be a simple task. Trying to make a rapid expansion of intensive induction programs to all schools may not be feasible, so CPS is looking at ways to phase in induction programs.

A survey of first and second year teachers in CPS helps demonstrate that existing induction programs could be improved to great benefit. According to the survey, current induction programs are not making a significant difference in teachers' job satisfaction and plans for the future. However, by analyzing induction experiences in more detail, the survey discovered that teachers who received a strong level of support and strong mentoring reported having a good teaching experience in much higher numbers than those who did not receive such services. These teachers were at least three times more likely than other teachers to say they planned to continue teaching in their school.

Principals can play a key role in new teacher induction by creating a climate that welcomes and nurtures new staff. One issue that could prevent teachers from creating such an environment is the significant turnover in principals due to retirement. Along with induction strategies for teachers, induction for principals may also need to be addressed. Such strategies could give principals the skills they need to improve their schools' environment and build a strong staff team.

Funder-Driven Education Collaboratives
February 28, 2007 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion on Funder-Driven Education Collaboratives. Jennifer Shimp, Harris Bank Foundation, introduced the discussion, which was facilitated by Jobi Peterson, Peterson Consulting Charitable Foundation, and featured contributions from Jeff Pinzino, Woods Fund of Chicago, Suzanne Doornbos Kerbow, Polk Bros. Foundation, and Julia Stasch, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Chicago is the focus of new national and local initiatives focused on building connections between schools, parents, and the surrounding community and on expanding education organizing capacity. By extending school hours, by integrating more programs and activities with the schools, and by helping residents build their leadership abilities, schools can be both an important community gathering place and a catalyst for change on the local level and beyond.

The presentations discussed the following programs and initiatives:

• The Woods Fund of Chicago is leading a collaborative effort of several foundations to fund community organizing centered on education. The idea behind the project is to raise the profile of education organizing efforts and then use that momentum in school reform. Ideally the collaboratives that receive funding will include both schools and community organizations and will be sustainable. Proposals for this funding should be coming in shortly.
• Based on lessons learned by the Chicago Community Organizing Capacity Building Initiative, this effort will focus on improving the capacity and sophistication of grantees so that they will be prepared to sit at the table for policy discussions and respond to issues as they develop. The effort hopes to build on past successes including protests that kept schools open and programs offering parent mentoring that gave participants the tools they needed to become leaders in their communities.
• The Chicago Campaign to Expand Community Schools is coming to the end of its funding cycle after helping create more than 100 community schools in Chicago (many of which were funded by Chicago Public Schools using federal dollars).
  Community schools can bring people in a community together while enhancing educational opportunities for students and parents alike. By staying open for longer hours and offering a range of programming options, the schools become a central resource for neighborhoods and a safe place for residents to receive a range of services and to build relationships with each other.
• The effort to secure funding for community schools will be taken up by the Federation for Community Schools, which will serve as an advocacy organization to promote and expand community schools in Chicago and throughout Illinois. The existing community schools and the students and parents participating in them provide a natural starting point for organizing efforts.
• Atlantic Philanthropies invited four locations, including Chicago, to engage in a planning process and submit proposals for their Integrated Services in Extended-Day Schools Demonstration Project. Similar to the community schools model, this project would use schools to provide education, health, and community support services to students and parents, with a particular focus on middle-school children. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust are providing local support for the planning effort.

The organizations involved in planning are participating in meetings to help them better understand what services and resources each organization offers and to plan how they will work together. Proposals will be submitted at the end of the year.
A key aspect of this plan is sustainability-one of the goals of the demonstration projects is to show the necessity of this kind of effort and to generate a permanent funding stream for these projects and others like them. This means there will need to be significant advocacy and evaluation components to the proposal.

In discussion following the presentations, the panelists focused on school reform and funding reform efforts, noting that momentum seems to be building, particularly for the latter. Planning for reform efforts and providing evaluative materials that show the benefits of community schools and school organizing can be important tools in ongoing organizing efforts.

The State of Environmental Education in the Region
February 13, 2007 - The Environmental Grantmakers Group hosted a discussion on The State of Environmental Education in the Region. The discussion was introduced by Kim Riordan Van Horn, The Field Foundation of Illinois, and Ed Miller, The Legacy Fund, and featured contributions from Cameron Davis, Alliance of the Great Lakes; Kirk Anne Taylor, Field Museum; and Peggy Stewart, Chicago Park District.

Environmental education programs have seen success when they actively engage participants. Rather than simply learning about the environment and the global ecosystem, participants can combine an understanding about the flora and fauna in their area with methods of preserving existing ecosystems, involving them in their local environment. By helping participants become stewards of their environment, these education programs help shape the next generation of environmental leaders.

The Chicago area offers many opportunities for place-based environmental education programs, including preservation projects taking place in several Chicago parks, larger preservation areas across the region, and sites like Lake Calumet and Wolf Lake. Schools near any of these locations can be enlisted in programs that involve students in taking care of these areas. Additionally, programs in these locations can reach out to people of all ages, bringing them into nature and increasing their interaction with the ecosystem. These programs can be designed to engage people at their current level of interest and activity, helping them build and expand a skill set centered on environmental stewardship. Similarly, programs for different levels of school-age children can increase the number of skills taught to the children as they grow older.

Environmental education efforts often benefit from collaborations between multiple organizations. Such efforts can combine education with activity, or can help participants find different ways to apply the skills they learn by becoming stewards of a particular area or location. Chicago Wilderness is one example of a program that has benefited from large-scale collaboration; by combining the efforts of more than 190 organizations, Chicago Wilderness is able to provide education and hand-on experiences at locations across the Chicago region, finding ways to engage people close to where they live.

There has been progress moving environmental education programs into schools, but there are still many schools that have no environmental education component at all. The development of new environment curricula and related tools provides helpful options to schools looking to improve their environmental education. Additionally, organizations have reached out to schools to help them investigate ways to become involved in environments within walking distance of their school. Outreach efforts can also focus on recruiting teachers and principals who are seen as local leaders, and who could bring others into the environmental education effort with them.

After the discussion on environmental education, participants held a peer exchange to review ideas for meetings to be held in the next few months. Among the possibilities mentioned were:

• A field trip in May or June to three or four Chicago Park District restoration projects;
• A session to discuss the potential of green architecture and other environmental impacts of the proposed 2016 Olympic games. This session would be held after the United States Olympic Committee decides whether to support Chicago's or Los Angeles' bid, and canceled if the USOC selects Los Angeles.
• Meetings with speakers who will be coming in for the Green Festival in April or for NeoCon (a furniture-makers show that will be focusing on sustainable furniture design) in June; and
• A possible session in the fall centered on the 100th anniversary of the Burnham Plan.
  

Sex In Our Schools: What Are Kids Learning Part Two
February 12, 2007 - The Youth Task Force, the Health Program Affinity Group, Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, and the Education Funders Group hosted a discussion on Sex in Schools: What Are Kids Learning, Part 2. The discussion was introduced by Julie Walther, Girl's Best Friend Foundation, and featured contributions from Dorinda Welle, The Ford Foundation; Kenneth Papineau, Chicago Public Schools; Vicki Pittman, Chicago Public Schools; Soo Ji Min, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health; Jonathan Stacks, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH); Marcela Howard, Advocates for Youth; James Wagoner, Advocates for Youth; and students Mya Patitucci, Kevin Brown, and Adaku Utah, who are part of Furthering Responsible Education Everywhere, a program of ICAH.

In April 2006, the Board of Education for the Chicago Public Schools adopted a new Family Life and Comprehensive Sexual Health Education Policy. The policy was the result of organizing and advocacy on multiple levels, and it created a new mandate in the CPS system for comprehensive sexuality education within specific guidelines. While establishing such a policy is a significant step, there is more work to be done-the policy needs to be implemented in all Chicago schools, and efforts are underway to implement a similar mandate on the state level.

The CPS policy guidelines emphasize information that is comprehensive, age appropriate, medically accurate, abstinence-based, and includes information on emotional, social, and psychological aspects of sexuality along with physical and health aspects. The comprehensive approach can produce benefits in a wide range of areas, including student health, emotional well-being, and even job training and preparedness.

As part of the policy, CPS has provided every school with curriculum in both print and online forms. The online version allows teachers to search for lesson plans by subject area or by skills they are teaching, allowing them to present material that specifically addresses their students. CPS is working to monitor how many schools are using the curriculum and how often they employ it, and CPS staff will work with schools that are under-employing the curriculum to find ways to help these schools meet the new mandate. While CPS has occasionally encountered resistance from teachers and principals, most who go through the training for the curriculum speak positively of the experience.

The creation of the new policy happened with significant input from CPS students, and students also plan to be involved in promoting the policy. By spreading word about the policy to students throughout the system and telling them what kind of education they have a right to receive, student organizers hope to build participation in the new policy from the ground up.

Along with working on implementation of the new Chicago policy, organizers will focus on attempting to expand comprehensive sexuality education resources to suburban and downstate locations. Building momentum for a statewide mandate could help marshal resources for underserved areas while clarifying occasional confusion about what can and cannot be taught. Some of these areas do not have the organizational resources that the Chicago region has, and partnerships with community colleges and other groups are being explored as a way to offer the needed health and education services.

This organizing effort comes at a time when federal funding for abstinence-only education has constructed an infrastructure of programs that aggressively market themselves to schools. Since they do not need additional funding from the schools, these programs can present themselves as a fully funded sexuality education resource. While well funded, such programs often contain inaccurate, incomplete, or non-factual information, and there is not yet any peer-reviewed research showing the effectiveness of abstinence-only education. By emphasizing curricula that are medically accurate and fact-based, comprehensive sexuality education programs present an alternative to abstinence-only programs-an alternative that not only provides students with a broader range of knowledge but that has, in some cases, been shown to promote higher rates of abstinence from sexual activity than do abstinence-only programs.

Rebuilding Arts Education in Urban School Districts: The Experience of Dallas, Los Angeles and New York
February 9, 2007 - The Arts and Culture Funders Group hosted a discussion on Rebuilding Arts Education in Urban School Districts: The Experience of Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. The discussion was introduced by Mark Murray, The Field Foundation, and Sydney Sidwell, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and featured contributions from David Roche, Director of Fine Arts, Chicago Public Schools; Gigi Antoni, Big Thought; Sharon Dunn, New York City Public Schools; and Mark Slavkin, Los Angeles Music Center. A question-and-answer session was facilitated by Jenny Siegenthaler, Terra Foundation for American Art.

Many arts education programs in public schools, especially in districts with high proportions of lower-income students, were cut in the 1970s and 1980s, and current arts education efforts in urban districts are often scattered and not well integrated into core educational curriculum. However, recent efforts in different urban school districts across the country have shown that arts education can-and should-be raised to the same level as traditional coursework areas like reading, writing, and math.

In Chicago, the office of Director of Fine Arts in the Chicago Public Schools has existed for six months, with the goal of solidifying the arts as a core subject matter and better coordinating existing arts education activities. Negotiating the current education system, making sure existing arts activities continue while adding new programs, and spreading these activities to underserved schools are areas of emphasis.

As the Chicago effort proceeds, lessons can be learned from other cities that have embarked on comprehensive efforts to rebuild their arts education programs. The following are lessons learned from Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York:

• Involving the highest levels of leadership-i.e., the mayor and school district superintendent-is critical to making sure arts education programs are implemented across the board. Without the buy-in of these leaders, arts education programs may seem like an afterthought or arts directors may be seen as trying to impose upon or dictate to other branches of the school system.
• Integrating the arts with other educational subjects and issues can be key to a successful program and an important step toward ensuring arts education becomes a part of the overall educational structure. For example, if a school district is facing a high dropout rate, district personnel should include arts-based solutions in their strategies to keep students in school. Arts can also become a regular part of the classroom experience for a variety of subjects. Districts may benefit from a comprehensive blueprint, similar to expectations of reading and math skills, that outlines what kinds of arts knowledge students should have as they progress from grade to grade.
• Attempting to show that improved arts education leads to better test scores can be a double-edged sword. On one side, principals and teachers are under pressure to show improvement in test scores, so any tool approaching that goal would be a relatively easy sell. Some studies have shown a positive relationship between arts education and improved test scores, though it is not always possible to say if the arts are the direct cause of the improvement. However, the risk of tying arts education to standardized test results is that it does not establish the importance of the arts as a distinct subject matter. Other subjects do not carry a similar burden; students who study chemistry are supposed to learn more about chemistry, not about other unrelated subjects. Students, then, who study the arts should have the goal of learning more about the arts-that should be a desirable end on its own.
• Arts education will most benefit from concerted change that creates a more effective school system for all students. Rather than making minor improvements in the existing system, educators, advocates, and funders are better off attempting long-term change that elevates arts within the core curriculum. In this effort, private foundations can play an important role by using their funds as levers for broad change and requiring specific outcomes.
• Research repeatedly points to schools as the crucial agent of change in an education system. This means that successful arts education programs need school principals to be an active part of the program. Once principals are on board, they can help convince their teachers of the importance of integrating arts resources into everyday education, thereby involving the entire school in the effort.
  

Approach to Strategic Funding for Policy & Practice Change
October 03, 2006 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion on An Approach to Strategic Funding for Policy and Practice Change in Urban Schools. Peggy Mueller, The Chicago Community Trust, and Mark Rigdon, The Chicago Community Trust, presented information about the Trust's education funding efforts and led a discussion on other funding efforts and next steps for future discussions.

Lessons learned over years of working with the Chicago Public Schools system show that individual schools are vital units of change. Building the capacity of school leadership, improving the knowledge and skills of teachers within the schools, and providing avenues for schools and teachers to communicate with each other and share ideas and strategies can improve the overall education offered by a school and the experience of its students.

Improving and reforming an organization as large as the CPS is a difficult endeavor, particularly when the funds from private foundations' education programs represent only a fraction of the CPS' annual budget. By finding ways to leverage their funds and translate their efforts into systemic change, foundations can have a significant impact on the shape of the public schools system. However, this is not to say that all funds need to be targeted for systemic change; funds dedicated to helping individual students through projects such as tutoring and scholarship programs can also play a useful role in helping students.

One of the keys to implementing systemic change is finding and improving channels of communication for principals and teachers. Programs that treat teachers as isolated individuals are generally not as effective as programs addressing teachers as a team. Once communication improves within a school, it is important to find ways to bring practices from within that school to other schools-the district is hampering its own progress if a neighborhood school is improving but not able to share what it is doing with other nearby schools serving a similar demographic. The area structure can be helpful in communicating best practices between schools, but it often has been used to pass instructions down from the district level rather than to enable school-to-school communication.

Communication about best practices will become increasingly important as new student data become available. Rather than offering a snapshot of the status of a grade at one particular time, this data will show the progress of children as they move through the school system, allowing school leaders to understand what efforts most effectively promote student success. Communication between schools about what has and has not worked for them will allow schools to adopt best practices to better serve their students.

Foundations can play many roles in driving change in the CPS. First, by making sure professional development programs reinforce the concept of teachers and principals working as a team, they can prevent school personnel from being pulled in multiple directions. Second, by examining how well CPS practices match up to the district's stated standards, foundations can promote district accountability. Third, when funding new projects, foundations can ask schools how the new activities can complement activities that are already taking place. Fourth, foundations could help improve state education standards so they are tied to a progression of learning, then provide training so teachers and principals understand how to help students progress through the standards.

The discussion during the session pointed to several directions for future learning circles, including the following:

• There are five or six ongoing collaborative funding efforts involving education. The group could host a discussion of these efforts that highlights lessons funders should adopt as they plan future collaborations.
• The issue of communicating best practices between schools came up more than once during the discussion. What are the best ways for these practices to be communicated? How can communication about best practices be built into the district?
• If schools are to be the unit of change in the system, principals and teachers will play crucial roles in driving this change. As many CPS principals are nearing retirement, how can a new generation be trained to lead the schools? What training might these principals need to help them find and hire quality teachers?
  

Arts Education in CPS & the State of Illinois
September 27, 2006 - The Arts and Culture Funders Group hosted a session on Arts Education in CPS and the State of Illinois. The discussion was introduced by Mark Murray, Field Foundation of Illinois, and Sydney Sidwell, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, and featured presentations from Sarah Solotaroff, Chicago Arts Education Initiative; Peggy Mueller, The Chicago Community Trust; Julie Adrianopoli, Illinois Arts Alliance; and Melanie Scofield, Scofield Communications.

Efforts in both Chicago and the entire state of Illinois to improve arts education in public schools face serious challenges. A 2001 survey showed that the average Chicago elementary school student received 40 minutes of arts instruction per week, and there is wide variance behind that average-many students received no arts instruction whatsoever. The statewide picture is similarly problematic. According to a 2005 survey, 20 percent of schools have no arts programs at all, while over a quarter of school district superintendents said that the arts were not part of their core curriculum. While there are some successful ongoing arts education efforts, they are scattered and generally uncoordinated. To have a real impact on elementary school children across the state, these efforts need to be better organized and receive increased emphasis as an important part of the core curriculum.

In Chicago, the recent appointment of David Roche as the director of fine and public arts for the Chicago Public Schools is the continuation of an effort to better coordinate partnerships between arts education organizations and the school system. While there are many organizations offering arts education, their services are often unbalanced and occasionally redundant, giving some schools more comprehensive arts programs than others and overlapping with CPS' own efforts. A central office can help better coordinate and distribute these services while also ensuring that the arts will be elevated to the same level as other subjects.

Illinois is also undergoing an effort to improve arts education programs across the state. The 2005 survey of arts education in Illinois showed that rural districts with a small number of schools were particularly underserved, but there were also schools in more densely populated areas, including Chicago and some suburbs, with below average arts programs. In an effort to remedy that, the Illinois State Board of Education distributed grants to 38 school districts to help them develop plans for strengthening their arts and foreign language education programs. These grants will continue in the next fiscal year with twice as much investment from the State.

The efforts on both the City and State levels are in their early stages, and both face ongoing challenges, including:

• The bureaucracies on the City and State levels are large and often resistant to change. Providing funds to a school system for a specific purpose can be difficult, as these systems have not always been good at tracking the money they receive and using it for the designated purposes. Additionally, public bodies sometimes use private funds as a replacement for, not a complement to, their own funding efforts.
• Initial efforts to improve arts education have successfully engaged many government leaders and media representatives, but taking the campaign to the grassroots level is a more difficult, though necessary, step. Teachers, principals, and district superintendents can be resistant to arts education efforts since the arts are not a part of any of the standardized tests that are crucial to schools. There is also a disconnect between art teachers and parents, which can isolate parents from the issue.
• Arts education organizations can be resistant to efforts at coordination and consolidation because they believe (sometimes correctly) that these results could result in a reduction of their funding. While it may be painful for some organizations, the improved coordination of resources is better in the long run for students and for arts education in general.
• School days in Chicago are short, meaning arts education programs must compete for what little time is available.
• Some arts education programs are offered in before- or after-school settings, and these efforts are not always well coordinated with what is happening during school.
  

Improving Urban Schooling
June 15, 2006 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion on the Urban Education Initiative. Introduced by Any Short, The Chicago Public Education Fund, the discussion featured presentations from Chuck Lewis, Campaign for the Urban Education Initiative; John Easton, Consortium on Chicago School Research; and Timothy Knowles, Center for Urban School Improvement.

The ultimate goal of the Urban Education Initiative is to combine education theory and practice to create a model for how urban schools across the nation can be transformed. By creating the equivalent of a teaching hospital and medical school for the educational system, the program can help teachers develop the skills needed to engage urban students and intervene in issues affecting their academic progress, helping them make significant improvements.

The Urban Education Initiative's model starts with the current system for medical education, which utilizes basic research, applied research, medical schools, community medicine, and hospitals to provide students with a well-rounded clinical education. The Initiative has five independent units, each covering one of these areas, providing an equivalent model for students entering the education field. By giving students a firm grounding in research while also helping them learn from teachers in the classroom, the Initiative hopes to produce teachers who have an excellent understanding of effective teaching techniques.

The Initiative currently owns and operates two charter elementary schools, with a charter high school opening in the fall. The plan is for the Initiative to eventually run five schools completely on its own, while also serving as an incubator for an additional 15 new schools. The intent is to combine the techniques employed at these schools with research measuring the effectiveness of these techniques to develop a model that will be replicable in urban schools across the nation.

The emphasis at the schools run by the Initiative is on quality teaching and intensive learning. Elementary school students receive five hours of literacy instruction each day, and when the high school opens its day will run from 8 AM to 5 PM. Extracurricular activities, which are generally crucial to college admittance, will be built into the day. Additionally, the schools open one week earlier than most public schools, allowing teachers from other schools to come and observe how the charter schools work.

The schools also emphasize individual interventions, helping each student receive what he or she needs to assist their academic progress. Solutions they offer include mentoring, big brother programs, tutoring, and additional classroom instruction. The Initiative hopes to use this individual emphasis to help them retain the same students from the age of three and a half (when they may enter pre-school) to age 18 and also track students' progress after high school.

The Initiative believes this will be a very long-term project, and so they are working to make it sustainable. While short-term grants remain important to ongoing activities, the Initiative is seeking to build up an endowment that will give it a core of continual funding. While some of the activities of the Initiative's charter schools make them more expensive than other public schools, the Initiative does not wish to ask for more funding for funding's sake. Rather, the Initiative hopes to employ research gathered through their charter schools to show positive results and then show the costs of a program that can deliver those kinds of results. This will let legislators see what they will be getting for any increased funding they commit to public schools.

Shifting Authority in the Chicago Public Schools
May 4, 2006 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion entitled Shifting Authority in the Chicago Public Schools. Introduced by Peggy Mueller, The Chicago Community Trust, and Cheryl Lamm-Gunn, McMaster-Carr, the discussion featured presentations from Melissa Megliola, Chicago Public Schools; Laurence Stanton, Chicago Public Schools; Donald Fraynd, Jones College Prep; Jerryelyn L. Jones, Curie Metropolitan High School; Erin Roche, Ravenswood Elementary School; Kenneth Staral, William B. Ogden Elementary School; Andrew Tinich, Abraham Lincoln Elementary School; and Sandra Traback, César Chávez Multicultural Academic Center.

The Autonomous Management and Performance Schools (AMPS) program rewards high-performing schools by giving them greater independence and freedom from certain system requirements. Schools selected for the program are freed from much administrative oversight and have greater independence in determining their own operations, budget, curriculum, and calendar. The principals who participated in the session expressed enthusiasm for the program, and some of the specific benefits they mentioned include:

• Less paperwork and less worry about how to deal with supervisory officials, which allows principals to dedicate more time and energy to their schools.
• Increased prestige in the community. Many of the principals present at the meeting represented community schools, and they said that being designated an autonomous school enhanced the perception of the school in the community and helped attract students.
• Increased flexibility in customizing the school for individual communities. Some high schools may create alternative tracks for students who may otherwise drop out, or they may move toward a community school model where the building is open most hours of the day, or partner with local organizations for professional development.
• Increased flexibility in calendar design. One school redesigned the calendar to give students the entire week before Thanksgiving off, as those days have often had low attendance and little educational value. Another school made winter break three weeks long instead of two, as students in their school often travel to visit family members in other countries for the break and thus need extra time. The schools also experimented with placing all half-days on Friday, re-arranging the required professional development days, and other changes that can provide more quality education days for the students.
• More control over the school's budget. This authority is still relatively new, so many of the principals are still learning what they can do with it. Initially, they are discovering that some job responsibilities can be re-arranged or combined, and the school can use the budget flexibility to offer a salary that is in line with the positions they create.
  Some questions and issues that face the AMPS program include:
  
  • Whether the designation should be tied to a school, to an individual administrator, or both. At present, the designation is tied to a school, which can provide incentives for new individuals who might apply for a job at an autonomous school if the current principal retires. However, by tying the designation to an individual administrator, it could provide an incentive for that administrator to transfer to a more troubled school and work on improvements there while keeping the freedom provided by AMPS.
  • How schools receive AMPS designation. Since the first round of designations, the indicators of school achievement have become more nuanced, and future designations may be able to capture schools that are helping students improve at a dramatic rate, rather than just schools that have been maintaining a high but steady level of performance.
  • How to deal with transportation when the calendar is re-arranged. This may cost the school extra money if they need bus service on days when other schools do not have service.
  • Obtaining buy-in from the school's teachers. Certain changes initiated through AMPS may require an approval vote from the teachers due to their union contract. The principals said that involving the teachers in any changes and respecting their input makes this issue fairly simple to deal with while also building teacher enthusiasm for the program.
    

While standardized test scores can be used as a measure of student progress over time, they are not necessarily the most accurate indicator of student achievement or the best predictor of student success at the post-secondary level. Emphasizing standardized tests over the classroom experience can shortchange students and rob them of the challenging, engaging educational experiences they need for future academic success.

Standardized test scores and average student GPA have both increased in CPS over recent years, though both have shown some degree of leveling off. Graduation rates have also improved. While these signs of improvement are encouraging, they also indicate significant remaining problems. The graduation rate is still less than sixty percent, while the average GPA of first-time freshmen is just under 2.0. The average first-time freshman misses four weeks of school per year, while 25 percent of first-time freshmen in the 2004-5 school year had a GPA just over 1.0. This is especially troublesome since GPA tends to be a significant predictor of college success.

Research has shown that the most reliable way to improve these indicators is to focus on five "essential supports." These are: school leadership, parent and community partnerships, a student-centered learning climate, a professional workplace and community, and quality instruction. Additionally, research has shown a correlation between schools showing significant improvement and schools demonstrating the following characteristics:

• Program coherence: both within each grade and from grade to grade, schools making progress demonstrate coordination and consistency in their programs;
• Collective responsibility: teachers demonstrate a commitment to helping every student in school and to improving the entire school;
• Innovation: teachers are willing to try new ideas and are encouraged to do so; and
• Academic press: students are challenged to meet high levels of performance.
  Surveys of teachers show that the first two attributes tend to be present much more strongly in schools showing academic progress than they are in schools whose progress is essentially level. While innovation is also stronger in improving schools, the surveys show that more than half of teachers across the board are willing to try new ideas; that is to say, the desire for innovation is strongly present in all schools.

The last indicator is perhaps the most troublesome, as more than half of the students across the board say they are seldom pushed to higher levels. More than three-quarters of the students say they find English work difficult either "never" or "once in a while," and well over half of the students say the same thing about their math classes. While many teachers seem willing to learn new techniques that might present greater challenges to the students, they need training in those techniques. If their energy can be harnessed, students could become more engaged in school.

CPS has been helping teachers gain national certification, which helps them learn the kinds of skills necessary to bring students to a higher level, but so far only a relative handful of teachers have undertaken the training. Broadening such certificate programs could be one way to improve the classroom experience in Chicago public schools.

Advancing School Reform in Chicago
December 14, 2005 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion on Advancing School Reform in Chicago. Introduced by Peter Mich, McDougal Family Foundation, the discussion featured presentations from Marilyn Stewart, Lynn Cherkasky-Davis, Carlene Lutz, Sandra Schultz, Marc Wigler, all from the Chicago Teachers Union.

In 1985, the Chicago Teachers Union developed a set of education reform proposals based on their perspective as educators who are in the classroom every day. After 20 years, the proposals still have not been enacted. The CTU believes students in the Chicago Public Schools system would be best served by sticking to these proposals, rather than trying to change directions every few years when a new superintendent or district CEO comes in.

The CTU is concerned about the Renaissance 2010 plan, since it involves closing existing schools and often replacing them with charter schools. The closings mean that CPS personnel are losing their jobs while students are being relocated to new schools (which hinders their academic progress), all for benefits which may be negligible, as some studies show that charter schools do not have measurably better results than regular public schools.

Much of the CTU's reform efforts center on helping teachers become certified at the state and national levels, as studies have shown that the quality of teachers is the single most important indicator of student achievement. The CTU's Quest Center, which opened in 1992, encourages teacher development, including programs to help them gain their certificates. The Quest Center's success rate in helping teachers gain their certificates is much higher than the national average.

Instead of closing schools and re-opening charter schools or private schools, the CTU wants CPS to focus on improving the capacity of teachers and administrators at existing schools. CPS and CTU have entered into a five-year agreement (following a preliminary two-year program) called Fresh Start. Under Fresh Start, eight schools designated as needing improvement under No Child Left Behind guidelines will receive autonomy similar to that of high-performing schools. They will adopt peer review and mentoring strategies based on the Toledo Plan, and will also gain access to teacher development resources from the Quest Center and the American Federation of Teachers. Fresh Start schools will be evaluated annually on their academic and professional progress.

In open discussion, participants brought up the following questions and issues:

• Would CTU support efforts to increase certain teacher's pay as an incentive to bring them into underperforming schools? CTU personnel said that surveys showed that pay was only the third most important priority when a teacher considers working at an underperforming school. Having a voice in the schools and having the support of the administration were more important, and those are the items CTU thinks should be focused on to bring teachers to schools where they are needed.
• The CTU has the capacity, though not the resources, to put 600 people through certification training each year.
• Teachers, like other professionals, want to monitor their own people, and they understand no one benefits from having bad teachers in the system. The Toledo Plan, which emphasizes mentoring and building the capacity of underperforming teachers, can help this kind of monitoring and training.
• What can the CTU do about Renaissance 2010 now that the plan is already moving forward? CTU personnel said they have formed a coalition with parent organizations and community groups concerned about school closings, and also that they are working on legislation to cap the number of charter schools. They are also encouraging some of their people to write proposals for performance schools that will replace some of the closed schools.
• CTU's ongoing efforts include educating people about their proposals, about CPS' actions, and about existing research. If people understand the benefit of small class sizes and qualified teachers, they will begin to press for those things.
  

CPS Wish List
December 12, 2005 - The Education Funders Group hosted a discussion of the CPS Wish List. Introduced by Mark Rigdon, The Chicago Community Trust, the discussion was facilitated by Peggy Mueller, The Chicago Community Trust, and featured presentations from Barbara Eason-Watkins, Chicago Public Schools and Laurence Stanton, Chicago Public Schools.

The Chicago Public Schools have divided their improvement efforts into four areas: advancing literacy, improving human capital, creating additional learning opportunities, and high school transformation. To measure progress in these areas, CPS has added new assessment tools and benchmarks that will increase their capacity to track students' abilities and to give the students help when and where it is needed. CPS has also released score cards for each high school in the system to give a snapshot of how the school is doing, and score cards for elementary schools may be issued in the future.

CPS is looking for assistance from both government and non-government sources to help them take the next steps in their four priority areas. CPS personnel identified the following activities for possible partnerships in each goal area:

• Literacy and Instruction: Enroll more teachers in literacy and middle-grade math certification programs; improve assessment tools available to teachers (including assessing kindergarten students to help them be ready to read when they enter the first grade); and develop a CPS writing program for elementary schools.
• Human Capital: The overall goal is to attract and retain quality teachers and principals. Sub-goals include: strengthen the role of Area Instructional Officers to include national recruitment, professional development, evaluation, and support; recruit a new cadre of high school principals; build strong teacher mentoring and evaluation systems; and build a value-added human resource organization.
• Learning Opportunities: Have pre-school and kindergarten spots available for all eligible children; increase the number of community schools; increase arts and cultural opportunities in schools; and grow and develop new schools.
• High School Transformation: Develop a new, unified curriculum that includes instructional development for English, math, and science for 50 high schools; solicit student input on the school score cards; prepare students for ninth grade with summer programs and in-school supports; provide a range of student development activities for all students, especially freshmen; and ensure all graduates are prepared for post-secondary success a