Entry #11: Resilient, committed urban schools
offer a 21st century education
This past week I was asked by our local newspaper to write an article responding
to an issue that many urban districts face: "Urban Flight." There
is a perception by some in the community that a "better" education
can be attained students attending schools in the district's "bedroom
communities." These are small, primarily white districts that sit on
the perimeter of Champaign, about 10 minutes driving distance through the
country.
As in most instances of this nature, the question usually arises as the
public begins to compare standardized test scores between school districts.
My article follows:
--------------------------------------------
There hasn't been much that I haven't experienced in my 23 years of working
in the education field and in my own educational upbringing: a product of
a K-8 parochial system and a suburban, public high school; and a teacher,
coach, athletic director, and principal at both the middle and high school
levels in small, urban school systems. Although most of my 23 years have
been in the Champaign Unit 4 system, I've also had the opportunity to step
outside of Unit 4 and work in another system as well.
I've seen the challenging times in Unit 4: teacher strikes, budget and program
cutbacks, teacher reassignments and teacher "RIFS", to name several.
But I've also seen the resiliency of the Unit 4 schools and staff to recover
to become even stronger because of the adversity. Debates on closing schools,
consolidating schools, changing from junior highs to middle schools -- the
district has never been without some hot, burning issue. As I watch our
district respond to issues such as controlled choice, equity, test scores,
and the approaching impact of tax caps, I am constantly reminded of the
realities of working in an urban school system-- and I wouldn't trade it
for anything.
It's unfortunate that it is simply human nature to draw comparisons -- in
this case, between school systems that serve such dissimilar student populations
as the city schools and our outlying communities. What makes a school good?
For those who choose to point to test scores, such as IGAP/ISAT, and draw
comparisons between such diverse populations, they would be well served
to seek out disaggregated data for those test scores and draw comparisons
for "like groups of students" in both school systems.
For example, how do low socioeconomic student populations in both school
systems compare? How do the very best Unit 4 students compare with the very
best in other districts? One would discover, that Champaign students perform
quite competitively. Unfortunately, unless one truly understands what the
data represents and what the diversity of the student population is, misperceptions
are formulated on what that says about the quality of schools.
For those who would judge the quality of schools based on their perception
of school climate, I would encourage them to contact the many prominent
families who choose to send their children to Unit 4 schools or the parents
who have decided to enroll their children from private schools back into
the city schools-not for financial reasons, but, rather, because of the
quality learning experiences provided for their children, both academic
and extracurricular, and the positive, safe learning environment. For as
many cases of hearing about parents choosing schools outside of C-U, there
are many stories to be told about parents who live outside of C-U and choose
to pay tuition to send their children to Unit 4 schools.
People apply different ideas and beliefs to define what they believe is
a "better" education. If exposure to diversity is an important
consideration in a child's education to learn in a "real world"
setting with children of all races, then the city schools are richly endowed
to provide this type of invaluable experience. After all, won't the leadership
backbone of the workforce of the 21st century be represented by the diversity
of our society?
If access to a variety of programs, course selections, and other resources
are perceived to enhance the quality of education, then are larger school
systems, such as Champaign and Urbana, better positioned to provide such?
And will the ability to attract quality teachers and strong administrative
leaders as numerous retirements are forthcoming be an easier, albeit still
challenging task, for a larger school system with competitive resources?
Reflective questions such as these perhaps begin to respond to the question
of "what makes a school good?" I have to admit that as an administrator
in Unit 4, I have never been asked to "defend" the quality of
schools in Champaign. I, as well as two of our Board members, our superintendent,
and our Human Resources Director are Rotarians and readily welcome questions
about our schools as we sit among community leaders weekly.
Any district -- urban, rural, or suburban, public or private -- has its
problems and challenges. I have two nephews in the Indian Prairie School
District in suburban Naperville (a fourth and a seventh grader) and without
hesitation will put our academic programs next to theirs. But I will not
compare test scores when we do not serve similar populations. Unit 4 teachers
and administrators are leaders in their areas of expertise at the state
and national levels. One only needs to examine the leadership efforts of
Champaign staff within their professional organizations to quickly gauge
how "high the bar is raised." Numerous national recognitions involving
external peer review teams observing and critiquing our schools are unmatched,
not only in this area, but across the state.
We have tremendous challenges ahead of us in Champaign. But one of them
will not be worrying about losing local children to schools outside of the
Unit 4 system. There will always be parents, and rightfully so, who for
their own, personal reasons who will choose schools other than the city
schools. Resiliency is the strength of the Champaign school system, and
each time it faces a challenge, the district comes back stronger than before.
I have never seen a school district so open to community and parental input
as Champaign.
As we look to the 21st century, Champaign schools will be representative
of the diversity of race and thought upon which our country became a world
leader. Champaign students will be well prepared for the leadership roles
that must be filled in a diverse society as we move into the new millennium.
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