City of Chicago

Progress in almost all lines of endeavor is first initiated in our larger centers of population. This applies to education as well as to commerce and industry. The history of educational progress in the United States makes it clear that in our larger cities particularly, new departures and new methods of teaching which bring about modifications and changes in school organization and policy are far in advance of legislation which makes them legal and protects boards of education in authorizing expenditures of public funds in support of progressive movements in education.
-- H. Wallace Caldwell, President, Board of Education of Chicago, "The Chicago Public Schools: Their Story Traced from Log-House Era," 1929

Good News About Chicago

The city certainly has many problems in some of its public schools. But it is very important to recognize that Chicago also has some terrific schools within its public system.

You want your child to get a "classical" education? There is only one school district in the Chicago area that offers that -- Chicago.
• One of the consistently highest scoring schools in the state of Illinois is the Stephen Decatur Classical School, a public school, at 7030 North Sacramento Avenue in Chicago. Click, or phone them at (773)534-2201 for more info on what classical education can provide for your child.
• Three other classical schools in the city of Chicago are: McDade, Poe and Skinner.

Thinking about a Core Knowledge school? Well, you have a choice of seven CK schools in the city. Oh, you're in the suburbs? Too bad -- You're out of luck again!

Charter Schools in Chicago

See extensive detail about charter schools in this section of our web site:
Illinois Loop: Charter Schools.

• Are Charters Better?

  Are all charter schools great schools?
  Nope. Some may be, but others surely are not. Read why by clicking here: Charter Schools Are NOT All the Same.

• Index of charter schools in Chicago, provided by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools

• Chicago International Charter Schools

  The largest charter organization in the city of Chicago is the Chicago Charter School Foundation, which operates schools under the name "Chicago International Charter Schools" (CICS).

  CICS has enjoyed some excellent results, and thus some excellent press coverage. For example:

  Editorial, Chicago Tribune, April 1, 2002
  "... by some measures, several Chicago charters are seriously outperforming neighborhood schools. At the three elementary campuses of Chicago International charter schools, for example, math scores are off the charts compared with the neighborhood schools the kids likely would attend if the charter didn't exist. Officials there suggest it may have to do with the Saxon Math program used at all its schools."

  Sounds great, right?

  But note! Not all schools operating under the CCSF and CICS name have the same great curriculum! Here's how it works: The Chicago Charter School Foundation is the umbrella authority for all of the "Chicago International Charter Schools" (CICS). The CCSF provides a host of business functions.

  But the actual operation of the schools, including curriculum and instructional design, is conducted by some very different independent companies. It's all explained here on their website. These current CCSF operator partners are:

  • American Quality Schools (AQS)

    Those schools which are operated by AQS within the city limits of Chicago offer a terrific educational package! These city schools all embrace a curriculum that includes:
    • Core Knowledge Sequence,
    • Open Court reading,
    • Saxon Math,
    • character education, and
    • Junior Great Books.

    Terrific!!! These AQS schools include:

    • CICS-Bucktown: 2235 N. Hamilton, Chicago 60647
    • CICS-West Belden: 2245 N. McVicker, Chicago 60639
    • CICS-Avalon/South Shore: 1501 E. 83rd Place, Chicago 60619
    • CICS-Prairie: 11530 S. Prairie, Chicago 60628
    • CICS-Washington Park: 6105 S. Michigan Ave.

    CAUTION! We are watching carefully to see what programs AQS offers for its first charter school outside of the city. It is possible that they will not offer the same high level of quality programs for their suburban school.

  • Civitas Schools, LLC

    Citivas runs this CCSF grade school:
    • CICS-Wrightwood: 8130 S. California Ave., Chicago 60652

    Like those CCSF schools that are run by AQS, Civitas grade schools are built on a wonderful foundation, including:

    • Core Knowledge Sequence,
    • Open Court reading and
    • Saxon Math.

    Civitas also runs these CCSF high schools:

    • CICS-Northtown Academy, housed in the buildings of the closed Good Counsel High School. Startup funds included a $4 million dollar grant from the Gates Foundation as part of their well-intentioned but dubious plans to foster development of smaller high schools.

    • CICS-Ralph Ellison Campus, 1551 W. 95th Street, Chicago 60643

  • Edison Schools, Inc.

    Edison uses the "Success For All" program for reading (ugh!), a "project-based proprietary program emphasizing children's literature for 'social studies'" (ugh!!), and Everyday Math for math (aaaccckkk!!!) In Chicago, Edison runs the K-12 CICS-Longwood school for CCSF.

  • Victory Schools

    New to CCSF's stable of contracted companies is this New York- and Philadelphia-based operator. Victory describes its curriculum here, and it appears to be a mix of good ideas and bad ideas. That description starts with a headline that Victory uses Core Knowledge but then adds mystery by saying that their program "is based on" Core Knowledge, and in fact is "proprietary." In reading, Victory claims use of Open Court and Direct Instruction (yea!). But in math Victory warns that their program "makes use of student writing logs and requires students to write out explanations for how they arrived at their answers to math problems" and employs such programs as Everyday Math (aaack!), Math in Context (ugh!) and Impact Math. Science veers to the fuzzy as well, with Victory saying, "Inquiry-Based Science: Victory's students don't just read about science in a textbook, they discover it for themselves" (that is, constructivism) in "a hands-on approach that provides students with authentic learning experiences." (Learn why that's troublesome in our page on science.)

    To coordinate its rollout and efforts in Chicago, Victory has created a aubsidiary "Chicago School Performance Group" (CSPG). Victory provides this press release discussing its Chicago operations and managers.

    Victory's first Chicago location opened in September 2007, at the closed Immaculate Heart of Mary school near Irving Park and Kedzie. Victory originally called this campus "Avondale" until local residents pointed out that the school wasn't in Avondale. It is now known as "CICS Irving Park".

    We haven't learned why, but at the same time in 2007, CICS transferred management of its Basil campus (1816 West Garfield) from Civitas to Victory. We do not know how this will affect the curriculum at Basil, although we are alarmed by this statement about Basil on the Victory website: "In the classroom, teachers use student-centered and creative approaches to instruction". Uh-oh!

• KIPP Schools

  KIPP Ascend Academy, 715 S. Kildare, Chicago 60624. So far this is the only Chicago installation of the nationally admired KIPP program.

• UNO Charter Schools

  The UNO schools are distinguished by their excellent curriculum package! Read all about it here on UNO's website. The curriculum includes:
  • SRA Direct Instruction Program (K-5th Grade)
  • Open Court Basal Reading Series (4th -5th Grade)
  • McDougal-Littell Reading Program (6th-8th Grade)
  • Saxon Math

  The current UNO schools are:

  • Octavio Paz, 2651 W. 23rd Street (K-3) and 2401 W. Congress Parkway (4-8)
  • Rufino Tamayo, 5135 S. California Avenue (Gage Park)
  • Carlos Fuentes, 2845 W. Barry Ave (Logan Square)
  • Bartolomé de Las Casas, 1641 W. 16th St (Pilsen)

• Other Charters in Chicago

  Other charters in the city of Chicago include:
  • Academy of Communications and Technology
  • Alain Locke Charter School
  • Architecture, Construction, and Engineering Technical Charter High School (ACE Tech)
  • Aspira
  • Betty Shabazz International Charter School
  • Bronzeville Lighthouse Charter School: Uses Saxon Math (yea!) and Open Court reading (yea again!). They also claim to employ "selections from the Core Knowledge sequence" although they do not claim to meet the full CK standard.
  • Catalyst Charter School
  • Chicago Mathematics and Science Academy:
    Housed in the former St. Jerome school building, CMSA uses the widely detested fuzzy math Connected Mathematics Project
  • Chicago Virtual Charter School: "Chicago Virtual Charter School is proud to use an outstanding curriculum from K12. Developed by a team of leading experts, including veteran public and private school teachers, the K12 curriculum is known as one of the most researched and effective learning programs in the nation."
  • Choir Academy: OK, so we understand that the children get lots of music. Swell. What we're not sure about is whether they get anything resembling a useful K-8 academic experience. A terse write-up on their website claims the "special feature" that kids use the "written word" and "cooperative study" in math class (uh-oh!), a woo-woo graphic and text on language arts never mentions phonics (ouch!), science is "hands on" (on, no!) and social studies is a mishmash with such solid academic undertakings as "creating life-sized models of historical figures." All in all, sounds pretty grim, but we'll bet they sing great!
  • Erie Elementary Charter School: The website makes heavy reference to belief in Howard Gardner's fanciful theory of "multiple intelligences."
  • Galapagos Charter School: The school has one of the more intriguing and thoughtful philosophy statements that we've read. Read it and see what you think! As very good news, the content of the history and science programs are based on Core Knowledge. Unfortunately, the school's lengthy description of its reading program never mentions phonics and the chosen math program is (ugh!) the fuzzy Math Trailblazers.
  • Lawndale Educational And Regional Network (L.E.A.R.N.):
    The school's website says it has a "humanities based focus dedicated to teaching literature, history, and fine arts" and that it "uses Houghton-Mifflin textbooks, which have a literacy-based learning program for all subjects, including science and math."
  • Legacy Charter School
  • Mirta Ramirez Computer Science Charter School (MRCSCS)
  • Namaste Charter School:
    Namaste has avoided the typical fuzzy and chatty math programs used in Chicago schools, by choosing an atypical fuzzy and chatty math program, Math Trailblazers. Too bad.
  • Noble Street Charter High School
  • North Kenwood/Oakland:
    Uses the fuzzy Everyday Math and Connected Math programs. For reading, website touts "balanced literacy", a.k.a. Whole Language.
  • North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School
  • Passages Charter School: Associated with "Asian Human Services: Helping Asians, Immigrants, & Underserved Communities", the Passages Charter School says it "focuses specifically on the needs of   immigrant and refugee students."
  • Perspectives Charter School
  • Polaris Charter Academy: This school is based on something called "Expeditionary Learning", which is yet another variant of the same old, worn out, constructivist/progressivist theory of education.
  • Providence Englewood Charter School: The last line of the school's "philosophy" statement is an eye-opener: "Providence Englewood Charter School is nothing if not counter-cultural. In the midst of a society which may be characterized by chaos, we stand for academic excellence, order and discipline." They also seem to live up to that goal, teaching their students with the respected SRA Real Math program.
  • Triumphant Charter Middle School
  • Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men
  • Young Women's Leadership Charter School
    Do you remember the Simpsons episode ("Girls Just Want To Have Sums") where a new principal splits the school by gender, and Lisa is appalled by the fuzzy junk the "experts" deem suitable for girls' math? Well, welcome to the all-girls YWLCS! Really, it couldn't get much worse:
    • YWLCS starts with the uber-fuzz Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) in 7th grade
    • The young ladies then move on to Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP) for 8th-12th grades, a program which a math expert has called "the worst of all high school mathematics programs ... It represents the degenerate extreme of NCTM mathematics."
  • Youth Connection Charter School:
    Uses the detestable Interactive Mathematics Project
  Also see the section of our web site about charter schools for many more insights to this educational alternative within the public system.

Magnet Schools in Chicago

"Magnet" schools provide customized educational environments, but only for a limited number of children and only after a selection process.
• Official CPS website on magnet schools

• Read more in Winning The Chicago Magnet School Lottery by Mary Galligan, Chiocago Parent, December 2003.

• Getting Into Magnet Schools by Rosalind Rossi, Chicago Sun-Times, December 11, 2005. "Thinking of applying to a Chicago elementary magnet school? Brace yourself for some heavy reading. The latest directory of Chicago public elementary schools tips the scale at 2 pounds. It's a whopping 336 pages, all of them oversize. The directory contains two different magnet applications, including a new one that requires parents to fill in ovals with a No. 2 pencil."

Getting Into One of Those Great Schools

Part of the puzzle is figuring out just what your options are in the city, and what route to follow to get your kids into the environment that is best for them and for you. One parents organization that has done a good job in helping parents understand all this is the Northside Parents Network. While they focus on schools and issues on the north side, much of their information would be valuable to parents anywhere in the city. In their September 2002 newsletter (click to get a PDF doc of this issue) they provide a thorough explanation of charters, classical schools, magnets, and other options, and what it takes to get kids into each of these.

News About the CPS

• Education 299 -- a fascinating blog on schools in the city of Chicago, conducted by Alexander Russo

• Catalyst Chicago: An important source of information on what's going on with the bureaucracy in the Chicago Public Schools, especially in its attempts at flavors of "reform."

Math in Chicago

Will your Chicago child actually learn math?
• Public schools:
  Visit our page on Math, District-by-District to learn more about which CPS schools are doing what!

• Non-government schools:
  Also on that page is information on math in individual Catholic, Jewish and other non-government schools in the city of Chicago.