StickWithANose

Same as it ever was… Chicago Tribune

Six years after Mayor Richard Daley launched a bold initiative to close down and remake failing schools, Renaissance 2010 has done little to improve the educational performance of the city’s school system, according to a Tribune analysis of 2009 state test data.

Scores from the elementary schools created under Renaissance 2010 are nearly identical to the city average, and scores at the remade high schools are below the already abysmal city average, the analysis found.

The moribund test scores follow other less than enthusiastic findings about Renaissance 2010 — that displaced students ended up mostly in other low-performing schools and that mass closings led to youth violence as rival gang members ended up in the same classrooms. Together, they suggest the initiative hasn’t lived up to its promise by this, its target year…

Turning around public schools is the core of Daley’s efforts to keep the city vibrant. But the outcome of his ambitious education experiment is as important to the nation as it is to Chicago. The architect of Renaissance 2010, former schools CEO Arne Duncan, is now the U.S. Secretary of Education — and he’s taking the Daley-Duncan model national as part of his Race to the Top reform plan.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Truth is in full court press to take the Daley-Duncan model national by dangling money in front of cash starved states.

What was that about “innovation” and “excellence”, Mr. President? Perhaps, you should take a look over here… no?