Rev. Calvin Morris-- The School To Prison Pipeline In Chicago
Here's Rev. Calvin Morris, and I should have linked to this earlier, describing the flip-side of the accountability movement: the school-to-prison pipeline. The two phenomena are inextricably connected. If you want to inch up the very lowest standardized test scores, one way to do it is to segregate your school population away from the most difficult-to-teach kids and then focus "like a laser" (a reformer's cliche) on data, data, data, which is usually done through some form of regimentation.
The consequence of that, is that the remaining public schools, which also have to raise reading and math scores continuously, and which accept everyone, also have to get a lot more regimented, a lot more laser-ish. They have to start expelling and suspending at astonishing rates, because you really can't be a data laser while you're also trying to help the kids who need the most help in just surviving, and there are armies of those kids out there.
So there's a trade-off there. Like Rev. Morris says, the new mayor is all about graduation rates; he doesn't
The consequence of that, is that the remaining public schools, which also have to raise reading and math scores continuously, and which accept everyone, also have to get a lot more regimented, a lot more laser-ish. They have to start expelling and suspending at astonishing rates, because you really can't be a data laser while you're also trying to help the kids who need the most help in just surviving, and there are armies of those kids out there.
So there's a trade-off there. Like Rev. Morris says, the new mayor is all about graduation rates; he doesn't