The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/local/article/0,1051,SAV-0106120270,00.html ---Forwarded article---------------- Summer's no break for city 3rd graders By Ray Quintanilla About 43 percent of the Chicago Public School 3rd graders who took the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills must attend summer school because they failed to score high enough to merit a promotion, according to new data released Monday. The news was particularly bad after the schools spent millions to fund early childhood reading and math programs designed to provide this group of 3rd graders its best chance of hitting grade level in years. But more 3rd graders this academic year scored below the system's promotion standards than anytime since 1998, according to the data. In all, 29,054 children in Grades, 3, 6, and 8 won't have a summer break this year, a 16 percent increase over last year. As many as 245,000 Chicago Public School children--slightly more than half of the system's 430,000 students--will be enrolled in summer school in all grades. "Each year we have been requiring more students to go to summer school," said outgoing schools chief Paul Vallas, adding he was not surprised at the increase of 3rd, 6th and 8th graders headed for summer classes. Promotion standards have been increasing each year as well, Vallas said. "We consider this a benchmark year for us," Vallas said. "We are going to offer more schooling to any student not at grade level." The new numbers are not necessarily all bad news because summer school often can be among the most productive weeks for thousands of children each year, said Robert Halpern of the Erickson Institute. Classes tend to be smaller, teachers give more personal attention, and there's usually less pressure, he said. "You tend to see a little more creativity that goes into the curriculum, than the rest of the school year," said Halpern, whose organization observes Chicago school reform. Under a revised promotions policy adopted last fall, a student's good classroom performance opened the door for children to be promoted even though they did not meet the reading cutoff. About 17,000 students fell into this group and were required to attend summer school. If they complete Summer Bridge with a grade of at least a C, they are promoted without having to retake the Iowa tests. To avoid summer school, 3rd graders had to post a reading score on the Iowa test of at least 3.0, meaning the pupil could read at the 3rd grade level when the standardized exam was administered last spring. That score was 2.8 the previous year. This year, 11,355 3rd graders were told they must attend summer school, 680 more than a year ago, according to the data. Sixth graders need a 6.0 reading score to be promoted, up from 5.5 the previous year. A total of 9,905 6th graders have been required to attend summer classes, about 700 more than last year. Eighth graders need an 8.0 reading score to pass under the new promotions policy, up from 7.7 the previous year. A total of 7,794 of these 8th graders have been told they must attend summer school, about the same as last year. ---------------------------------------------------- This is the CPS Mathematics Teacher Discussion List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
