Selective Enrollment High Schools By: Emeline Brady
Selective enrollment schools in Chicago are designed to “ provide academically advanced students with a challenging and enriched college preparatory experience,” (SEHS). The education provided by selective enrollment schools incorporates analytical and independent thinking into fast-pace curriculums as well as offers Advanced Placement classes. These top public high schools in Chicago are selective though, indicating only some students are receiving the same level of excellence therefore also impacting their future and the opportunities that comes with it. The No Child Left Behind Act and Common Core State Standards Initiative have been introduced to ensure equity in education, though the expectations for standardized test scores have proven unreasonable with the current quality of education and often do not reflect the intelligence of students, nor do the selective enrollment scores serve their purpose in admitting students to the schools right for them because of the tier system (Stancial). Students are being admitted due to their location rather than ‘standard’ levels of education. The attempts to equalize high school education in Chicago have been unsuccessful because assumptions of intelligence in certain tiers skew the intent of the systems.
Along with the counter productive efforts to give “disadvantaged” (ESEA), students a chance to go to the higher scoring schools, the educational systems in the top selective enrollment schools do not share the same quality of learning as the lower scoring public high schools in Chicago. According to recent studies by Eric A. Hanushek, a researcher in the growth of economic analysis and educational issues, “effective teachers are the key to a high-quality school, it is natural to infer that the children most in need are systematically getting the poorest teachers”. Because level of education comes from the teacher, the solution for an equally excellent education system in Chicago is not through just including students from a varied number of neighborhoods, but through equalizing the education of teachers. Gloria Ladson-Billings addresses problems with teacher education in It’s Not the Culture of Poverty, It’s the Poverty of Culture saying “anthropology of education rarely appears in preservice teacher education”. Billings suggests that understanding the way students behave and develop has a great impact on the level of learning achievable by the students. Unfortunately, not all student-teachers are taught how to interact effectively with their students. Because there are ‘standards’ for students applying to selective enrollment schools, more specific standards established for teachers are in order for achieving equity as well as excellence in education.
Works Cited:
Along with the counter productive efforts to give “disadvantaged” (ESEA), students a chance to go to the higher scoring schools, the educational systems in the top selective enrollment schools do not share the same quality of learning as the lower scoring public high schools in Chicago. According to recent studies by Eric A. Hanushek, a researcher in the growth of economic analysis and educational issues, “effective teachers are the key to a high-quality school, it is natural to infer that the children most in need are systematically getting the poorest teachers”. Because level of education comes from the teacher, the solution for an equally excellent education system in Chicago is not through just including students from a varied number of neighborhoods, but through equalizing the education of teachers. Gloria Ladson-Billings addresses problems with teacher education in It’s Not the Culture of Poverty, It’s the Poverty of Culture saying “anthropology of education rarely appears in preservice teacher education”. Billings suggests that understanding the way students behave and develop has a great impact on the level of learning achievable by the students. Unfortunately, not all student-teachers are taught how to interact effectively with their students. Because there are ‘standards’ for students applying to selective enrollment schools, more specific standards established for teachers are in order for achieving equity as well as excellence in education.
Works Cited:
- Hanushek, Eric A. . "Education Next."RSS. President & Fellows of Harvard College, Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://educationnext.org/an-effective-teacher-in-every-classroom/>.
- Ladson-Billings, Gloria . "It's Not the Culture of Poverty, It's the Poverty of Culture: The Problem with Teacher Education." Anthropology and Education Quarterly 37.No. 2 (2006): 104-109. Print.
- "Selective Enrollment High Schools ."Chicago Public Schools :Selective Enrollment High Schools. Chicago Public Schools, Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cps.edu/Schools/High_ schools/Pages/Selectiveenrollment.aspx>.
- Stanciel, Tracy A.. "Good and Bad Parents." CPS Selective Enrollment Letters Affect 14,000 Teens. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www.chicagonow.com/good-bad-parents/2013/03/cps-selective-enrollment-letters-affect-teens/>.
- "The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001)." The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001). U.S. Department of Education,Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html>.