They can learn!

[markberwyn]

So I suppose, by mustang's logic, 82 percent of Morton's student body is *choosing* not to learn.

They might not be learning what's on the tests used to arrive at that percentage, but they're learning their place
in this brave new world. What could go wrong?

Well, they're learning what happens when the Berwyn and Cicero communities come together to proudly proclaim that education simply isn't that important.

[OakParkSpartan]

Pretty damning statistics... 18% is abysmal, especially for a town that has a lot of solid middle class people.

[chandasz]

The fact that they had an entire assembly and pulled kids out of class for ONE kid getting into an ivy league school says enough. It is a freak anomaly- and that is really depressing

[markberwyn]

The assembly doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world---nothing wrong with showing students that one of their peers can do well academically. But if it's not backed up by actual actions to help those students learn, it's wasted time.

[chandasz]

Here's my question-- was this kid the ONLY kid to get accepted to an Ivy League school from Morton.... ever? They've never had an assembly for anyone else..... Or--- is it just because he's a basketball player and again - Morton is showing preference for sports over academics?

[Ted]

Here's my question-- was this kid the ONLY kid to get accepted to an Ivy League school from Morton.... ever? They've never had an assembly for anyone else..... Or--- is it just because he's a basketball player and again - Morton is showing preference for sports over academics?

I think the answer is no... I remember a few years ago several kids getting accepted at Ivy League and other prestigious schools.  If you go through the BTF archives on the D201 board meeting notes, I think you'll find something around 5 to 7 years ago.

[OakParkSpartan]

Yeah, there have been other kids go off to Harvard or MIT.  An assembly for one kid does seem odd though.

Hope he does well there!

[psychomom]

My daughter graduated in 2011 and a good friend of hers who graduated Morton at the same time went to MIT....with no fanfare.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

Here's my question-- was this kid the ONLY kid to get accepted to an Ivy League school from Morton.... ever? They've never had an assembly for anyone else..... Or--- is it just because he's a basketball player and again - Morton is showing preference for sports over academics?

You can't just accept and congratulate a kid from our school district for getting into the most prestigious Ivy League school and perhaps blazing a trail for other kids in the district.  That's sad.

[markberwyn]

Here's my question-- was this kid the ONLY kid to get accepted to an Ivy League school from Morton.... ever? They've never had an assembly for anyone else..... Or--- is it just because he's a basketball player and again - Morton is showing preference for sports over academics?

You can't just accept and congratulate a kid from our school district for getting into the most prestigious Ivy League school and perhaps blazing a trail for other kids in the district.  That's sad.

Nobody's begrudging the kid a party. But chandasz asks a reasonable question. Given Morton's atrocious academic record, it's worth asking whether all this attention is a pleasant sports-y distraction or a genuine effort to, as you write, perhaps blaze a trail for other kids in the district.

My sense, given past history, is that the district's efforts to make this success story into something practical students can use to succeed themselves stops at the gymnasium doors. But as mustang explained at the start of the thread, it's important for Morton students to recognize that they'll get no help from the district in improving their fortunes and will have to succeed entirely on their own steam. If this assembly clarified for those students just how helpless they are, then perhaps it did some good in delivering a tough lesson.

[Ted]

 Tribune came out with the test scores by suburb in yesterday's edition (in the Trib West section).  Berwyn did not come out looking very good compared to surrounding suburbs - not only Morton, but the elementary schools as well (at least, compared to surrounding suburbs, which is what the Trib West was reporting on).

  Oak Park scores increased, according to the article.  D100 just issued a press release on this. I guess our lot in life is to keep comparing us to Ford Heights.  Here is the press release:

"BERWYN, IL (Nov. 6, 2014) – The majority of schools in Berwyn South School District 100 experienced increases in 2014 Illinois Standards Achievement Testing (ISAT), according to information released last week by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Overall, district scores improved 6.4%, and seven of eight schools saw increases, as follows: Emerson +3%, Hiawatha +7%, Irving +3%, Komensky +13%, Pershing +9%, Piper +7% and Freedom Middle School 11%.  Scores at Heritage Middle School were flat.  Regarding these achievements, Superintendent Stan Fields stated, "We are proud of staff, students and parents and the results of their determined attitudes and hard work."

ISAT scores across the state were flat. 

Of the 39 elementary districts in the state with at least 70% low income and minority students, District 100's performance ranks third.  Says Fields, "School District 100 is working hard to achieve the Board of Education's vision to be in the top 25% of districts in the state, and our success can be attributed to a number of bold, educational initiatives. These initiatives include expanded preschool, full day kindergarten, 1:1 technology, co-teaching, expanded professional development, reduced class sizes in elementary schools, and other contributing factors such as increased attendance.  Congratulations to our staff who work tirelessly to make the Board's vision a reality and who continue to make personal strides in their professional occupations."

[Sandy]

Schools should be compared based on the community SE standards. Children living in Oak Park, Riverside, LaGrange and the like have many more opportunities than low income communities. I can teach a kid a lot, but if he or she has no support at home, they will not progress as fast as a child in a home where the parents help with homework and provide tutors, books, a home computer and educational programs, and trips to cultural institutions. This is something that many people refuse to admit. Part of the problem with education lies in the home and teachers can do little to overcome this.

[markberwyn]

Schools should be compared based on the community SE standards. Children living in Oak Park, Riverside, LaGrange and the like have many more opportunities than low income communities. I can teach a kid a lot, but if he or she has no support at home, they will not progress as fast as a child in a home where the parents help with homework and provide tutors, books, a home computer and educational programs, and trips to cultural institutions. This is something that many people refuse to admit. Part of the problem with education lies in the home and teachers can do little to overcome this.

Certainly the Morton leadership is aware of this. What is it doing to help improve this? What sort of outreach does it do with parents? The district can't just be hoping the kids bootstrap themselves.

[MRS. NORTHSIDER]

Schools should be compared based on the community SE standards. Children living in Oak Park, Riverside, LaGrange and the like have many more opportunities than low income communities. I can teach a kid a lot, but if he or she has no support at home, they will not progress as fast as a child in a home where the parents help with homework and provide tutors, books, a home computer and educational programs, and trips to cultural institutions. This is something that many people refuse to admit. Part of the problem with education lies in the home and teachers can do little to overcome this.

Certainly the Morton leadership is aware of this. What is it doing to help improve this? What sort of outreach does it do with parents? The district can't just be hoping the kids bootstrap themselves.

I agree with Sandy on this.  Also, if you get to the high school years and the parents haven't been helping their kids through grade school and middle school your chances are slim to none that they will be doing anything in high school to help them and without that crucial help in the younger years it's almost impossible to bring these kids up to point that kids in other school districts are.  A sad but true fact.

[markberwyn]

Schools should be compared based on the community SE standards. Children living in Oak Park, Riverside, LaGrange and the like have many more opportunities than low income communities. I can teach a kid a lot, but if he or she has no support at home, they will not progress as fast as a child in a home where the parents help with homework and provide tutors, books, a home computer and educational programs, and trips to cultural institutions. This is something that many people refuse to admit. Part of the problem with education lies in the home and teachers can do little to overcome this.

Certainly the Morton leadership is aware of this. What is it doing to help improve this? What sort of outreach does it do with parents? The district can't just be hoping the kids bootstrap themselves.

I agree with Sandy on this.  Also, if you get to the high school years and the parents haven't been helping their kids through grade school and middle school your chances are slim to none that they will be doing anything in high school to help them and without that crucial help in the younger years it's almost impossible to bring these kids up to point that kids in other school districts are.  A sad but true fact.

So the district isn't doing any kind of outreach to parents---or to the feeder schools and their work with parents? None?

[markberwyn]

Berwyn seems to have a bottomless capacity to rationalize its collective refusal to lift a finger, financially or otherwise, on behalf of schoolchildren.

[jfrickind]

So the district isn't doing any kind of outreach to parents---or to the feeder schools and their work with parents? None?

I believe the District 201 budget is operating at a minimal expenditure at this time.  The outreach that would be beneficial has been thrashed on this board - namely preschool for all.  A parenting academy would benefit in the long run as well but again - money.  It all takes money.  You can't implement strategies like this unless you have a long range vision.  Most leadership in education is shooting for short term gains and it just doesn't work.

[markberwyn]

So the district isn't doing any kind of outreach to parents---or to the feeder schools and their work with parents? None?

I believe the District 201 budget is operating at a minimal expenditure at this time.  The outreach that would be beneficial has been thrashed on this board - namely preschool for all.  A parenting academy would benefit in the long run as well but again - money.  It all takes money.  You can't implement strategies like this unless you have a long range vision.  Most leadership in education is shooting for short term gains and it just doesn't work.

Seems like it's worse than a lack of long-range vision. From my perch it looks like rank incompetence in leadership. Board members posting racist crap on Facebook; a superintendent who spends state funds to Christianize staff. Combine that with a population of taxpayers who think the kindest thing they can do to schoolchildren is starve them to death financially and then expect them to succeed on their own, and I don't think anybody gets to be surprised at how things have gone at 201.

Nobody asked me, but if I were going to spend time and effort on one thing to improve the district's fortunes, it'd be attendance. All the gee-whillikers stuff the district likes to promote about how awesome it is won't mean anything to the student who isn't actually in a seat. The abysmal attendance rate at Morton suggests it's doing a lot just to keep the students who miss class treading water (and not disrupting other students). I'd demand answers from the district about how it plans to address that.

[mustang54]

     "a superintendent who spends state funds to Christianize staff. " Mark that superintendent is not with 201 he is with 100.

[markberwyn]

     "a superintendent who spends state funds to Christianize staff. " Mark that superintendent is not with 201 he is with 100.

Whoops, my bad.