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: Michael Lach Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,ART-49957,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- Schools told to think 'outside box' By Gary Washburn No sooner did Mayor Richard Daley assert Thursday that educators must think "outside of the box" to find ways to help struggling students learn how to read than schools chief Paul Vallas said he is planning three new initiatives designed to enhance performance. Vallas hinted that one of the proposals will call for greater control of the school curriculum from Board of Education headquarters. "The studies have indicated that the schools where we go in and dictate curriculum are the schools that seem to be doing the best," Vallas said. "This whole concept of having 600 schools doing 600 different things, the whole premise of the first school reform movement in 1987 -- what we are learning is that the probationary schools, the schools where we intervene and go in and dictate models, are the ones making the most significant gains," he said. A second proposal will call for summer school for more students, including some who may be performing at grade level. "We are going to be talking about a significant expansion of summer school," Vallas said. "We could have as many as 300,000 children in summer school next year." Last summer, about 250,000 students were enrolled in school-based programs, including roughly 175,000 in classroom study, he said. And Vallas said he will propose a program for underperforming students in the city's high schools that will focus on reading and algebra. He declined to detail any of the initiatives, saying he will unveil them next week. "Monday or Tuesday I will explain not only what the programs are, but what the costs are," he said. "I won't do anything we don't have money to pay for." Whether the proposals satisfy the mayor remains to be seen. Daley, frustrated with slow progress in students' reading abilities, told reporters after his annual State of the City speech, presented in the Hyatt Regency Chicago hotel, that educators must find creative ways to help students master what he contends is the most important subject. "How do you stimulate, how do you do a new curriculum about reading? Do you use arts, do you use music?... You can't teach (other) subjects to children who can't read. "When you go into a school, you see kids who deal with technology faster than any of us, who can sing a rap song better than anyone else, but they have a problem reading.... With every child there is ability. How do we get it out of them?... I think we have to go outside of the box." In his speech, the mayor stated that "as we get deeper and deeper into school reform, one of the most important things we've learned is that we have to change the traditional way of thinking about education." He noted that improvements in public school reading scores have lagged behind progress in math scores. "Improving the ability of our students to read is the fundamental challenge we face," he said. "Over the long term, it will make the difference between the success or failure of our reform efforts." Vallas, who attended the mayor's speech, was questioned by reporters afterward. Daley, meanwhile, formally announced plans for a series of three "Parent Assemblies," workshops designed to equip adults to help their youngsters in school. Representatives of various governmental offices and agencies as well as of such organizations as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs also are expected to be on hand to provide information about their programs for young people. Plans for the assemblies signal a new effort to get parents and other caregivers more involved in the education of their children. "These assemblies will be only the beginning of a larger effort to make parents a greater part of their children's day-to-day learning experience," Daley said. -- This is the CPS Science Teacher 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/>
