[CPS Math]Schools counting down to 1st day

[cayata]

From: Cayata Dixon




Schools counting down to 1st day 


Better attendance the goal of city's new campaign

By Gary Washburn and Ray Quintanilla
Tribune staff reporters

August 22, 2001

Seeking to reverse last year's dismal attendance on the first day of school, Mayor 
Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools officials Tuesday launched a marketing 
campaign designed to get students behind their desks when classes resume Sept. 4.

It is the city's most ambitious attendance campaign in years and is largely a response 
to last year's disappointing start, when one-quarter of the system's 430,000 children 
were absent the first day.

The city's 10-Day Back-to-School Countdown is expected to create a sense of excitement 
to replace the "automatic enthusiasm" that once existed for the beginning of a new 
school year, said Board of Education President Michael W. Scott.

The effort--which includes a citywide parade and televised public service 
announcements from Daley--is slated to begin in earnest Saturday with a rally and 
information fair for parents and guardians at Whitney Young Magnet High School on the 
Near West Side.

Other events, such as concerts, are being planned for each succeeding day, officials 
said.

Returning to school on time is critical, and parents and legal guardians must do all 
they can to ensure every child is in class, Daley said at a news conference at Julian 
High School on the Far South Side.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's the most important day of the year for everyone of 
school age and for all the rest of us in the city," Daley said.

"We want every student in [his or her] seat, ready to learn, on Sept. 4. No matter how 
hard we work to improve the schools, and we've worked very hard, it won't do any good 
unless the children are in the classrooms."

Last year, Daley chided his former schools team, as well as parents and guardians, 
after learning the public schools reported 103,000 absences on the first day. In all, 
about 17,000 fewer children were in classrooms than the previous year, the lowest 
attendance rate since Daley took over responsibility of the public schools in 1995.

Back then, schools chief Paul Vallas cited several reasons for the disappointing 
attendance, including the system's Aug. 22 start date--among the earliest opening day 
in years.

Vallas subsequently pushed back the first day of classes until after Labor Day.

Daley's former schools team also raised concerns about last year's back-to-school 
marketing campaign--run out of City Hall--which they said backfired. Having parents or 
guardians walk children to school was the focus of that campaign.

But school principals told the central office many children simply stayed home because 
no one was available to walk them to school on the first day.

At his briefing Tuesday, Daley once again called on employers to give parents a few 
hours off so they can accompany their children to school, meet teachers and learn 
school policies.

"The first day of school is almost as important for parents as it is for their 
children," he said. "It's up to the parents or guardians to make sure their children 
do their homework, to read with their children, to keep them away from the television 
set and away from the dangerous influences of guns, gangs and drugs."

Daley acknowledged last year's attendance at the start of classes was poor, but he 
asserted it was no worse than in previous years. He said reporting of last year's 
attendance numbers was simply more accurate than in the past.

Scott suggested the early start to the 2000 school year hurt attendance.

"We don't believe the early start was beneficial for attendance, and we have moved it 
back," he said.

Debbie Lynch, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, also cited the early start.

"We started in the middle of August, and it was a little bit out of the ordinary," she 
said. "We didn't see the kind of intensive focus, outreach and the almost pep-rally 
approach we are seeing this time."

But some Local School Council members suggested the city would be wise to include them 
in such efforts in the future. That might be the only way to avoid a repeat of last 
year, they said.

"We are on the ground level. This is another example of how people at the grass roots 
are being kept on the outside," said Steve Buschbacher, a member of the Palmer 
Elementary School LSC.

A highlight of this year's campaign will come Sept. 1 with a citywide parade featuring 
former Chicago Bears players Revie Sorey and Chris Zorich as grand marshals. It will 
start at Buckingham Fountain and proceed to Soldier Field, culminating in the Chicago 
Football Classic.

Other events during the 10-day campaign will focus on school safety, school clothing 
and supplies, and publicizing the availability of after-school programs.

On Aug. 28, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce will announce its efforts to ask local 
businesses to encourage employees to s

[CPS Math]Sun Times: City wants to boost 1st-day attendance

[Cayata Dixon]

City wants to boost 1st-day attendance


August 22, 2001

BY FRAN SPIELMAN CITY HALL REPORTER




Citing the ''striking correlation'' between first-day attendance and student
performance, Mayor Daley on Tuesday kicked off a massive public education
campaign aimed at convincing parents to take their kids to school on Sept.
4. 

Last year, the top 30 elementary schools in Chicago, as measured by the Iowa
Test of Basic Skills, had a first-day attendance rate of 93 percent,
compared with 70 percent for the bottom 30 schools.

The high school differential was even more staggering. The top 10 percent
achievers on the Test of Academic Proficiency had an average first-day
attendance of 95 percent, compared to 65 percent for the bottom 10 percent,
records show. 

''If they don't show up for a week or two weeks or three weeks, then a
parent demands that the teacher get that child going by the next week, while
all the other kids have been moving along,'' the mayor said. ''You can't
say, 'Hold it. Two kids walked in. We have to go back and start all over.'
That is really unfair to the teacher.''

Schools CEO Arne Duncan said, ''This is a big, big deal. We want this to be
the most successful start of the new school year ever in the city of
Chicago.''

The decision to launch a campaign follows last year's attendance debacle.
That's when school started before Labor Day and seemed to catch vacationing
parents by surprise, despite the mayor's call for businesses to let parents
take a few hours off to take their kids to school.

This year, opening day was pushed back to Sept. 4--even though the mayor
insists that last year's dismal showing was ''nothing new'' and merely a
reflection of more accurate record-keeping.

School officials also have identified what Board President Michael Scott
called ''all of the major impediments'' that discourage kids from showing up
and scheduled programs to address them.

Letters, telephone reminders, public service announcements and Chicago's
first back-to-school parade will highlight the 10-day countdown. 



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Re: [CPS Math](no subject)

[Myles546]

Great idea, long overdue.

[CPS Math]calculators

[Carol Karp]

Is there anyone out there who could help me obtain some used TI 81
graphing calculators



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