Reply #24: Huberman pushed to close schools based on that data...

[madfloridian]

From the Tribune:

"Many critics have labeled the district as failing over the years, and individual schools have continuously failed to meet standards under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. What's novel about this measure is that it offers a glimpse of the district's own view of school quality. It's important, too, because Huberman last year pushed for those scores to be tied to decisions about closings — the highest sanction a school can face."

..."More than 300 schools are on probation this year, the highest number since 1996-1997, according to an analysis conducted by Designs for Change, an education nonprofit.

"Probation has become a back-door method … for recentralizing the school system to strip Local School Councils, principals and teachers of their decision-making opportunities," wrote Valenica Rias-Winstead, an associate at the research group, in a February report.

Others see the grades as sad confirmation that billions of dollars and decades of reform have yielded little more than higher property taxes in the city. The data is from the 14th — and what will likely be the penultimate — year that Mayor Richard M. Daley controls the school system."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-failing-schools-20100909,0,1114233.story