Closing Schools

From the new york times...

Over the past decade, the elementary and high schools that make the list of the worst— those in the bottom 25 percent on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test — have changed. One of every three schools — 47 of 155 — managed to make it off the list. The worst schools now are arguably better than the worst schools were 10 years ago. Their test scores have gone up (though much has been made about changes to the ISAT that made the test easier), attendance is up slightly in the elementary schools and the dropout rate in the worst high schools has improved by 10 percentage points, though it remains at a troubling 54 percent.

It's great to see that schools in Chicago have been improving, and that attendance is up and dropout rates are down. Although this article was about closing struggling schools, something my district just had to go through, and something Minnesota has had to deal with, I thought it was nice to highlight that Illinois schools are getting better. As a former teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, I'm happy for my former colleagues.