Rahm Emanuel made a campaign promise last week that if elected mayor, he would install a new math and English language curriculum in Chicago’s public schools by the end of his first term.
Mr. Emanuel said the new curriculum would be geared toward equipping students with the skills to meet the “common core standards” that education officials in Illinois and more than 40 other states have adopted. In imposing the new standards, the state has left up to the districts the question of how to try to meet those standards.
“I want us, the city of Chicago, to be the first city to adopt the curriculum that teaches toward the common standards,” he said in an interview with the Chicago News Cooperative. “Nobody has taken on the initiative.”
The effort would better prepare high school graduates for college or the workplace, he said.
Mr. Emanuel made clear that he meant no disrespect to Mayor Richard M. Daley, who assumed control of the city’s public schools 15 years ago and has said changes in public education are his proudest accomplishment.
Gery Chico, the mayoral candidate who was city school board president, recently angered Mr. Daley by saying that the efforts to improve schools have stalled.
Mr. Emanuel instead echoed Mr. Daley’s mantra about the schools. “There is no doubt we’ve made great strides,” Mr. Emanuel said, “but you don’t rest on your laurels.”
The state’s recent adoption of the new standards means that tests based on those goals will be given by the 2014-15 school year.
A schools watchdog expressed misgivings about the curriculum plan, although Mr. Emanuel said it would help Chicago “stop teaching toward standardized tests.”
“Our major concern with common core standards,” said Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, “is the likelihood that they will lead to a national standardized test and even more misuse and abuse of testing than we have now.”
It would be great if Mr. Emanuel would present his education ideas at the upcoming mayoral debate at Payton Prep H.S., Dec. 15th. He is the only one of the major candidates to have declined.
He also declined the UIC mayoral forum, too. He thinks he is too big for the people. If we had open checkbook like his business friend he would have come.
Most Chicago Public Schools and Charter Schools in the African American community are up against a culture where education is not a top priority. The average African American parent feels it is the responsibility of their children and the public schools to make sure their children do well in school.
Do you agree or disagree?
Marc Sims
773-517-4369
@Marc -
That’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Go look at the lines of people trying to get their kids into a charter public school and THEN tell us that African American parents don’t care.
The fact is, one in seven WHITE kids in Illinois fails to graduate high school, and our school systems are ALL awful. Even the best schools in the state like Wheaton can barely compete with schools in Europe and Asia. That’s true not just of Illinois, but across America.
Our school year and school day are too short, the curriculum is outdated, testing methods abysmal, teaching profession undervalued….