Director of Private School Where Rahm Sends His Kids Opposes Using Testing for Teacher Evaluations

[eridani]

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13824/director_of_private_school_where_rahm_sends_his_kids_disagrees_on_standardi

Unlike occasional teacher union opponent Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel does not send his kids to public schools. Instead, Emanuel's children attend one of the most elite prep schools in Chicago, the University of Chicago Lab School, where the annual tuition is more than $20,000. (Emanuel has repeatedly refused to answer questions about why he eschews public schools for his children, telling reporters that it is a private family decision.)

The conditions at the University of Chicago Lab Schools are dramatically different than those at Chicago Public Schools, which are currently closed with teachers engaged in a high-profile strike. The Lab School has seven full-time art teachers to serve a student population of 1,700. By contrast, only 25% of Chicago’s “neighborhood elementary schools” have both a full-time art and music instructor. The Lab School has three different libraries, while 160 Chicago public elementary schools do not have a library.

<snip>

Writing on the University of Chicago’s Lab School website two years ago, Magill noted, “Measuring outcomes through standardized testing and referring to those results as the evidence of learning and the bottom line is, in my opinion, misguided and, unfortunately, continues to be advocated under a new name and supported by the current [Obama] administration.”

While Magill could not be reached for direct comment on the specifics of the Chicago Teachers’ strike, his past writings on the school's site suggest he might be supportive.

“I shudder to think of who would be attracted to teach in our public schools without unions,” Magill wrote on the school’s website in February 2009, adding that, even with unions, many teachers "have had no choice but to take on second jobs to make ends meet.“

[elleng]

1. Lab School's in Hyde Park, where Obama's house is,

'down the road a piece' from where rahm's family lives (I think.) Excellent school, and should be an exasmple for all, ESPECIALLY Secy. Duncan. (Educ. my major disagreement w PrezO.

[Angry Dragon]

2. 'eschews public schools for his children, telling reporters that it is a private family decision'

If he thinks education is a private family decision then he has no business to have any say .......
He can not have it both ways

I have a thought: Rahm should give the parents $20,000/child and let them send their children to any school they want

[msongs]

3. he will wreck public schools and care not, his precious spawn does not attend them nt

[Angry Dragon]

4. It was a mistake to let him run for mayor

[LWolf]

7. Give Public Schools $20,000/child

and the freedom from authoritarian political mandates that private schools enjoy, and watch them blossom.

I've heard good things about the Lab school. We'd love all of our schools to have those kinds of advantages to offer to all students.

[Igel]

9. So that applies to the chief executive of Chicago.

Does the same principle hold for the chief executive of the United States?

Or does "principle" depend on the individuals involved?

Oops.

[Angry Dragon]

10. I believe the President has discussed his reasons for sending

his girls to a private school

[Reader Rabbit]

5. So, is this irony or hypocrisy?

I can never tell without a scorecard.

[LWolf]

8. Hypocrisy.

On my scorecard, anyway.

[HiPointDem]

6. kr. they're all fucking hypocrites. prison schools & testing factories for the masses, boutique

schools for the elites.