All your posts shed a lot of light on the debates. This one became a writing prompt for me this morning. It's safe to say your post was successfully thought-provoking :)
I love this point in particular: "Families need help paying for sports, summer camps, tutoring, music lessons, and dance classes." Probably the most eye-opening experience I've had as a parent whose kids attend school in a big, urban district (Baltimore) is the level of access my kids have to extracurriculars (because of our financial resources) vs many of their peers. Those extracurriculars have been critical and incredibly impactful in my own kids' development (particularly in the other piece you mention--non-academic habits/skills)--and I think it's a real miss we haven't done a lot more for lower-income families in that space. Thanks for writing Tim, always thought-provoking!
The first article below this one of yours is "Mississippi Can't Possibly Have Good Schools." And yet, they do, and in there is the solution to equity. Make equity about seeking the best for underperforming students, regardless of race. Chicago could stop political posturing, call it the "Student Success Plan" (because there MUST be both white and Latino students who are struggling readers and math students as well, even at lowers numbers), and make it for any student who needs help.
Yup, there is no intervention that has been shown to specifically help students of a particular race, so if you’re trying to have an intervention based on race by definition that intervention will fail. There are interventions that help all underperforming students, but they’re not sexy, so only poor backwards states like Mississippi are willing to do them.
Chicago Public Schools spends nearly $21,800 per student. This is among the highest in the country and yet the district is drowning in deficits, declining enrollment, and lousy academic outcomes. The same leadership that allowed these failures now claims to have the solutions? At that per‑pupil cost, CPS should simply hand over the money to private and independent school operators to open campuses across the city and give families real choice. Those who mismanaged the system are not the ones qualified to fix it. CPS, like many others, is more interested in jobs for people than interested in doing what’s right for kids.
By the time most CPS students reach middle school, they can already sense that the system is failing them. Studies from the UChicago Consortium on School Research show that Black and Latino students in CPS are far less likely to meet proficiency benchmarks in reading and math by 8th grade, and many report disengagement because instruction feels ineffective or inconsistent kidsfirst. Teacher quality and chronic absenteeism compound the problem: CPS reports over 40% of middle‑schoolers are chronically absent in some neighborhoods, and students often encounter underqualified or overburdened teachers. The result is a system where children recognize early on that their time is being wasted and learning isn’t happening at the level it should. And the cycle of mismanagement just continues and continues and continues. 20 years from now someone else is going to write another article about basically the same problems.
(1) NAEP data is not just from the _public_ schools and also is not comprehensive. It is "a representative sampling of students from public and private schools". Since about 1 of every 6 schoolchildren in the City of Chicago attend private/parochial schools, this means that the NAEP data is not necessarily an accurate picture of results within Chicago Public Schools.
(2) Regarding the data by race for the period 2003-2024, there is some relevant local context for that particular period. In the 2000 census the City of Chicago was 36% black, 32% white, 27% Hispanic, 5% all others; as of the 2020 census those percentages were 29% black, 31% white, 30% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 3% all others. For a period during which a jurisdiction's black population declined by almost a fifth it seems necessary to examine some specifics of that out-migration, in terms of schoolchildren test scores and/or school district initiatives seeking to improve those scores.
(3) A quarter century ago Asian-Americans were not even a large enough share of Chicago's population to merit their own census category; by 2020 they were 1 of every 15 city residents. If by the 2030 census they are approaching 10 percent of the city population, as seems likely, how those children are doing seems like it will be a relevant question for assessing results of the school system as a whole.
That is, Haidt Screen Limiting has its place. But ~50% of 12 year olds vote with their feet against typical school-offered sports, school-offered clubs, school-offered music. That cohort needs their "good in person things" to come from public dollars but not public/private schools. ESAs for late afternoon, weekend, summers.
Also: is Point 2 battleground middle school math?
Also: I like Mora's Portrait idea for future Education Daly post.
I really like this. Practical life skills landed well with me in particular. The ones you listed are different than the five competencies districts pick for “Portrait of a Graduate”. An ask: can you do a piece on portrait of a grad? It’s such a big thing and it can feel very fluffy. How can we see this movement with a lens of optimism?
All your posts shed a lot of light on the debates. This one became a writing prompt for me this morning. It's safe to say your post was successfully thought-provoking :)
I love this point in particular: "Families need help paying for sports, summer camps, tutoring, music lessons, and dance classes." Probably the most eye-opening experience I've had as a parent whose kids attend school in a big, urban district (Baltimore) is the level of access my kids have to extracurriculars (because of our financial resources) vs many of their peers. Those extracurriculars have been critical and incredibly impactful in my own kids' development (particularly in the other piece you mention--non-academic habits/skills)--and I think it's a real miss we haven't done a lot more for lower-income families in that space. Thanks for writing Tim, always thought-provoking!
The first article below this one of yours is "Mississippi Can't Possibly Have Good Schools." And yet, they do, and in there is the solution to equity. Make equity about seeking the best for underperforming students, regardless of race. Chicago could stop political posturing, call it the "Student Success Plan" (because there MUST be both white and Latino students who are struggling readers and math students as well, even at lowers numbers), and make it for any student who needs help.
Yup, there is no intervention that has been shown to specifically help students of a particular race, so if you’re trying to have an intervention based on race by definition that intervention will fail. There are interventions that help all underperforming students, but they’re not sexy, so only poor backwards states like Mississippi are willing to do them.
Chicago Public Schools spends nearly $21,800 per student. This is among the highest in the country and yet the district is drowning in deficits, declining enrollment, and lousy academic outcomes. The same leadership that allowed these failures now claims to have the solutions? At that per‑pupil cost, CPS should simply hand over the money to private and independent school operators to open campuses across the city and give families real choice. Those who mismanaged the system are not the ones qualified to fix it. CPS, like many others, is more interested in jobs for people than interested in doing what’s right for kids.
By the time most CPS students reach middle school, they can already sense that the system is failing them. Studies from the UChicago Consortium on School Research show that Black and Latino students in CPS are far less likely to meet proficiency benchmarks in reading and math by 8th grade, and many report disengagement because instruction feels ineffective or inconsistent kidsfirst. Teacher quality and chronic absenteeism compound the problem: CPS reports over 40% of middle‑schoolers are chronically absent in some neighborhoods, and students often encounter underqualified or overburdened teachers. The result is a system where children recognize early on that their time is being wasted and learning isn’t happening at the level it should. And the cycle of mismanagement just continues and continues and continues. 20 years from now someone else is going to write another article about basically the same problems.
Ok but slow clap for the CPS logo caption, though. That really made me laugh.
Hmm.
(1) NAEP data is not just from the _public_ schools and also is not comprehensive. It is "a representative sampling of students from public and private schools". Since about 1 of every 6 schoolchildren in the City of Chicago attend private/parochial schools, this means that the NAEP data is not necessarily an accurate picture of results within Chicago Public Schools.
(2) Regarding the data by race for the period 2003-2024, there is some relevant local context for that particular period. In the 2000 census the City of Chicago was 36% black, 32% white, 27% Hispanic, 5% all others; as of the 2020 census those percentages were 29% black, 31% white, 30% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 3% all others. For a period during which a jurisdiction's black population declined by almost a fifth it seems necessary to examine some specifics of that out-migration, in terms of schoolchildren test scores and/or school district initiatives seeking to improve those scores.
(3) A quarter century ago Asian-Americans were not even a large enough share of Chicago's population to merit their own census category; by 2020 they were 1 of every 15 city residents. If by the 2030 census they are approaching 10 percent of the city population, as seems likely, how those children are doing seems like it will be a relevant question for assessing results of the school system as a whole.
Thank you. An excellent analysis.
Good post Tim.
Point 5 begets Point 4.
That is, Haidt Screen Limiting has its place. But ~50% of 12 year olds vote with their feet against typical school-offered sports, school-offered clubs, school-offered music. That cohort needs their "good in person things" to come from public dollars but not public/private schools. ESAs for late afternoon, weekend, summers.
Also: is Point 2 battleground middle school math?
Also: I like Mora's Portrait idea for future Education Daly post.
I really like this. Practical life skills landed well with me in particular. The ones you listed are different than the five competencies districts pick for “Portrait of a Graduate”. An ask: can you do a piece on portrait of a grad? It’s such a big thing and it can feel very fluffy. How can we see this movement with a lens of optimism?