[xmca] the Chicago Miracle

["Peter Smagorinsky" <smago@uga.edu>]

Six years after Mayor Richard Daley
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics/government/richard-m.-daley-PE
PLT007475.topic>  launched a bold initiative to close down and remake
failing schools, Renaissance 2010 has done little to improve the educational
performance of the city's school system, according to a Tribune analysis of
2009 state test data.

The moribund test scores follow other less than enthusiastic findings about
Renaissance 2010 -- that displaced students ended up mostly in other
low-performing schools and that mass closings led to youth violence as rival
gang members ended up in the same classrooms. Together, they suggest the
initiative hasn't lived up to its promise by this, its target year.

"We haven't looked at all the data, but our belief is that Renaissance 2010
dramatically improved the educational options in communities across
Chicago," said Peter Cunningham, Duncan's spokesman, who followed him from
Chicago to Washington
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/us/washington-PLGEO100104900000000.topi
c> . "We believe that it is contributing to Chicago's overall success.
Renaissance 2010 and Race to the Top both reflect a willingness to be bold,
hold yourself to higher standards and push for dramatic change, not
incremental change."

http://www.chicagotribune.com:80/news/education/chi-renaissance-2010-17-jan1
7,0,3877012.story

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