Chicago Appleseed Promotes Community Schools in “Same Starting Line” Report
Today, Appleseed, Chicago Appleseed’s national affiliate, released a major report that reveals significant resource disparities between high poverty schools and their middle and upper class counterparts. Entitled “The Same Starting Line: How School Boards Can Erase the Opportunity Gap Between Poor and Middle-Class Children,” the report analyzes evidence of disproportionate school resources collected by Appleseed Centers in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, New Mexico, and of course, Chicago. Resources such as a experienced and qualified teachers, extracurricular activities, and upper-level academic opportunities such as AP and International Baccalaureate programs were comparatively deficient in high poverty neighborhoods.
“The Same Starting Line” is a timely publication, as Congress contemplates reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Chicago Appleseed joins the Obama Administration in supporting reauthorization of ESEA, but recommends that Congress amend § 1118 of the ESEA in order to strengthen provisions pertaining to family and community engagement. We recently completed a proposal (PDF) for such amendments, and have been advocating for the changes stated within it.
One of Chicago Appleseed’s contributions to “The Same Starting Line” suggested that, in addition to pursuing more equitable resource distribution, Chicago policymakers should support the so-called “community schools” approach to high-poverty, low-resource public schools. This model, which is similar to the Promise Neighborhoods promoted by the US Department of Education, integrates neighborhood resources, including services from community non-profit organizations, parents, community members, and the school buildings themselves. Chicago Appleseed has published several reports advocating for parent and community engagement in schools, and recently blogged on the topic.
Chicago community schools advocates were crestfallen when all four Chicago applicants for Promise Neighborhood grants–representing Logan Square, Woodlawn, Englewood, and Roselawn neighborhoods–were passed up for funding last fall. Still, a recent panel discussion with those applicants, sponsored by Education Pioneers and hosted at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, indicated that enthusiasm for parent and community involvement in schools remains strong. While discouraged by their failure to receive federal funding, representatives from education-focused community organizations in all of the applicant neighborhoods will continue pursuing the community schools mission.