Schools In Chicago Research Articles

An interview with Don Hedeker

Don Hedeker was born in the late 1950s in Chicago, Illinois. He attended public schools in Chicago and did his undergraduate work at the University of Chicago, earning a degree in Economics in 1980. In 1981, he began graduate work in the Department of Behavioral Sciences, Committee on Research Methodology and Quantitative Psychology at the University of Chicago. He completed his dissertation in 1989 under the direction of Darrell Bock. In 1993, Don accepted a faculty position at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where he was promoted to tenured Associate Professor in 1996 and to Full Professor in 2001. He spent 20 years on the faculty at UIC, leaving in 2014 in order to return to the University of Chicago as a Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Public Health Sciences. Don’s main expertise is in the development and dissemination of advanced statistical methods for clustered and longitudinal data. In addition to many methodological papers in these areas, Don has developed several freeware computer programs for statistical analysis of such data. To date, he has published over 180 papers and 1 book. Don is also an accomplished musician, and has played in bands since high school. This interview was conducted in honor of Don being awarded the 2015 Long-term Excellence Award from the Health Policy Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association. The interview took place in Don’s office at the University of Chicago on December 23, 2015.

Multi-Site Expansion of an Early Childhood Intervention and School Readiness.

To evaluate the impacts of the expansion of an evidence-based full- and part-day early childhood development program on multiple indicators of school readiness, attendance, and parental involvement for a large cohort of low-income children. This study involved the end-of-preschool follow-up of a nonrandomized, matched-group cohort of 2630 predominantly low-income, ethnic minority children who enrolled in the Midwest Child-Parent Centers (CPC) or alternative preschools in the fall of 2012 in 31 schools in Chicago, Illinois. The program provides comprehensive education, family support, and health services. In the preschool component assessed in this study, 1724 children aged 3 to 4 years in all 16 Chicago centers enrolled in the program. The comparison group included 906 children of the same age who participated in the usual preschool services in 14 matched schools. Relative to the comparison group who enrolled in the usual preschool services and adjusted for covariates, CPC participants had higher mean scores on all performance-based assessments of literacy (59.4 vs 52.4; P = .001), socioemotional development (57.0 vs 51.8; P = .001), and physical health (34.5 vs 32.1; P = .001). They also had higher ratings of parental involvement in school (5.3 vs 4.0; P = .04). Group differences also translated into higher rates of meeting national assessment norms. Program estimates were similar for children attending new and established CPCs and according to age, race/ethnicity, and family income status. The findings show that expansion of the program to new schools and more diverse populations is feasible and effective in promoting school readiness skills and parental involvement.

“We Learn through Our Struggles”: Nuancing Notions of Urban Black Male Academic Preparation for Postsecondary Success

Background/ContextScholars agree that students’ academic preparation for college begins as early as middle school. This preparation includes both instructional and social supports. The present study draws much-needed attention to how Black males articulate the role and function of their Chicago high school for helping them negotiate the challenges of urban living to both earn admittance to, and graduate from, a four-year college or university.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyNot enough is known about the specific supports most useful for improving urban Black males’ academic preparation to earn a baccalaureate degree from a four-year college or university. A single-sex public high school in Chicago (Nabur) rose to national prominence in 2010 for helping each of its 100% Black male graduates earn admission to college. This study investigates how members of this school's inaugural graduating class on track to graduate from college within 6 years of initial enrollment describe their high school academic experiences, and the impact of these experiences for shaping their college persistence. Exploring the contours of academic preparation through Black male students’ perspectives can be instructive for improving urban school reform efforts aimed at better preparing them for multiple postsecondary options.Population/Participants/SubjectsEighteen Black males—members of Nabur's inaugural graduating class who began at Nabur High School in 2006 and graduated in 2010—were participants in the study. Each of the young men, with the exception of one, attended Nabur all four years of their high school career. The young men self selected participation in the study. Each participant was on track to graduate from college within six years of their initial enrollment at the time of data collection.Research DesignThe young men participated in one in-depth one-on-one interview. Instructional and social supports—dimensions of academic preparation explored in this study—help to frame analysis and presentation of the findings.Findings/ResultsStudents described teacher availability and academic expectations (instructional supports), as well as community building, social networking, and personal affirmation (social supports) as important aspects of their academic preparation for postsecondary success. Practitioners’ beliefs about Black males’ resilience as a framework for design and implementation of instructional and social supports emerges as most significant to their academic preparation for college.Conclusions/RecommendationsImplications and recommendations for repurposing “struggle” as a site of resilience in efforts to better meet the unique needs of urban Black males in preparation for college are discussed.

Contro la deriva scissoria. Le funzioni dei big data nelle strategie integrate di ricerca sociale

Despite the undoubted benefits of Big Data, it may also pose the risk of a new divisive drift within social sciences. In the long term, the Big Data revolution could in fact lead to an eclipse of primary data collection procedures, with inevitable damage to the productivity of social research. This paper reconstructs a typology of strategies to integrate Big Data with conventional research pathways, re-evaluating the forgotten lessons of the American Schools of Chicago and Columbia. The typology is constructed by combining two criteria: the function of Big Data and the time order.

Locating Chicago’s charter schools: A socio-spatial analysis

This project contributes to the body of research examining the implications of the geographic location of charter schools for student access, especially in high-poverty communities. Using geographic information systems (GIS) software, this paper uses data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of the census tracts in which Chicago’s charter schools tend to locate. Echoing the findings of other researchers who have examined charter school locational patterns, the present analyses found evidence of a “ceiling effect” by which many charter schools appear to locate in Chicago’s higher-needs census tracts, broadly cast, but avoid locating directly within those that are highest-need. The findings suggest that because Chicago’s charter schools face per-pupil expenditures that are often up to 20% less than those of traditional public schools, they may strategically leverage location to help shape student enrollment. By frequently locating near, but not directly within highest-need communities, charter schools may find it easier to attract a quorum of relatively higher achieving students who are less expensive to educate, therefore increasing their chances of meeting academic benchmarks and retaining their charters. By extending the findings of other researchers to the context of Chicago—where charters represent an ever-increasing share of the public school market—the present analyses may inform future revisions to the policies governing the authorization of charter schools in Chicago, with the goal of increasing access for highest-need students.

LAS DIFERENTES APROXIMACIONES AL ESTUDIO DE LOS BARRIOS EN LAS CIENCIAS SOCIALES

This article aims to review the made by social sciences and urban anthropology about neighborhoods, and thus the city. For this porpuse a brief overview of the initial work of the Chicago School and the University of Machester about neighborhoods is developed. In the second part, the different approaches since the 90's about neighborhoods are shown. Views that in a theoretical scenario reproduced assumptions of before the spatial turn and the heirs of the School of Chicago. Finally, the challenges that neighborhood studies face are discussed. Among the challenges is the need to think and reconceptualized the neighborhood, separating them from geometric boundaries and the community vision.Therefore, this article focuses on reflection of the new conceptions of the place given after the spatial turn, more dynamic and relational conceptions, in which the neighborhoods are configured out of its inhabitant's trajectories, influences, interchanges, practices and histories (Massey, 2004). Thus, the neighborhood is understood interconnected, articulated with the multiple places that make up the city, and not as an isolated entity or a backdrop on which the social is produced.

Emergency Department Finds Successful Formula For Psychiatric Cases

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Professional NewsFull AccessEmergency Department Finds Successful Formula For Psychiatric CasesAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:4 Dec 2015https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2015.12a13AbstractEngaging psychiatric patients and beginning treatment in the emergency department is a step toward reducing boarding.Boarding—holding patients with diagnosed or suspected psychiatric disorders for hours or days in emergency departments until inpatient beds are found for them—is good for neither patients nor hospitals, said Scott Zeller, M.D., at IPS: The Mental Health Services Conference in New York in October.Ideally, psychiatric emergency department care should combine medical and recovery approaches to care with deep patient engagement, says Scott Zeller M.D., chief of psychiatric emergency services at Alameda Health Systems in Oakland, Calif.However, the practice remains a problem, said Zeller, chief of psychiatric emergency services for the Alameda Health System in Oakland, Calif. No one would suggest that someone walking in complaining of chest pain or an asthma attack should be told to wait for hours or days before receiving care, he said. The approach in Oakland is therapeutic from the outset, as distinct from a general emergency department’s need to move psychiatric patients along to other settings for care. Initiating therapy in the emergency department, as Zeller has long advocated, could reduce boarding while benefiting patientsTypically, patients needing psychiatric care who arrive in a general hospital’s emergency department are treated for general medical conditions, but staff there may or may not include psychiatrists or other clinicians to assess and treat their mental health problems.People with severe mental illness appear to overuse the emergency department since they have few other alternatives for care, added Leslie Zun, M.D., M.B.A., chair and professor of emergency medicine and a professor of psychiatry at the Chicago Medical School and Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago. About 23 percent are sent home without a consult because of limited resources.While the nation’s 42,000 emergency physicians can “handle any threat to life or limb,” said Zun, many have not had thorough training on treating people in psychiatric crisis.Boarding psychiatric patients in an emergency department is both poor medicine and expensive, said Zeller. “The average cost per patient is $2,264, and that’s after the initial triage and [general medical] care they have received,” he said. “That’s the cost for just waiting around.”Waiting can be difficult for both staff and patients. Sometimes psychiatric patients are placed in special holding areas to await evaluation or are required to wear gowns that are different in color from those of other patients—a sure way of reinforcing stigma and signaling that these patients are not welcome. Zeller has observed cases in which the language or actions of emergency department doctors and nurses engendered agitation in patients rather than built an alliance with them.His specialized psychiatric emergency department in Oakland sees about 1,500 to 1,800 patients with involuntary psychiatric holds per month. Police do not bring in patients directly. While at the scene of an incident, they call an ambulance, and the responding EMTs then triage patients to either general emergency departments or the psychiatric emergency department. A psychiatrist is on duty 24 hours a day and meets the ambulance at the door. Patients can also self-refer.The service has no actual “beds,” just 48 reclining chairs in one large room. Using a collaborative approach, his team focuses on relieving acute crises.Zeller sees an artificial distinction between “recovery” and “medical” approaches to caring for psychiatric patients in emergency settings. He noted that a $140 million recovery-oriented California grant program frowned on any mention of recovery in applications of hospitals, physicians, or nurses. That approach is far too rigid, he said.“Better results occur when psychiatrists can combine the two into one program,” he said. “In Oakland, we are mostly staffed by doctors and nurses, but we also use groups and occupational therapy.”The approach is always collaborative, with team members taking the time to listen and develop relationships with patients.“We’ll work with them for 10, 15, or 20 hours and then decide if they need hospitalization,” said Zeller. Less than 30 percent are referred to a hospital after that process, and just 1 in 1,000 patients requires restraint or seclusion.This system has reduced the average boarding time in Alameda County to two hours, and 75 percent of the patients can be successfully discharged.“We still need hospitals and inpatient beds, but we are able to give better care, save money, and increase access,” said Zeller. That’s a model he and other emergency psychiatrists would like to see emulated more often. ■ ISSUES NewArchived

Toward a Framework for Learning and Digital Games Research

Digital environments, serious games, video games, and game-based simulations continue to expand as foundations (e.g., Quest2Learn schools in New York City and Chicago) and adjuncts (e.g., River Cit...

Mediation in the Workplace: An Alternate Route to Attitudinal Restructuring of the Union–Management Relationship

Negotiation JournalVolume 31, Issue 4 p. 415-417 The Evolution of the Behavioral Theory in the Workplace Mediation in the Workplace: An Alternate Route to Attitudinal Restructuring of the Union–Management Relationship Stephen B. Goldberg, Stephen B. GoldbergStephen B. Goldberg is a former professor at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, IL. He has been a mediator, arbitrator, and dispute resolution consultant for thirty-five years. His e-mail address is stephengoldberg@law.northwestern.edu.Search for more papers by this author Stephen B. Goldberg, Stephen B. GoldbergStephen B. Goldberg is a former professor at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, IL. He has been a mediator, arbitrator, and dispute resolution consultant for thirty-five years. His e-mail address is stephengoldberg@law.northwestern.edu.Search for more papers by this author First published: 23 October 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/nejo.12118 Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume31, Issue4October 2015Pages 415-417 This article also appears in:Mediation RelatedInformation

Cumulative Social-Environmental Adversity Exposure as Predictor of Psychological Distress and Risk Behavior in Urban Youth

The present study examines exposure to adversity as a predictor of psychological distress and risk behavior among 266 elementary students in 14 low income neighborhood schools in Chicago. Two indices of adversity exposure were created, reflecting neighborhood, school, and peer group risk (NSP) and the lack of protective resources within the family and neighborhood (LPR). Regression analyses investigated these indices as independent and potentially interacting predictors of self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety, frequency of substance use, and involvement in violence-related behavior. The LPR index was found to be a linear predictor of greater reported anxiety and exhibited a significant curvilinear association with reports of depression, substance use, and violence-related behavior. Similarly, the NSP index was a linear predictor of greater reported levels of substance use and violence-related behavior. Significant interaction between the two indices was found. Implications for research and school clinicians (social workers and psychologists) are offered.

Detours of Intention: Lost and Found in the Holy Land

Detours of Intention:Lost and Found in the Holy Land Tom Fate (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution The first thing I noticed humming west through South Dakota on Interstate 90 was the thirty-foot high teepees made from cement pillars. I’d seen them before. They mark the public bathroom stops, but also remind you that you are now in “Indian Country.” A state planner somewhere probably thought they would trigger nostalgic visions of Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse in tourists on their way across this barren table of grassland to visit Mount Rushmore. [End Page 101] But driving further west, the strategy becomes more clear. Most of the roadside billboards––marketing everything from fast food to amusement parks to real estate––feature iconic images from Plains Indians culture: teepees, buffalo, the medicine wheel, drum circles. Presumably, these images of the Lakota Sioux people can spark a quite marketable curiosity in visitors like me, a curiosity that anthropologist Renato Rosaldo once called “imperialist nostalgia”: an odd, romantic longing for the culture that my ancestors nearly destroyed. I first recognized this feeling in myself many years ago, when I was invited to attend a Sun Dance on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation––the central religious ceremony of the Lakota. My expectations didn’t align with what I experienced those few days on the Pine Ridge: most of the dancers were recovering alcoholics, the sweat lodges were covered with carpet remnants rather than buffalo hides, the sacred cottonwood tree was retrieved in a flatbed truck rather than on horseback, the eagle feathers were purchased rather than gathered, the drummers and singers used tinny microphones and cheap amplifiers that echoed with feedback, many of the dancers slept in nylon dome tents instead of teepees, and so on. I had still imagined a “traditional” Indian––as if tradition didn’t evolve. This mindset is just one way a middle-class white guy deals with his heritage—the near genocide, and theft of Native American land. And while I’m not directly responsible for that debacle, as a beneficiary, and as a writer, I am accountable—able to give an account, one more well-intentioned version of “the truth.” That was partly why I was on my way back to the Pine Ridge––to listen for stories, for a new truth. Another reason, though, was to visit an old mentor: Francis White Lance, a Lakota medicine man. I would soon bring a group of college students to the Pine Ridge and Francis had agreed to mentor them as well, so I wanted to reconnect with him. Francis and I first met twenty-five years ago when I was in grad school in Chicago and took a field study course on the rez: “Lakota-Christian Dialogue.” Like Nicholas Black Elk, the renowned shaman from the Pine Ridge, Francis had also studied both traditions—with Gilbert Yellow Hawk, a Lakota medicine man, and at an Episcopalian seminary. [End Page 102] The “dialogue” course met in Francis’ small wooden home. In the first session someone asked him how the Lakota viewed all the Wasi’chus (white people) who kept coming to the Pine Ridge to help and study them. “Most of us hate white people, and with good reason,” Francis said. Then, as our discomfort bubbled up, he broke into a smile. “But don’t worry, I might forgive you.” This tension––between what we presented, as well-meaning students who sought to study Lakota culture, and what we re-presented as the descendants of those who nearly destroyed it––was always there. It still is. And it will be when I bring my own students here. Click for larger view View full resolution An hour later, I pulled off the interstate and into one of the cement teepee rest stops to use the bathroom. The parking lot was bustling with young families. Most of the cars had out-of-state plates. And it was June, so I presumed they were on vacation and on their way to the number-one tourist attraction in the state: Mount Rushmore. The granite sculpture of the four presidents—each of whose head is sixty feet high—has been...

Patterns in Illinois educational school data

We examine Illinois educational data from standardized exams and analyze primary factors affecting the achievement of public school students. We focus on the simplest possible models: representation of data through visualizations and regressions on single variables. Exam scores are shown to depend on school type, location, and poverty concentration. For most schools in Illinois, student test scores decline linearly with poverty concentration. However Chicago must be treated separately. Selective schools in Chicago, as well as some traditional and charter schools, deviate from this pattern based on poverty. For any poverty level, Chicago schools perform better than those in the rest of Illinois. Selective programs for gifted students show high performance at each grade level, most notably at the high school level, when compared to other Illinois school types. The case of Chicago charter schools is more complex. In the last six years, their students' scores overtook those of students in traditional Chicago high schools.

Principals’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Efforts by Principals to Improve Teaching and Learning in Turkish Middle Schools

Instructional leadership, which occupies the greatest proportion of all school and management theories, possesses strong empirical roots (Hallinger, 2012). Research in the 1970 s on successful schools constantly found that effective schools had principals who were particularly concerned with and spent time on improving the teaching and learning aspects of the school (Austin, 1979; Brieve, 1972; Bridges, 1967; Duke & Stiggins, 1985; Edmonds 1979; Eberts & Stone, 1988; Hallinger & Heck, 1996; McKenzie, 1988; Niedermeyer; 1977). In contrast to principals who spend most of their time dealing with managerial issues such as the budget, paper work, and the implementation of rules and regulations, principals in effective schools direct their attention more toward the academic aspects of their schools, such as setting academic goals, developing curriculum, assessing the effectiveness of teachers' practices, and providing opportunities for improvement. Such behaviors associated with the principals of effective schools are defined as instructional leadership (Blase, 1987; Blase & Blase, 1999; Bossert, Dwyer, Rowan & Lee, 1982; Bridges, 1967; Hallinger, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2012; Marks & Printy, 2003; Hallinger & Murphy, 1983, 1985, 1987; Hallinger, Murphy, Well, Mesa, & Mitman, 1983; Rosenholtz, 1985; Southworth, 2002).Since the development of the theory in the 1980's, has been a substantial focus of educational research and was finally placed at the top of the list among all theories (Hallinger, 2013). Early researchers mainly concerned themselves with the development of significant conceptual knowledge (how one might clarify and define leadership) and theoretical understandings of the value and influences of (Bossert et al., 1982; Hallinger & Murphy, 1985; Murphy 1990; Petterson, 1993; Weber, 1996). Later research investigated the contribution of on teacher and student learning (Blase & Blase, 1999; Gerrell, 2005; Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger et ah, 1983; Hallinger, Bickman, & Davis, 1996; Hallinger & Heck, 1996, 2011; Heck, 1992; Heck, Larsen, & Marcoulides, 1990; May & Spovitz, 2011; Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris & Hopkins, 2006; Leithwood & lantzi, & Steinbach, 1999; Robinson, Lloyd & Rowe, 2008; Sebastian & Allensworth, 2012; Supovitz, Sirinides, & May, 2010). Ultimately, in a comprehensive study drawing on longitudinal data derived from hundreds of schools in Chicago, Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, and Easton (2010) listed as an indispensable component of school principalship which was found to be a significant driving force for schools in achieving high quality instruction and thereby enhancing student achievement.The significance of has been recognized by educational policy makers, practitioners, and international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Hallinger, 2012; OECD, 2009). Many countries have required principals to work with teachers towards the betterment of curriculum and practices. In the USA, principalship standards, which are determined at the state level, overwhelmingly emphasize involvement in the design and implementation of high quality practices that better fit student needs. For instance, Colorado principal-quality standards require principals to establish high standards for curriculum and instruction, support teachers through continuous feedback and professional development, help teachers maximize effective use of time, and work with teachers to determine the best practices which are research-based and address student needs (Colorado Department of Education). Similarly, the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE) passed a law in 2010 that required school principals to exhibit multifaceted roles, such as developing their school's vision and mission, observing teaching and learning activities, and providing feedback to teachers regarding their performance, all in order to ensure high quality teaching and learning (MoNE, 2010). …

Role of atrial fibrillation burden in assessing thromboembolic risk.

Stroke represents the most devastating complication of atrial fibrillation (AF). Our understanding of the pathophysiology of thromboembolism in patients with AF remains incomplete, and as such, our assessment and management of this risk is imperfect. Current guidelines regard the risk of thromboembolism as independent of the frequency or duration of AF.1 Paradoxically, standard practice in the pericardioversion period considers thromboembolic risk to accrue after 48 hours of AF.1 This recommendation, however, is based on limited data, including an observational study of 357 patients which demonstrated that the risk of thromboembolic events was <1% in patients with AF lasting <48 hours who cardioverted without prolonged anticoagulation therapy or a transesophageal echocardiogram.2 No strong randomized control trial data exist to specifically support a 48-hour safety cut-off, and recent data suggest that the duration of AF associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke may in fact be less.3–8 The emergence of technology to allow absolute quantification of the frequency and duration, or burden, of AF offers the opportunity to refine our assessment and management of thromboembolic risk associated with AF. It has been 200 years since William Wood described a ball thrombus in the left atrium of a patient with mitral stenosis9 and 170 years since Virchow identified the critical components required for thrombus formation.10 It took until 1930 for Harvey and Levine to first declare that “auricular fibrillation definitely increases the incidence of auricular thrombosis” in an autopsy series of patients with mural thrombi.11 Uncertainty as to whether nonrheumatic AF resulted in stroke continued for the next 40 plus years until Wolfe and colleagues, in their landmark analysis using the Framingham population data, identified a 5.6-fold increased risk of stroke in patients with chronic nonvalvular AF.12 With time it would become …

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1Ann & Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL 2Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 3Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Association of a full-day vs part-day preschool intervention with school readiness, attendance, and parent involvement.

Early childhood interventions have demonstrated positive effects on well-being. Whether full-day vs part-day attendance improves outcomes is unknown. To evaluate the association between a full- vs part-day early childhood program and school readiness, attendance, and parent involvement. End-of-preschool follow-up of a nonrandomized, matched-group cohort of predominantly low-income, ethnic minority children enrolled in the Child-Parent Centers (CPC) for the full day (7 hours; n = 409) or part day (3 hours on average; n = 573) in the 2012-2013 school year in 11 schools in Chicago, Illinois. The Midwest CPC Education Program provides comprehensive instruction, family-support, and health services from preschool to third grade. School readiness skills at the end of preschool, attendance and chronic absences, and parental involvement. The readiness domains in the Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment System include a total of 49 items with a score range of 105-418. The specific domains are socioemotional with 9 items (score range, 20-81), language with 6 items (score range, 15-54), literacy with 12 items (score range, 9-104), math with 7 items (score, 8-60), physical health with 5 items (score range, 14-45), and cognitive development with 10 items (score range, 18-90). Full-day preschool participants had higher scores than part-day peers on socioemotional development (58.6 vs 54.5; difference, 4.1; 95% CI, 0.5-7.6; P = .03), language (39.9 vs 37.3; difference, 2.6; 95% CI, 0.6-4.6; P = .01), math (40.0 vs 36.4; difference, 3.6; 95% CI, 0.5-6.7; P = .02), physical health (35.5 vs 33.6; difference, 1.9; 95% CI, 0.5-3.2; P = .006), and the total score (298.1 vs 278.2; difference, 19.9; 95% CI, 1.2-38.4; P = .04). Literacy (64.5 vs 58.6; difference, 5.9; 95% CI, -0.07 to 12.4; P = .08) and cognitive development (59.7 vs 57.7; difference, 2.0; 95% CI, -2.4 to 6.3; P = .38) were not significant. Full-day preschool graduates also had higher rates of attendance (85.9% vs 80.4%; difference, 5.5; 95% CI, 2.6-8.4; P = .001) and lower rates of chronic absences (≥10% days missed; 53.0% vs 71.6%; difference, -18.6; 95% CI, -28.5 to -8.7; P = .001; ≥20% days missed; 21.2% vs 38.8%; difference -17.6%; 95% CI, -25.6 to -9.7; P < .001) but no differences in parental involvement. In an expansion of the CPCs in Chicago, a full-day preschool intervention was associated with increased school readiness skills in 4 of 6 domains, attendance, and reduced chronic absences compared with a part-day program. These findings should be replicated in other programs and contexts.

Freedom to teach: implications of the removal of Persepolis from Chicago schools

Despite sometimes being viewed as inferior to other forms of literature, comic books and graphic novels are frequently used within the school curriculum. However, in March 2013, public schools in Chicago were instructed by the district authority to remove the well-respected graphic novel Persepolis (Satrapi, M. 2008. London: Vintage) from libraries and classrooms. Chicago Public Schools indicated that the ban would only be revoked once professional development guidelines for teachers had been produced to support the teaching of the text. This article examines the types of support that teachers may benefit from when teaching graphic novels, and Persepolis in particular, and questions whether the possible lack of such support justifies the removal of the text from schools.

John Dewey as administrator: the inglorious end of the Laboratory School in Chicago

The Laboratory School of the University of Chicago founded by John Dewey in 1896 is considered as one of the most innovative schools of progressive education. Its history, and specifically its sudden end, is still of general interest. In sympathy with Dewey, most historians tend to put the main blame for the tragedy on University President William R. Harper who—by refusing financial and organizational support—seemingly harassed Dewey out of office. A new look at archival sources reveals a different picture. The main point of contention was not bureaucratic matters between Dewey and Harper but irreconcilable differences between Dewey’s wife Alice and the faculty of the school who complained bitterly about her social and administrative incompetence as principal pushing the school on to the brink of disaster. Because of the extreme pressure exerted by trustees, colleagues and faculties, Harper could not help but ask Alice Dewey for her resignation. Given his own inability to manage business affairs, Dewey quit his job, too, in April 1904. Without his wife as principal, he saw no chance of realizing his educational ideas and left Chicago with a sigh of relief, freeing him forever from the unloved burden of administrative duties.

Sustaining Narratives of Hope: Literacy, Multimodality, and the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School

This article explores how an English teacher, students, and administrators at a public high school in Chicago participated in a multimodal writing project that negotiated the space between hope and critique, ultimately placing the community at the center of the curriculum. This project aims to illuminate how narrative renderings of possibility—or the lack thereof—construct understandings of reality, and how multimodality might be used to help teachers and students share their own visions with one another and with the public. Finally, this article suggests ways in which English educators, researchers, and students might collaborate to create productive spaces wherein disparate narratives can coexist.

Towards a New Learning

This position paper introduces the idea of a 'new learning' which brings together elements of play and game-based learning approaches into education. The paper argues for a better understanding of the division between structured and unstructured play time in how one designs and delivers learning at all levels from primary to tertiary. Play and game-based approaches are not just for having a rest but according to new research have a critical component in how people learn, as they give the player a chance to reflect upon and reorganize their learning experiences. The position paper puts forward an idea of future learning and provides an example from the Quest to Learn Schools in New York and Chicago as possible models for how future learning may look. The paper concludes that new learning expects a more rigorous and pervasive focus upon the learner, rehearsal, reflection and feedback, highlighting the role of play and game-bases approaches as being central.