Chicago's promotion policy, which bars especially low-scoring students from high school, has raised the preparation level of entering freshmen. However, from the teacher's perspective, the improved numbers may not mean much for their teaching. At the lowest-scoring high schools, half the students still score in the bottom quartile, down from 75 percent six years ago, Hess reports. At Marshall High School, a probation school in East Garfield Park, reading coordinator Barry Little says he sees a difference in today's freshmen. I don't think they are better to the degree that people would like us to believe.
Programs aimed at raising test scores with test-like activities are especially popular.
Some observers worry that schools have latched onto programs without clearly identifying what their kids need. They're just hoping to God they bring something down. They are not aiming. A lot of their interventions are not coordinated. Dissatisfied with the track record of external partners in raising reading scores at high schools on probation, the Office of Accountability created an in-house reading team that currently works with 11 high schools.