“Oftentimes Chicago students are involved in a desperate march from one mediocre school to another,” said John Ayers, vice president for strategic partnerships at the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, in a speech to about 25 people Wednesday night in Annenberg Hall.
Ayers discussed the constant struggle by urban students to find schools that provide a meaningful education that is both affordable and accessible. Ayers was the first guest lecturer for Promote 360, a student group that represents minority students in Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy.
“Basically our goal is to promote and empower the minority community within SESP, whether it is socially, academically, or professionally,” said SESP sophomore Tabitha Bentley, Promote 360’s president.
Ayers’ speech focused on the establishment of charter schools in Chicago’s education system. Charter schools are tuition-free independent public schools created on the basis of an agreement or “charter” between the school and the community, Ayers said. They are completely autonomous and are often able to experiment with various teaching methods.
“There is no particular kind of charter school because Americans are very entrepreneurial and like the freedom to choose,” Ayers said.
Ayers spoke of the progression of Chicago’s education system, which was called “the worst in the nation” by the Chicago Tribune in 1987.
Prior to 1995, when major educational reform began, the Chicago public school system was very disorganized, Ayers said. Before the educational reforms made by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, school principals did not have authority over heads of the janitorial staff, called engineers in the educational system.
“Before the amendment, the janitors could choose to close the school at 3 p.m., and everyone would have to leave,” Ayers said. “There could be no sports, no anything.”
In 1996, charter schools were introduced through a law that established a cap of 30 charter schools in metropolitan and suburban Chicago, Ayers said.
But the effect of the law was not seen until 2004, when Daley and Arne Duncan, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, introduced Renaissance 2010, a program that seeks to establish 100 new schools by 2010. Since the program’s introduction, urban students have received the option to attend schools that have more value- and culture-based education, Ayers said.
“Why would we create schools that are mediocre?” Ayers asked. “We want to create schools that are dynamic and wonderful.”
Students may choose to attend art-, music-, or math- and science-focused charter schools. In New Orleans, there are even construction-oriented charter schools, aimed at rebuilding New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Ayers said.
Communication freshman Kaitlyn Southard said she attended the lecture because she went to a charter school. Southard was a member of the founding class of the math- and science-focused Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago.
“Going to the school was such a great idea, and an absolutely phenomenal experience,” Southard said.
Because her family felt that the public school system in their South Side neighborhood was so bad, Southard said her family decided to take a chance on what was then a very new concept.
“In a way, I was a guinea pig because it was such an experimental idea,” she said.
Bentley, Promote 360’s president, said she was glad Ayers could speak about a different aspect of the educational system.
“This is very relevant information for the students in SESP because a lot of us are going to teach,” Bentley said. “Chicago is our future workplace, and we are all affected by the changes in the education system.”
Reach Natalie Tapaskar at [email protected].
