Chicago placed four schools among the top 25 worst public schools in America, and 17 schools among the worst 100, according to a new listing released last week.
Chicago placed four schools among the top 25 worst public schools in America, and 17 schools among the worst 100, according to a new listing released last week.
The listing, compiled by NeighborhoodScout, a Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based Web site that acts as a tool to help families choose neighborhoods in which to live, actually lists the 100 worst schools and the 100 best schools. It utilizes a patent-pending methodology invented by the company’s founder, Andrew Schiller, a Ph.D geographer, and combines scores on the national No Child Left Behind tests and the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, which are administered in each state.
Schiller said that it was necessary to come up with a different methodology because the NCLB tests vary between states, and the number of students who take the more standardized NAEP test is too small to use on its own.
“The NCLB test would appear to be really excellent for coming up with a database of comparable info, but the actual test is not truly standardized,” Schiller told the Defender. “States were left to develop their own tests, and those tests aren’t equal,” he said. Schiller explained that a student getting a 75 on a Mississippi test may not be comparable to a student getting a 75 on an Illinois test because the Mississippi test may actually be less difficult.
Schiller said feedback on his lists has been interesting.
“The one thread that is consistent is that those schools that rate highly embrace it, and those that rate poorly are grumpy,” he told the Defender.
The four Chicago Public Schools in the worst 25 are:
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