Rahm Emanuel Answers: As Mayor of Chicago, How Will You Fix Education?

Chicago - We asked each mayoral candidate how they would fix education in the City of Chicago if elected. Each candidate was given the same 13 questions. We've posted each candidate's response, in his or her words, in their entirety, un-edited.

Candidate: Rahm Emanuel
Website: www.chicagoforrahm.com
Campaign address: 33 S. State St. | Chicago, IL | 60603
Campaign phone: 312.894.3450

1. What criteria will you use in selecting the next CEO of the Chicago Public Schools?

I would like to see a leadership team of CPS that includes people who have taught and led in a public school system – someone who both understands how to run a large organization and what actually happens in the classroom. The choice between a manager and an educator is a false choice: we need both.

2. What will you do to keep the students who are in Chicago Public Schools safe?

To tackle the issue of youth violence, we need to ensure that students spend more time in the classroom than on the street corner. I have put forward a plan that calls for comprehensive after-school programs, ensuring safe passage to and from schools, integrating child intervention programs across departments, and tackling Chicago’s school dropout crisis. Access to after-school programming is a win-win for our children: it is shown to both increase academic progress and reduce violence. I will task the incoming Chicago Public Schools CEO with finalizing a system-wide afterschool program to be implemented at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. A successful program must meet several basic requirements including offering opportunities in academics, the arts, and athletics, having the flexibility to meet local needs, and providing a snack after school. Funding for these programs would come from current sources, like the Supplemental Education Services, and through school partnerships with local businesses and non-profit organizations that want to target specific schools. Additional revenue will be drawn from advertisements on garbage trucks and other public venues.

3. What significant activities/steps/policies/transformation will you implement in the Chicago Public Schools to improve teacher quality and preparation for both pre-service and experienced teachers to meet the needs of every student in their classroom? Where do you stand on recently drafted legislation that challenges districts to keep their best teachers in the classroom by using data like actual student growth and other measures, rather than solely basing those decisions on seniority?

Our children deserve nothing less than an effective teacher. We need to retain the best and attract the brightest. To help teachers improve, I’ve called for doubling the number of slots in our urban teacher residency programs to create an expanding corps of 160 top-flight teachers each year – all committed to spending five years in Chicago’s public schools. I have also put forward a plan to encourage parent participation so that the work done by teachers during the school day can be reinforced by parents in the evening. We also need an evaluation system that captures each teacher’s full ability, not simply their ability to prepare students for an annual exam. I will support the creation of a new teacher evaluation system based on a comprehensive assessment of instructional quality and student performance. One of the first tasks for the new Schools’ CEO will be to assemble of group of leading thinkers and practitioners in this area to put forward a concrete plan that reforms our evaluation system. In Chicago's schools, layoffs are typically done by seniority. I want to change that policy to ensure that those who are laid off are the least effective teachers, not the most junior. The most effective teachers will qualify for bonuses if they transfer to a low-performing school.

4. How will you evaluate and study the outcomes of your proposed activities/policies/steps/transformation on student achievement and the learning environment? What role will student test scores play?

Classroom success in Chicago should be judged on improvement on basic metrics, like student attendance, school completion, and the extent to which our students enter and succeed in post secondary education. I will judge our success not just based on whether Chicago is improving relative to itself, but how Chicago stacks up against cities across the country. This is not about standardized test scores, but about the ability of our children to leave the public schools with the tools they need to excel in higher education and the workforce. Our local economy and global competitiveness require this investment in our children so that they can thrive in higher education and the workforce.

5. How will you create an effective partnership between students, parents, teachers, administrators, CPS staff, community organizations, the Chicago Teachers Union and the Board of Education to create an excellent learning environment in our schools for all students? Specifically, what do you think of the proposal to severely restrict the ability of teachers unions to strike? And how would you rewrite rules for teacher tenure?

It is the responsibility of the mayor to bring together all groups that share the fundamental objective of providing a world-class education for our students. Success will rely on open and frank communication about the problems facing CPS. Just as I have during the course of this campaign, I would meet regularly with all stakeholders – principals, teachers, students, parents and community groups. Like police officers and firefighters, teachers provide an essential service and every minute they are on strike threatens our ability to educate our children. I fully support the right of teachers to strike, but it must be a last resort after all good-faith efforts fail.

6. Would your administration support the expansion of quality charter schools in the district and how would you address the concerns some have about transparency and parental oversight? What role do vouchers have in improving the education opportunities for Chicago students?

I am open to any strategy that promotes the best educational outcomes for our children while giving teachers the resources they need to succeed in the classroom. I know that charter schools are not a panacea – they act as laboratories to test new learning tools and must be closely monitored to ensure they meet system-wide academic standards and serve children and families in surrounding communities. I am committed to replicating best practices wherever they come from, neighborhood, turnaround or charter school. With the creation of some of the best charter schools in the country right here in Chicago, our job now is to learn from this innovation and expand the programs that work. We have successful school models and operators – whether neighborhood school, magnet, turnaround or charter – and we now need to replicate and scale what works so more Chicago students can take advantage of these high quality educational opportunities. But these schools should be held to the same standards as other schools, and operate in a fully transparent way with proper oversight. In the case of vouchers, I believe in school choice, but I believe that given limited taxpayer dollars we should be encouraging school choice through the public schools system.

7. How would your administration target chronically low-performing schools beyond increased funding supports? And how would you address the rightful concerns regarding increasing the community's engagement in how to address their neighborhood's lowest performing schools?

I will bring a laser-like focus on turning around Chicago’s dropout factories, which account for 50% of Chicago school dropouts. This will include creating new school options for families by replicating successful neighborhood high schools and magnet schools, developing new schools, leveraging successful turnaround efforts and building a deeper network of alternative schools for students who do not succeed in the mainstream. Tackling Chicago’s toughest schools will require more than creating new school options. It will also depend on increasing access to social supports for children with the greatest barriers to academic learning – social workers, college counselors, and staff charged with intervening and supporting students before they drop out. And it will depend on the city stepping up. I will incent community based organizations, citywide non-profits, universities, commercial companies and other civic institutions to bring their people and programs to bear to support particular struggling schools by providing mentors, tutors, job training, access to college courses, and in classroom support to schools that need it most.

8. As mayor, would you support extending the school day and school year? How will you make it a priority for change in the 2012 Chicago Teachers Union contract and in communications with state policymakers? And how would you pay for it?

Today, a student in Houston receives, on average, four more years of education than a student in Chicago. We need to give our children a fighting chance by offering an education competitive with other cities. I will work with the teachers' union to lengthen the learning day and school year because it's the right investment in our children and our city's global standing. Increased learning time will include academic, arts and athletics programs beyond the traditional school day – building on the success of the community school model in place in some Chicago schools – and forging new, creative partnerships with community and civic organizations that extend the school day, week and year. We will only be able to pay for these changes if we have willing partners in the teachers’ union. I will continue an open dialogue with teachers so that we can find a compromise that expands the school day and year without driving the school system further into the red.

9. What innovative ideas are you planning to lead to improve learning experiences for our city's youngest citizens?

The strength of our schools will determine what kind of city we are in ten, twenty, fifty years. As mayor, I will make it a priority to secure funding from the pubic and private sectors, starting with Chicago’s very own innovation fund. Using $30 million raised from the private sector and the philanthropic community, the Chicago Education Innovation Fund would entice schools across the city to compete to achieve the most – measured by their ability to involve parents, train and support teachers, and get student results in new and innovative ways. I’ve made a personal commitment to raise those funds from Chicago’s corporate and philanthropic community – and business leaders are already committing funds.

10. If you had a child with special needs, what would your expectations be at the school he or she attends?

Parents of special needs children should expect an experienced, caring, and professional school administration committed to educating students with special needs. We should refuse the status quo where parents of special needs children are met with bureaucratic hurdles and long waiting periods to secure appropriate services for their kids. For the 45,000 students served by Chicago’s special education system, I am committed to providing sufficient funding so that trained teachers can create a curriculum that suits their students’ needs and track their progress. I also will prioritize special needs after-school programming in the arts, athletics and academics.

11. What role will programs for gifted, high-performing students play in schools under your administration? How will the programs be enhanced or cutback?

I believe strongly in gifted programs as a way to challenge high-performing students in public schools. I strongly support adequate funding for these programs and will encourage the development of gifted programs in our city’s toughest schools. This issue is not new to me. During my time representing the 5th congressional district on Chicago’s north and west side, I repeatedly secured funding for Chicago's public schools, including funding a new gifted program at a local elementary school.

12. With intensifying external pressures to "achieve", schools can be tempted to focus exclusively on subjects that are explicitly tested on state and national tests, resulting in significant scaling back on arts programming. In addition, the current fiscal climate makes funding arts teachers -- and the materials associated with the arts -- an "extra". Should schools be forced to scale back on this programming, due to their testing focus or budget challenges?

A well-rounded education requires class time in a range of subjects that touch on academics, arts and even athletics. If anything, our public schools must increase the opportunities to participate in non-academic programming so that students are challenged on a range of social and academic issues. As a teenager, I studied ballet and I credit my exposure to the arts at a young age with the passion I now have for public service. I have proposed a comprehensive education plan that calls for more time in the classroom and programs beyond the traditional school day, including the arts.

13. Should the mayor send his or her children to public school? Why?

We will make our decision as a family based on what is best for each child individually, not based on politics. If elected, my job is to ensure that a quality education is available to every child in Chicago.
 

The survey questions were contributed by the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago in partnership with the following organizations:

• Illinois Network of Charter Schools
• Teach for America
• Advance Illinois
• The Urban Education Institute, University of Chicago
• Nettlehorst School
• Illinois PTA
• Golden Apple Foundation
• Joyce Foundation
• Stand for Children Chicago
• Park Community Church
• Microsoft
• Renaissance School Fund
• United Neighborhood Organization
• First Five Years Fund