There's No place Like Home Part 1

I have recently been visiting several different schools. I find myself on this quest because there is a possibility that I will be getting a lucrative job opportunity---one that would crazy to pass up----one that I would've jumped at had I never experienced homeschooling.

I can only say that ALL of the places DISAPPOINT!

I decided to visit a school that is a selective enrollment option that you have to go through approximately 1,204 hoops to get into. I emailed the principal and asked if I could tour the school. I corresponded with him several times and sent William's standardized test scores that he took last year at his former private school. They were well above the mandatory score and so I  got a tour set up. Walking through the school was not in the least bit inspiring. The students didn't seem engaged at all when we entered the classes. William did not like it at all. Still I muddled through smiling and flashing my beguiling smile. Granted Middle Schoolers are hard to read in general---and there is the major fact that we are entering classrooms on this tour WITH the principal of the school. Yet, something just felt......como se dice --------BLAH. I haven't emailed back yet.


I called the CPS's Options for Knowledge department to inquire about just that: "my options for knowledge".  I was given a list of schools that had spaces left and that might be a rigorous learning environment for my son.


I was given a list of schools and their test scores. I visited websites and i ANALYZED the test scores. I am the type of woman who digs into the test scores of schools and was not surprised at what I saw at most of the schools.


I look at demographics, I look at gender performance, I look at performance by race, and I look at attendance rate. Many of the schools the African American male students had the lowest of the %'s that met and exceded the mastery of the standard. This of course was a big concern for me.


I also viewed one school that seemed almost picture perfect. It was pretty much equally divided by African American, white, and Latin Americans.The scores of the minority students seemed to be within one or two percentage points in general------ But a picture hanging in the office caught my attention. The graduating class was only minority students. Why is that I wondered. What happened to the white students?

to be continued.