Seventy-nine percent of the 8th graders in the Chicago Public Schools are not grade-level proficient in reading, according to the US Department of Education, and 80% are not grade-level proficient in math.

Chicago public school teachers went on strike on Monday and one of the major issues behind the strike is a new system Chicago plans to use for evaluating public school teachers in which student improvement on standardized tests will count for 40% of a teacher’s evaluation. Until now, the evaluations of Chicago public school teachers have been based on what a Chicago Sun Times editorial called a “meaningless checklist.”

In 2011, the US Department of Education administered National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests in reading and math to students around the country, including in the Chicago Public Schools. The tests were scored on a scale of 0 to 500, with 500 being the best possible score. Based on their scores, the US Department of Education rated students’ skills in reading and math as either “below basic,” “basic,” “proficient” or “advanced.”

Nationally, public school 8th graders scored an average of 264 on the NAEP reading test. Statewide in Illinois, the 8th graders did a little better, scoring an average of 266. But in the Chicago Public Schools, 8th graders scored an average of only 253 in reading. That was lower even than the nationwide average of 255 among 8th graders in “large city” public schools.

With these NAEP test results, only 19% of Chicago public school 8th graders rated proficient in reading while another 2% rated advanced -- for a total of 21% who rated proficient or better.

79% of Chicago public school 8th graders were not grade-level proficient in reading. According to the US Department of Education, this included 43% who rated “basic” and 36% who rated “below basic.”

In the 8th grade math test, Chicago public school 8th graders scored an average of 270 out of 500, compared to an average of 274 for 8th graders in “large city” public schools, and 283 for 8th graders nationally as well as statewide in Illinois.

With these NAEP test results, only 17% of Chicago public school 8th graders rated proficient in math while another 3% rated advanced -- for a total of 20% who rated proficient or better.

Thus, 80% of Chicago public school 8th graders were not grade-level proficient in math. According to the US Department of Education, this included 40% who rated “basic” in math and 40% who rated “below basic.”

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Editor's Note: And the Chicago teachers union has the audacity to go on strike? In any other scenario employees who performed this poorly would be automatically terminated...and they want to be rewarded. The system is broken and has been hijacked by radical ideologues with a very corrosive agenda. Read this to understand just how radical Mike Klonsky, the Chicago teachers union president really is...


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