What rankings for Chicago Public Schools say about the debate of public versus private schools

September 23, 10:00 AMChicago Neighborhood ExaminerDana Kavan

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University of Chicago Laboratory Schools/ courtesy of Wikipedia

A recent op-ed in the New York Times skewers Barack Obama for sending his daughters to the prestigious University of Chicago Laboratory Schools rather than one of the public schools near his Kenwood home. The author, Sandra Tsing Loh, acknowledges that the CPS schools in Obama's community are struggling, with most of them recording test scores in the bottom 20 to 40 percent compared to the national average. In fact, Shoesmith Elementary, the school closest to Obama's house (and where he voted in the 2008 Illinois primary), has a ranking of 3 on GreatSchools.net, meaning the most recent available standardize test scores for the school fall in the bottom 30 percent nationwide. Shoesmith's fifth graders, the class that Obama's oldest daughter Malia would be in, have test grades in the lowest 10 percent. 

The op-ed goes on to say that, "those low numbers suggest that few children of educated, middle-class children are attending the local schools...[if the Obamas] had chosen public over private school, they could have lifted up not just their one local public school, but a family of schools."

While Tsing Loh brings up a few good points, the problems with the Chicago Public School system are far too complicated to blame on the actions of individual families, particularly depending on where those families live within the city. GreatSchools.net lists only 11 public schools out of 428 in the top 10 percent of test scores. These schools are located across the city: two on the Near West Side, four on the North Side, three on the South Side, two in the Loop/Near North Side, one on the Southwest Side and one on the Far Northwest Side. These stats almost make it sound that no matter where a family lives, a quality school is nearby. But, once you start looking at more of the rankings, you'll find that scores vary depending on the neighborhood. For the nine schools with a ranking of 9, meaning with test scores in the top 20 percent, eight are located on the North Side, one on the West Side. In the bottom 10 percent? Sadly, with 99 schools saddled with a score of 1 and no easy mapping function on the site, it's hard to say. 

Of course, this isn't to say the teachers at schools like Shoesmith aren't doing the best with what they have to educate their students, or that test scores are the end-all, be-all of education. The point is, when parents are faced with these dismal stats and few other measures to determine whether or not a school succeeds in educating its students, and if they're fortunate enough---like the Obamas---to have the means to send their children to a better performing private school, it's hard to argue with their justification in doing so.