Read on Twitter
1/ Ok, it's time to talk about SQRP. The School Quality Rating Formula used in Chicago Public Schools that has direct ties to massive harm and disinvestment in the schools which serve the neediest kids. Here is why we must #AbolishSQRP @CTULocal1 @ChiPubSchools
2/ SQRP is a policy that uses standardized test scores (both "attainment" and "growth"-both of which are based on faulty, inappropriate racist, ableist standardized tests), student attendance rates, & school surveys to label schools. Info: https://cps.edu/Performance/Pages/PerformancePolicy.aspx #AbolishSQRP
3/ #CPS then gives schools a "rating" of 1+, 1, 2+, 2, or 3 (the lowest rating) & then maps them in color-coded #s. Schools w/lower ratings are literally given a scarlet number of shame. This policy was of course designed to push "school choice" aka privatization. #AbolishSQRP
4/ When you look at the ratings, almost w/o fail, they are directly tied to a school's student population. There are almost no Level 2 or 3 schools that are not also in high-poverty Black neighborhoods. The lower-rated schools also often have higher % of sped or ELL.
#AbolishSQRP
#AbolishSQRP
5/ SQRP has had devastating impact on schools. I've worked at a school slapped with a Level 2 designation. NO resources were offered. Instead the Network (CPS middle management) came in and shamed, bullied, and harassed us. #AbolishSQRP
6/ That school had gone through the school closings debacle in 2013, the chaos of which sent us into a downward spiral. Thanks to CPS' disgusting "student-based budgeting" system, we lost population and our school went through SEVEN rounds of budget cuts in 3 years.
#AbolishSQRP
#AbolishSQRP
7/ But the far south side Network 13 Chief, instead of offering supports, came in to shame us on test scores. We were harassed & threatened. People w/clipboards coming through classrooms to scold, never help. Teachers were targeted. A toxic, fearful school culture. #AbolishSQRP
8/ My school had a 24% sped rate while the school down the street had around 10%. In fact, parents of Ss w/IEPs would tell us they were sent to us (dumped) from other schools. And this is what we mean by Hunger Games. Children become "liabilities" to be pushed out. #AbolishSQRP
9/ The pressures of SQRP are so strong that truly despicable practices, like dumping kids w/disabilities, become common place in CPS. The perverse incentives are real. And schools turn into little test prep factories with harsher & harsher discipline as kids rebel. #AbolishSQRP
10/ Cheating also becomes the norm. There are staff/parent/student surveys used in the scores that are by every definition unreliable. It's basic Campbell's Law: http://mskatiesramblings.blogspot.com/2016/02/shame-on-chicago-school-consortium-of.html Shame on @UChiConsortium for allowing their surveys to be misused. #AbolishSQRP
11/ Principals are under enormous pressure due to SQRP. The result is truly toxic school environments. And guess what? You can't staff schools where the entire staff is miserable! We have massive teacher shortages in the lowest-ranking schools. SQRP guarantees it. #AbolishSQRP
12/ CPS recently has acknowledged that this policy is not working. But they are currently talking about "tweaking it". No, the only way forward is to abolish it completely. ISBE already provides a "school report card" which fulfills federal/state mandates. #AbolishSQRP
13/ Oh, and a super important piece. SQRP is still largely based on test scores. CPS likes to pretend that talking "growth" and not "attainment" is sufficient to hide the reality that standardized tests are racist, ableist, inappropriate measures. #AbolishSQRP
14/ I recommend The Testing Charade by Daniel Koretz to learn more about why high-stakes standardized tests are so devastatingly bad. https://www.amazon.com/Testing-Charade-Pretending-Schools-Better/dp/022640871X #AbolishSQRP
15/ Under SQRP, schools dumped their inquiry-based projects, art, reading for pleasure, & were turned into test-prep factories. Schools slapped w/low ratings then go into a death spiral of MORE test prep increasing behavioral incidents due to high-pressure boredom. #AbolishSQRP
16/ It is time for CPS to #AbolishSQRP. There needs to be a culture of support in this district. If a school is struggling, help it. We cannot accept the cycles of disinvestment and sabotage any longer. We cannot allow Hunger Games competition to continue. SQRP=inequity.
17/ And stop punishing the schools serving the highest-need students. The lowest-rated schools are filled w/kids w/higher special ed needs, kids from deeper poverty & experiencing housing insecurity, kids from recent immigrant families. Don't rate them, SUPPORT them. #AbolishSQRP
18/ But SQRP is not only harming the lowest ranked schools. ALL schools in the system are affected. Every single principal has SQRP on their minds at all times. How to artificially up attendance scores? How to manipulate who attends the school? How to sway survey responses?
(Thank you to @alison_eichhorn for this reminder.)
