Post by jenrik2714 on Jul 24, 2006 7:09:29 GMT -6
The University of Chicago started a charter school where it mixed low-income children with middle class children. The school is called Donahue. One of the girls left this school and now attend McCarty School: (Taken from the sun-times)
Amare is already gone.
On May 15, Amare started at McCarty School in Aurora/Naperville District 204, one of the region's top districts.
By May 24, it's as if Amare has always been there.
She wears a relaxed smile and a pink terrycloth skirt and sweat shirt. It's silent reading time in the small, packed classroom, and Amare settles in comfortably with a folk tale.
The schools are similar in many ways. McCarty uses guided reading, U. of C. Everyday Math, and there is a range of skills among the 30 kids in Amare's room, though more are clustered near grade level than at Donoghue.
But the schools are different in ways that matter to her mother.
About 79 percent of third-graders meet state reading standards, just 10 percent of the kids qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the school is racially diverse -- 53 percent of the kids are white and 18 percent are black.
And when you look out the window of the low-slung brick school, you see manicured lawns and backyards filled with slides and swings.
"Everyone is well-fed, in a decent house; parents really care," says her mother, Joslyn Jones. "You don't have the issue of not being able to go outside and play, of 'this kid is hurt and acting older than they really are.' I know the Chicago parents care, but it's a different culture and a different way of coming up out here."
Amare Jones reads in her new classroom at McCarty School in Aurora in late May. Her mother gives many reasons for the move.
The McCarty kids act out, Amare's new teacher readily admits, but Amare says it doesn't compare with Donoghue.
Jones moved when her lease expired May 15 for many reasons.
She thinks suburban kids, no matter their economic background, grow up more slowly. She likes the kid-friendly, easy pace of life in Aurora, and it's easier with Amare's grandparents nearby. Now, Amare is picked up by her grandpa and doesn't have to stay at Donoghue until 6 p.m. "like a grownup with a job."
"It's more homogenous; people are cut from the same cloth," says Jones, a college grad. "The expectations are pretty much the same. Parents have high expectations at Donoghue, but the behavior and attitudes have already been formed. And from what I've seen, no thank you."
The Donoghue staff gave their all, and it was improving. But she couldn't wait.
"I think they're on their way to doing great things," Jones says in early June while sitting at her desk at the Oak Park Library, where she is the circulation manager. "But it's hard to do that on the back of your child. You only get one chance."
This isn't all about class, Jones cautions, noting that plenty of Donoghue poor kids are well-behaved. But fundamentally, she felt on a different wavelength from most Donoghue parents.
"I know I can leave," she says. "For some people, Donoghue is like their District 204."
Amare is already gone.
On May 15, Amare started at McCarty School in Aurora/Naperville District 204, one of the region's top districts.
By May 24, it's as if Amare has always been there.
She wears a relaxed smile and a pink terrycloth skirt and sweat shirt. It's silent reading time in the small, packed classroom, and Amare settles in comfortably with a folk tale.
The schools are similar in many ways. McCarty uses guided reading, U. of C. Everyday Math, and there is a range of skills among the 30 kids in Amare's room, though more are clustered near grade level than at Donoghue.
But the schools are different in ways that matter to her mother.
About 79 percent of third-graders meet state reading standards, just 10 percent of the kids qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the school is racially diverse -- 53 percent of the kids are white and 18 percent are black.
And when you look out the window of the low-slung brick school, you see manicured lawns and backyards filled with slides and swings.
"Everyone is well-fed, in a decent house; parents really care," says her mother, Joslyn Jones. "You don't have the issue of not being able to go outside and play, of 'this kid is hurt and acting older than they really are.' I know the Chicago parents care, but it's a different culture and a different way of coming up out here."
Amare Jones reads in her new classroom at McCarty School in Aurora in late May. Her mother gives many reasons for the move.
The McCarty kids act out, Amare's new teacher readily admits, but Amare says it doesn't compare with Donoghue.
Jones moved when her lease expired May 15 for many reasons.
She thinks suburban kids, no matter their economic background, grow up more slowly. She likes the kid-friendly, easy pace of life in Aurora, and it's easier with Amare's grandparents nearby. Now, Amare is picked up by her grandpa and doesn't have to stay at Donoghue until 6 p.m. "like a grownup with a job."
"It's more homogenous; people are cut from the same cloth," says Jones, a college grad. "The expectations are pretty much the same. Parents have high expectations at Donoghue, but the behavior and attitudes have already been formed. And from what I've seen, no thank you."
The Donoghue staff gave their all, and it was improving. But she couldn't wait.
"I think they're on their way to doing great things," Jones says in early June while sitting at her desk at the Oak Park Library, where she is the circulation manager. "But it's hard to do that on the back of your child. You only get one chance."
This isn't all about class, Jones cautions, noting that plenty of Donoghue poor kids are well-behaved. But fundamentally, she felt on a different wavelength from most Donoghue parents.
"I know I can leave," she says. "For some people, Donoghue is like their District 204."
