Catalyst Chicago Notebook

In the News: Voters side with CTU on school reform

Cassandra West — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:32:52 -0500

Chicago voters overwhelmingly back Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push to extend the school day, but far more of them side with the teachers union than the mayor on overall efforts to improve education, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

Sizable majorities of Chicago residents as a whole (86 percent) and public school parents (92 percent) agreed with if teachers are going to teach longer hours, they should be paid more for it.

Chicago Teachers Union officials are calling Marc Wigler “a spy,’’ a “stool pigeon” and a “rat’’ following his April 24 ouster for life from the union for allegedly feeding a top Chicago Public Schools labor official information about an internal union meeting. Wigler was accused of sending CPS labor relations chief Rachel Resnick a 50-bullet-point email, detailing what CTU officials told union delegates during a special meeting the evening before, CTU officials say. Wigler, who earned $85,000 last year as a resource teacher working in multiple schools, declined to comment Tuesday. (Sun-Times)

Some parochial schools in Chicago will close because of the NATO summit May 20-21. But, Chicago Public School officials plan to hold classes at schools near McCormick Place. (ABC 7 News)

The State Board of Education has given preliminary approval to a nearly $1 million contract with the consulting firm that former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas heads. According to documents posted on the board's website, the contract would call for Vallas Group to work on "coordination of interventions in low-performing school districts."

Reading In Motion released the results from a study revealing that a combination of music-based curriculum, coaching of teachers and small-group instruction can raise the number of kindergarten students who are reading at grade level to 92 percent, compared to 63 percent without these components. The study involved six Chicago Public Schools and 550 students. In the first year, teachers got 63 percent of their students to grade level in reading, using their standard methods. The same teachers were able to get 92 percent of their students to grade level the following year with the use of Reading In Motion’s program which incorporates all three components – music, teacher support and small group instruction. (Press release)

IN THE NATION
Under a new pilot program, kindergartners could help put Georgia at the forefront of a growing movement to make student surveys part of how teachers are rated. Students in every grade will participate in the program, and, depending on its results, the state may incorporate the feedback into teacher evaluations as early as next year, when it will join other measures such as student test scores. (Washington Post)

As a response to the Department of Education’s $10 million funding cut to the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, advocates held a briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend the program’s strong track record and share data showcasing the program’s positive impact on underserved students. Founded in 1986, McNair prepares low-income, first-generation and minority undergraduates for careers in academia. (Press release)

The National Center for Education Statistics is rechecking data on about 5,000 high schools after faulty information from the federal agency led to erroneous rankings for the high schools on U.S. News & World Report's "Best High Schools" list. (Education Week)

CTU: Poll shows members unhappy with contract proposal

Sarah Karp — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:25:46 -0500

In the ongoing battle between the Chicago Teachers Union and CPS over a new contract, CTU announced Friday that the first large-scale poll of its members found that more than 90 percent think the current proposal will "lower the quality of education in the city."

But CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll fired back, accusing the CTU of putting out misleading information about the details of the proposal in an attempt to fire up the base. “If I were a CTU member, I would be disappointed,” she said.

The CTU also announced that it is planning a massive rally at 4:30 p.m. on May 23 at the Auditorium Theater. Once gathered, the group plans to march to district headquarters. The Board of Education holds its monthly meeting on May 23.

CTU delegates distributed the poll to members on Thursday. CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said the union would not reveal how many of the 25,000 members took the poll, or release specific results for each of the four questions asked. He said the purpose of the poll was to “get a temperature” of how members feel and to see how the logistics of such a poll would work.

The poll did not ask the members whether they would vote to authorize a strike, though one of the questions was whether the union should reject the board proposal. After negotiations broke down, the CTU asked to call a fact-finding panel, which is now in the process of meeting. The fact-finding panel is one of the final steps of a lengthy, legally required pre-strike process set out in Illinois law. The fact-finding panel's report is scheduled to be completed on July 16.

Sharkey admits that the poll was designed to elicit specific “yes, no” answers to questions. He said the strongest reaction came to the question of whether members think the board’s proposal would harm students and lower the quality of education in schools.

Another question asked whether members think that CEO Jean-Claude Brizard should resign. Carroll called that question “unfortunate.”

Sharkey said the union is not releasing the poll results for the Brizard question. With the recent resignation announcement of the chief education officer, he said there’s already too much instability in the district.

Along with taking the poll, the union used the opportunity to present its summary of the board’s proposal. Carroll said many of the characterizations were inaccurate. On Thursday, CPS posted to its website its own fact sheet.

One example is that the union said CPS is offering a “one-time 2 percent raise with lanes and steps frozen; nothing in years 2, 3, 4 and 5 unless we agree to test-based merit pay and the elimination of lanes and steps.”

CPS negotiators have not included any proposal about a test-based merit pay system, Carroll said. Instead, the proposal is to have CPS and CTU come together next year to create a mutually agreed-upon compensation plan, she said.

Brizard has talked about a “differentiated compensation system” that would look at a number of factors, including student growth measures, she said.

Union delegates say they are having no problem convincing members that the board’s proposal is bad for them. Sue Garza, a union delegate at Addams Elementary School, said all 58 members at her school came to a meeting Thursday morning and they unanimously said CTU should reject the board’s proposal.

“We just want our job to be validated,” she said. “We feel disrespected.”

In the News: CPS explains student 'verification'

Cassandra West — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:31:45 -0500

Last week Chicago Public Schools issued to all principals an elaborate memo outlining how all teachers were being required to "verify" the students they had taught in the previous year — even down to estimating how much of the "learning" these students did should be attributed to the individual teacher, Substance News reports.

To understand more on how this verification process might work, Catalyst contacted CPS. Here are our questions and their answers:
How will the weight given to students' scores in the "shared," "some" and "most" categories compare with students who were taught entirely by that teacher?
Student scores will be weighted in a teacher's growth calculation based on the length of time the student was in a class and the amount of instructional responsibility a teacher has. For example, if a student receives pull-out support half-time in reading, 50 percent of that student's growth will be attributed to the classroom teacher and 50 percent to the pull-out teacher.
How will CPS deal with students who aren't claimed by any teacher, and with other discrepancies and conflicts in what teachers self-report?
Once teachers complete the roster verification on June 4, each school will have a review and approval period where the principal and/or his/her designee will review the verification that's been completed to ensure every student is accounted for. The system we are using flags for review any student who isn't fully accounted for.
How will you prevent teachers from claiming they had no responsibility, or less responsibility, for low-performing students?
See the answer to the question above. Also, teachers will be responsible for student growth, not student absolute performance, so there isn't an incentive to exclude low-performing students.

Not surprisingly, Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean Claude Brizard have signed on to be part of the national Time to Succeed Coalition. Announced Thursday, the coalition headed by the president of the Ford Foundation and the chairman of the Center for Time and Learning aims to make more time in school the norm among student in the United States, especially those who are growing up in poverty. The coalition agenda does not specify whether the time in school should be extended by adding hours to the school day or days to the school year. It also doesn’t specify the ideal amount of time that students should be in school. Leaders of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have signed onto the coalition. However, on a conference call AFT President Randi Weingarten made it clear that she was most interested in seeing the time in the current school day used effectively. Further, she said that teachers should be “fairly compensated” when schools decide to extend their days. Others on the conference call, including Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker agreed. Chris Gabrieli, chairman of the National Center on Time & Learning, said that extending the school day works best when teachers collaborate with the schools. The Ford Foundation also announced that it is committing $50 million to support school districts moving toward more time. (Catalyst)

Illinois’ average eighth grade science scores were stagnant and stuck below the national average, results of the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress released Thursday showed. (Sun-Times)

This being National Teacher Appreciation Week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel recalled his favorite teacher, Larry Grote, a retired New Trier West High School history teacher. To see Emanuel discuss his favorite teacher as part of the Teaching Channel’s “My Teacher, My Hero,” go to the video posted here.

The Chicago Teachers Union polled its 25,000 members Thursday on questions involving the school board as part of what one official called a "dry run" for a potential strike vote. The poll asked if members believe the district's contract proposal should be rejected and whether Chicago Public Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard should resign. Poll results would be out Friday, the union said. (Tribune)

Yet another partner is planning to join with CPS to make the learning experience "more relevant." Citizen Schools, "a hybrid kind of program that works with schools to provide 6-8 extra AmeriCorps fellows in schools during the day —recent college graduates—and then a three-hour after school program four days a week," is coming to town, the District 99 blog reports.

IN THE NATION
Fewer than one-third of American 8th graders are proficient in science, but most students are improving, and achievement gaps are closing between students who are black or Hispanic and their white peers, a special administration of the test known as “the nation’s report card” shows. (Education Week)

American eighth graders have made modest gains in national science testing, with Hispanic and black students narrowing the gap between them and their white and Asian peers, the federal government reported Thursday. (NYT)

District of Columbia officials are moving closer to allowing charters to grant admissions preference to families in surrounding neighborhoods. (Washington Post)

Comings & Goings: Foundation News, Chapman

Debra Williams — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:46:19 -0500

Polk Bros. Foundation CEO Sandra P. Guthman and Executive Director Nikki Will Stein will retire at the end of December. The foundation then will merge the two positions into one leadership role—Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation. For two decades, Guthman and Stein have led the foundation in providing grants to nearly 800 local nonprofit organizations. Guthman will continue to serve as board chair through November 2018.

Jay Travis is now a program officer at the Woods Fund of Chicago. For more than a decade, Travis was the executive director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), one of the city’s oldest grassroots organizations.

Butch Trusty has been named senior program officer for the Joyce Foundation’s Education Program, and Jason Quiara is the foundation’s new Program Officer for Education. Both will join the staff in June. Trusty currently is a manager with The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit strategy consulting firm in New York City. He has worked with a wide range of nonprofit and philanthropic organizations focused on education reform and policy change, including two large urban school districts; the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation; the Education Equality Project; and the NAACP LDF. Quaira is from Jobs For the Future, a Boston-based national nonprofit organization that helps states strengthen their education and workforce development policies. As Senior Project Manager for state policy development and advocacy, Quiara has led a multi-state initiative aimed at improving secondary and postsecondary education outcomes for low-income and minority students.

Warren Chapman, vice chancellor for external affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago, is moving over to Columbia College, where he will serve as senior vice president, overseeing the transition to a new president in two years and responsible for marketing, communications, media, planning, compliance and research. Chapman is a member of the Catalyst Editorial Advisory Board and the board of Community Renewal Society, the publisher of Catalyst.

Attallah Wilson, a senior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, and Stevie Bailey, a senior at Chicago International Charter School (CICS) Longwood, were winners of the 7^th annual citywide business plan contest sponsored by the Future Founders Foundation. Attallah won in the products and services division for Stick and Zips, a product that helps keep opened food fresh. Stevie won in the technology division for 10 Trey Records, an online music production company for aspiring artists and producers.

Gabrielle Lyon and Paul Sereno, co-founders of Project Exploration, have been named 2012 National Afterschool for All Champions by the Afterschool Alliance for their dedication to afterschool programming.

Monique Blakes, a first grade teacher at Oscar DePriest Elementary School; Elizabeth Luna, a kindergarten teacher at Murray Language Academy; and Susan Stephan, a first and second grade teacher at Norwood Park Elementary have been named Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching Award recipients for the 2011-2012 school year. The three CPS educators are among 10 recipients of the Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching and were selected from a pool of 560 nominees from throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.

Fund for Teachers awarded 34 Chicago teachers $155,000 in grants to travel the world this summer. When the school year concludes, they will embark on learning adventures that they designed in 17 different countries. Since 2005, 317 CPS teachers have leveraged $1.2M in Fund for Teachers grants to inspire authentic learning in 218 schools across the city.

Charter funding bill not yet a done deal

Jim Broadway — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:22:25 -0500

SPRINGFIELD -- The Chicago Teachers Union and other charter critics spoke out strongly in opposition to a proposal that would increase the funding that school districts must provide for charter schools, squaring off against supporters who want equal funding with traditional public schools.

The Illinois House Executive Committee voted 10-1 to approve the proposed bill, which is still far from a done deal. It still must pass the full House, make its way through the Senate committee process and win majority support in the Senate before it can be delivered to Gov. Pat Quinn for his consideration.

House Speaker Michael Madigan filed HB 4277 in January as a “shell bill,” void of content. But Madigan handed sponsorship to Rep. Daniel Burke (D-Chicago) last week and waived procedural deadlines that have killed most other bills that originated in the House and have not yet reached the Senate.

The vote came despite a furious campaign by the union and other organizations that fear the bill will divert millions of dollars away from neighborhood public schools. But already in Chicago, the district is moving toward equal funding for charter schools through its district-charter compact, which calls for equalized funding, more charter accountability and other measures. Cities that participate in the compact, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are eligible for a pot of $20 million in implementation funding that the Gates Foundation will dole out over the next several years.

Opponents of the bill also pointed out that, while charter schools would receive an equal share of a district’s tax dollars, the neighborhood schools would not share in the corporate and philanthropic contributions that charter school organizations often reap.

HB 4277, as amended, would require districts to provide at least 95%--up from 75%--of the district’s per capita student tuition to charter schools, multiplied by the number of students enrolled in the charter. Student tuition is the dollar amount a district would charge a non-resident student and is based on the district’s operating costs per student. CPS operating costs are $13,078 per pupil, according to the district’s 2011 state report card.

Burke argued that the bill is “an issue of fairness,” adding that his main concern is the disparity in the salaries of teachers, which are often lower in charters than in traditional schools in which teachers are CTU members. “They start out fairly equal, but by five years [on the job] you see a great difference in their salaries,” he said.

Advocates for charter schools sought to reinforce Burke’s fairness argument. Opponents pointed out that neighborhood schools already suffer from lack of funding, a situation that would worsen if the bill becomes law.

Elizabeth Purvis, CEO of Chicago International Charter Schools, claimed that charters “are part of the public school system.” CIC schools serve 9,000 students in Chicago and Rockford, she said, with 86% of them from low-income families and 95% of them minorities.

Charters must hire state-certified teachers and meet all state and federal requirements, maintain financial stability and meet any local regulations, she said. “Over 50,000 students in public charter schools [in Illinois] deserve equal treatment under the law,” Purvis said.

Meanwhile, the union charged that the bill would “force school districts to divert more funds from neighborhood public schools to charter schools. While public schools are funded almost entirely by taxes, charters receive private money from corporate privatization proponents.”

“Now is not the time” to increase charter funding “to the detriment of our neighborhood schools,” CTU Political Director Stacy Davis Gates told the committee, referring to the $700 million budget deficit that CPS says it faces in the FY 2013 budget.

Gates also cited national research showing charters have “not been particularly effective” at educating students and that they often “exclude English language learners and special education students.” A widely-publicized 2009 Stanford University study found that only 17% of the nation’s 5,000 charter schools reported academic gains “significantly better than traditional public schools,” while 37% performed worse and 46% made “no significant difference.”

Illinois Education Association lobbyist Jim Reed objected that HB 4277 would affect agreements reached in negotiations between charter schools and their school district boards. A spokesman for the Raise Your Hand organization complained that neighborhood schools in Chicago are already underfunded, citing large class sizes and the lack of music and art instruction.

HB 4277 will not achieve the parity in teachers’ salaries that Burke desires, the Raise Your Hand witness said. “We’re not against equalized funding … [but] there’s no guarantee [in the bill] that the money will go to salaries.”

Jim Broadway is founder and publisher of State School News Service.

In the News: What Chicagoans really think about school reform

Cassandra West — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:25:53 -0500

A new report, "Community Response to School Reform in Chicago: Opportunities for Local Stakeholder Engagement," from Public Agenda collected the insights of Chicago parents, public school teachers and school reform thought leaders to track community wide response to school reform in Chicago.

Here's the first article in an ongoing Catalyst Chicago series that will follow minority teacher candidates through their student teaching experience, job hunt and first year in the classroom. This installment introduces Michael Vargas, a participant in the Grow Your Own program, an initiative that aims to build diversity in the profession by training candidates who have ties to communities of color.

Gov. Pat Quinn surprises Elizabeth Luna, a kindergarten teacher at Chicago’s Murray Language Academy, with a Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence. (Sun-Times)

The Illinois House Executive Committee voted 10-1 Wednesday afternoon to approve a bill that would significantly increase the amount of funding that school districts have to provide for charter schools.

Parents and staff of several Chicago public schools met with police Wednesday night to discuss their concerns about possible disruptions during the upcoming NATO summit. Several schools near McCormick Place and in the so-called Loop Red Zone could be affected by security arrangements for the NATO summit, being held at McCormick Place on May 20-21. (CBS Chicago)

Substance News takes a look at CPS' expansion of its communication staff, using information obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. In October 2011, CPS had 12 people working in "Communications." By February, 18 people were working in "Communications." Of those 18 people, 15 have been hired since June 2011. Substance raises the point that "CPS declared it was too poor to pay contractual raises" and has made most of the hires—many paid more than $100,000—without putting them in a Board Report, which then become public record.

A school teacher convicted of computer tampering for changing the grades of Antioch High School football players has been charged with forgery for allegedly defrauding her new employer. (Tribune)

West suburban Morton High School District 201 board voted Wednesday to censure a fellow board member for a racist post on his Facebook page, despite calls from hundreds of parents in Cicero and Berwyn requesting his resignation. The school board members publicly admonished board member Michael Iniquez, who also apologized for his actions at the board meeting. (Sun-Times)

IN THE NATION
School districts have resorted to hiring debt collectors, employing constables, and swapping out standard meals for scaled-back versions to try to coerce parents to pay off school lunch debt that, in recent years, appears to have surged as the result of a faltering economy and better record-keeping. (Education Week)

A charter school organizer said he's "ready to roll" with the first charter school in St. Louis County if the Legislature allows charters to open statewide. (Tribune)

Jay Bookman, a columnist and blogger at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in a post this week, ends with this thought on the roots of the cheating scandal that rocked the Atlanta public school system:
"Here in Georgia, for example, state leaders have insisted that standardized testing be used as the educational equivalent of an industrial quality-control system. They produce a standardized model, and the tests determine how closely students conform to that model as they come off the assembly line.

Yet at the same time, we are told, the one-size-fits-all public-school industrial model must be dynamited to make way for a more experimental, let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom approach to education via charter schools and even vouchers. There’s a fundamental incoherence between those two messages that leads me to suspect that we really don’t know what we’re doing, and in fact are using schools as a battlefield in a deeper social struggle that we do not wish to acknowledge."

Bill to give more cash to charters moves forward

Jim Broadway — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:35:12 -0500

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois House Executive Committee voted 10-1 Wednesday afternoon to approve a bill that would significantly increase the amount of funding that school districts have to provide for charter schools.

The vote came despite a furious campaign against the bill by the Chicago Teachers Union and others who fear the bill will divert millions of dollars away from neighborhood public schools.

HB 4277, as amended, raises the minimum support for charter schools from 75% to 95% of the district’s “per capita student tuition, multiplied by the number of students residing in the district who are enrolled in the charter school.”

The tuition is a dollar amount that a district would charge a non-resident student to attend a school in the district. It is based on the district’s operating costs per student.

Rep. Daniel Burke (D-Chicago), chairman of the committee, sponsored HB 4277 and the amendment that turned the bill essentially into an income producer for charter schools. Although charter school laws apply statewide, by far most charters are a part of CPS.

Burke said the bill is aimed at achieving “equal funding for our charter schools, equal funding with the public schools.” It is “an issue of fairness,” Burke argued, adding that his main concern is the disparity in the salaries of teachers. “They start out fairly equal, but by five years [on the job] you see a great difference in their sala4ries.”

In a last-minute effort to get its members and supporters to lobby legislators against Burke’s bill, the Chicago Teachers Union argued that it would “force school districts to divert more funds from neighborhood public schools to charter schools. While public schools are funded almost entirely by taxes, charters receive private money from corporate privatization proponents.”

Jim Broadway is founder and publisher of State School News Service.

In the News: Northside Prep named top IL high school

Cassandra West — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:36:46 -0500

Northside College Prep is the top ranked Illinois school on the just-released U.S. News and World Report list of the best high schools in the country. In all, four Chicago high schools held the top spots on the state list.

On the nationwide list, California schools dominated with 97 in the top 500. New York also fared well with 68 in the highest gold medal category, and Texas had 46, with two of the top three in the Dallas Independent School District.

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis appeared on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight" on Tuesday to talk about a possible teachers' strike, pensions, longer school days and school reform.

Barbara Bowman, who is stepping down as CPS chief early childhood education officer after past eight years, joined WBEZ's "Afternoon Shift" for some lessons about her life and the lessons she's learned inside and outside the classroom.

Columbia College Chicago President Warrick L. Carter announced Tuesday he will retire in 2013, one year earlier than planned. A video posted on YouTube in March that showed Carter telling a student to "shut up" during his State of the College Address drew almost 18,000 hits.

IN THE STATE
The principal of Naperville’s Washington Junior High School has been named Naperville Unit District 203’s assistant superintendent for secondary education. (Daily Herald)

Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that he's found a way to plug a $73 million budget gap that would have cut off funding for child care services for low-income families across Illinois. (Tribune)

IN THE NATION
Schools should become a major focal point for preventing the spread of obesity in the United States, suggests a new report issued today by the Institute of Medicine. (Education Week)

The Los Angeles Board of Education votes to require grades of D or better in college-prep classes starting with incoming ninth-graders in the fall, raising requirements to a C for the Class of 2017. The Class of 2016, next year's ninth-graders, will be the first in the nation's second-largest school system who must take those courses needed to apply to a four-year state university. (Los Angeles Times)

California's public schools may be facing unprecedented levels of pressure as they try to teach an increasing number of children in poverty with fewer employees and a continual threat of cutbacks, a report finds. (Mercury News)

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked consideration of a Democratic bill to prevent the doubling of some student loan interest rates, leaving the legislation in limbo less than two months before rates on subsidized federal loans are set to shoot upward. (NYT)

In the News: Kindergarten readiness kits on the way

Cassandra West — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:38:03 -0500

CPS will begin handing out kits for the Kindergarten Readiness Tool assessment sometime after the next week, says district spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler.

However, in a sign that changes could be on the way, Ziegler says that the district is “currently determining in what capacity” it will be used. “We are currently assessing how best to make it an even more valuable tool for preschool teachers,” Ziegler says. The assessment has previously come under fire from teachers who say it eats up too much classroom time and assesses children on material some believe is too advanced.

Loyola University plans to ban the sale of bottled water in its cafeterias and retail locations. Campus leaders believe Loyola is the first Illinois college or university to eliminate the sale of bottled water, though student activists throughout the country have rallied behind the issue this past school year, citing environmental concerns about the use of plastic bottles as well as awareness about ensuring fair access to drinking water globally. (Tribune)

Alexander Russo reflects on last week's NewSchools summit in San Francisco, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave a speech. NewSchools is a nonprofit venture philanthropy based in Oakland, Calif., that focuses on transforming public education.

A 12-year-old Illinois boy earns perfect SAT math score.

D.C. mum on federal response to No Child Left Behind waiver bid.

Today is National Teacher Day, when thousands of communities take time to honor their local educators and acknowledge the crucial role teachers play in making sure every student receives a quality education. For more information, visit the NEA's website.

Infants and toddlers in lowest-quality care

Rebecca Harris — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:58:26 -0500

Child care for Illinois’ infants and toddlers is lower-quality than that provided for preschool-age children, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis. While that’s typical around the country, it is cause for alarm because a child’s youngest years are the most critical for brain development.

The state is making a number of efforts to improve the quality of care for young children, but several of them have not caught on.

Data from state classroom quality ratings that took place in July through December 2011 shows that ratings of infant and toddler classrooms were significantly lower in program structure (such whether there is adequate time for free play, group activities accommodations for children with disabilities), interaction, activities, and language use. Catalyst Chicago obtained the ratings from the Illinois Department of Human Services through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Debra Pacchiano, director of continuous quality improvement at the Ounce of Prevention Fund, says that the lower interaction scores may be because it can be more difficult to meet the social-emotional needs of infants than those of preschoolers, who are less demanding.

“With children at this age, it’s all about reducing stress, [and] raising the level of attachment, predictability and comfort,” Pacchiano says. “The demands, physically and emotionally, are that much higher.”

The language score disparity may be because it’s harder to follow the attention and decode the cooing of an infant.

“You want to be able to see teachers in a very warm, responsive and attuned relationship,” Pacchiano says. “It’s not about [telling the child] look at this … it’s about joining in your attention with what the infant or toddler is focusing on.”

All that may be difficult for infant-toddler teachers, many of whom have low levels of education, to manage. But research shows that high-quality interaction is key for developing a young child’s attachment to a caregiver, ensuring the child feels secure in his or her environment. And a child’s youngest years, from birth to age 3, may be even more critical than what comes later.

“Unless you are that responsive, attuned caregiver, very quickly the child learns ‘you don’t make sense to me and I don’t make sense to you.’ You can very quickly see babies and toddlers kind of shut down,” Pacchiano says.

Nationwide, it’s typical for infants to be in the lowest-quality child care environments, she says.

The Illinois Department of Human Services rates child care programs with the ITERS (Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale) or the ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale), depending on the age of students involved, as part of its optional Quality Counts rating system.

But the rating program, which aims to improve quality by giving higher state child-care reimbursement rates to programs that meet certain quality standards, has been slow to catch on.

Just over four percent of all the state’s 16,500 licensed child care programs currently participate. (Illinois has about 5,500 child care centers and 11,000 licensed child care home providers, according to a 2011 fact sheet from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.)

Among infant-toddler programs, 400 have received 3-star ratings, which require (among other things) a score of at least 4.25 on the 7-point rating scale. But the benchmark for a high-quality classroom is a rating of at least 5. And 93 more infant-toddler child care programs – 12 percent of those that have applied – have failed to earn even a one-star rating, which requires score of 3 (or “minimal”) on the rating scale.

In 2008-09, the state also created a special credential for child care workers who work with children up to age 3. That requires a high school diploma or GED, work experience or classroom observation, and a handful of college classes (or an equivalent amount of non-college trainings). So far, just 176 teachers have earned it.