Rationale
My seventh grade US History students live on Chicago’s Southwest side; our school is just over 60% Latino and nearly 40% African American with 98% of students coming from low income families. As a result of Chicago’s alarming rates of gun violence, my students are commonly robbed of simple childhood pleasures like going outside to play. For the safety of their children, many parents forbid their children from going outside. A number of factors contribute to Chicago Public School’s graduation rate that currently trails behind the national average by 17%3.
These realities and statistics, though seemingly bleak and harsh, do not stop dedicated teachers and administrators across the city from trying to create change and hopeful futures for our students; our school is no different. In fact, these harsh realities are what motivates the staff at our school to create an environment that fosters critical thinking, high expectations and a safe space for our kids to be kids. In the past, our school experienced years of consistently failing to meet federal and state mandates for academic achievement; as a result, our school became a turnaround school which has means that it was taken over by the Academy of Urban School Leadership to receive intensive support for the past five years. Due to the efforts of school community, we have strived to increase rigor and academic growth and completely changed the school dynamic and environment so that students are held to high expectations, and come in everyday prepared to learn.
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