Demographics of Shields Middle School:
This unit is designed for 7th and 8th grade students at Shields Middle School, located in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, in the south side of Chicago. The student population is predominantly Latinx (approximately 96.3%), 2.7% African American, 1% White and more than 95% of students come from low-income households. Many are English Language Learners, and a number have experienced challenges such as housing insecurity, financial hardship, and exposure to community violence. At a school where 15% of students transfer in or out during the year, the student mobility rate, due to the large number of immigrant students. Shields Middle School total enrollment for the school year 2024/25 was around 375 students, where 43.5% students are English Learners and we have a high percentage of them who also have an IEP. The total number of students with an IEP is around 18% and it might be higher due the fact that many of our English Learner students are not accounted for, since we have no documentation from their home country. We have noticed that a large number of our students who are recent immigrants have either very low education and have difficulties reading, and writing in their native tongue. Very important to note that our student attendance is not as high as the neighboring schools in our Network. Making Shields the school with lowest attendance rate at 89%, while the elementary school that feeds our students states that their attendance rate is at 98%. The school report card for Illinois also states that we have a high percentage of chronic absenteeism at 41%. With all of this in mind it is challenging but not impossible to do our best as educators in one of the largest school districts in the United States.
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