The kind of boost in national test scores that Curtis Elementary School realized last year after an intense tutoring program would have been enough to save three schools recently announced for closure, Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan said Saturday.
Curtis pupils raised their overall scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills by 9 percentage points following a church-corporation partnership that brought hundreds of tutors to the school for a little over a month last year, said Duncan, who sees the program as a model for the school system.
The program, which teams Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church and Deerfield-based Walgreen Co., is again under way at Curtis and West Pullman on Saturdays in advance of the Iowa tests, administered the week of May 13.
Salem has provided about 320 tutors from its congregation, while Walgreen Co. is funding all-expense-paid trips to Disney World to the 20 pupils who show the most improvement in their scores.
“It’s a recipe for success,” Duncan said at a news conference Saturday promoting the program. “All of our schools need a partnership like this.”
In addition to the overall improvement, Curtis officials said the number of pupils reading at or above grade level rose from 17 percent to 27 percent.
The 9 percentage point improvement in overall test scores would have been enough to save the three city schools that will be closed because of chronically low scores, Duncan said.
Terrell, Williams and Dodge Elementary Schools saw no improvement, Duncan said.
“Sometimes we have to reach beyond the activities of the regular school day, and the regular classes,” he said. “One of the best ways to help students is through one-on-one tutoring. We know from experience and research that this works.”
Curtis pupils said Saturday that the tutors, not the incentive of an Orlando trip, make the difference.
“They help our confidence and our self-esteem,” said Mario Harris, 12, a Curtis 7th grader who went to Disney World last year because of gains in his Iowa scores.
Curtis and community leaders were basking in the praise for the program, especially after a brawl between pupils at Curtis and Songhai Elementary on the South Side this month sent 19 children to area hospitals. Twenty-three pupils were charged as juveniles with mob action after the incident.
“My heart leaps with joy when I walk through the halls on Saturday mornings,” said Rev. James Meeks, Salem’s pastor.
