Through the education organizing efforts of APNC, the education team has focused on two main components: (1) Creating an area-wide plan of success among Albany Park’s elementary and middle school, and Roosevelt High School, and (2) addressing issues of strengthening bilingual education for English language learning in Albany Park.

Greater Albany Park Education Coalition (GAPEC)

In 2005, APNC education leaders underwent a process of advancing the priorities of the organization’s education work. Having won a number of victories to relieve overcrowding, bring three new school constructions to the area, and increasing parental involvement within Albany Park’s schools, APNC’s education team was ready to move towards addressing issues of teaching and learning within the community. Following a series of dialogues involved over 200 parents, teachers, administrators, and students, APNC education leaders identified the need to open communication between area elementary schools and Roosevelt High School. In order for students to successfully transition from 8th grade to 9th grade, and cohesive, neighborhood wide plan of success needs to be developed by the education stakeholders themselves to ensure student success.

From this philosophy came the creation of the Greater Albany Park Education Coalition (GAPEC). GAPEC is a network of four elementary and middle schools (Albany Park Multicultural Academy, Bateman Elementary, Thurgood Marshall Middle, and Volta Elementary), along with Roosevelt High School. GAPEC unites teachers, administrators, parents and students to ease transitions from 8th to 9th grade. GAPEC does this by creating area-wide tenets in the content areas of Math, English, Science, and Social Studies. Teacher leaders collectively reflect, connect, and share best practices to ensure that students are on track towards high school preparation and beyond. Additionally, Parents work together with teachers to build towards a strong relationship to help students succeed. APNC education leaders believe that local education stakeholders themselves hold the answers to strengthening education, and that GAPEC is the vehicle to making everyone’s voices heard.

• Download Leading from Within: GAPEC Evaluation Framework 2008-2009 (PDF)
• Download the GAPEC Content Area Tenets and Assessments in progress (PDF)

Update: GAPEC Schools see 14% Increase in student On-Track Rates!

The GAPEC advisory meeting set a goal of a  10% increase in the freshmen on-track rate between the 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school year. Based on the 1^st semester grades, the current on-track rate of GAPEC students at Roosevelt is 73%, which is a 14% increase from last years’ graduating freshmen!

• Click here to download a chart that illustrates the total (73.1%) on-track rate of GAPEC schools
• Click here to download  a chart that breaks down the specific on-track rates of each of the four GAPEC schools.

The efforts of GAPEC teachers, students, and administrators are paying off! Student are entering Roosevelt better prepared, and Roosevelt is seeingan overall improvement in grades during the first semester of this year!

Strengthening Bilingual Education

APNC has worked to convene parents, teachers, students, principals, bilingual education experts, organizational partners, and other community leaders to examine ways to strengthen bilingual education in Albany Park. In early March, the Illinois Standardized Achievement Test (ISAT) was administered to all schoolchildren in grades 3-8. For the first time, the test was administered to bilingual students across the city. Bilingual students have taken a separate test in previous years more suitable for children still learning English. APNC education leaders were concerned about the effects that bilingual students taking the ISAT would have on schoolchildren and on their schools. Questions arose about how schools and students would be evaluated based on a test the students were not prepared to take. Working together with parents and school administrators from across the city, APNC parent- leaders were able to bring their concerns to Chicago Public School officials, and Jesse Ruiz, Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education. As a result of these efforts, CPS publicly committed that ISAT scores would not in anyway affect bilingual students continuing on to the next grade, or how the schools as a whole would be evaluated.

In addition to these testing issues, APNC is developing a team of education stakeholders to refine policy goals that would ease the achievement gap between ELL, and non-ELL students.