WBEZ Special Report: 50/50

WBEZ - Chicago Public Radio recently put forth a special report entitled "Fifty-Fifty: the Odds of Graduating", shining a spotlight on the fact that only half of those who enroll freshman year at Chicago public high school will end up graduating. For the special report, WBEZ reporters took to the halls of Chicago's south side Robeson High, following a handful of students to get an inside glimpse at what causes students to stay the course and what obstacles challenge their completion.

Click Here to go directly to the special report.

While Robeson lies in the Englewood neighbor just south and west of Sunshine, there are astounding statistical parallels between that school and the high schools in too many Chicago neighborhoods, Woodlawn included. You can visit Interactive Illinois Report Card to view the numbers yourself. Robeson currently enrolls 1,270 students and of those 6.9% meet or exceed PSAE standards in reading, 2.8% in math, and 2.4% in science. This is compared to the approximately 50% of students statewide that respectively meet these standards in all three categories. By comparison, at Dyett High School, which many of the students a part of Sunshine's programs attend, 5.7% meet PSAE reading requirements, 2.3% meet math requirements, and finally, 1.1% meet these same science requirements.

There is MUCH that can be said about the current achievement gap and the underlying challenges for teachers, administrators, parents and students. Nonetheless, current state and performance of far too many of our Chicago high schools is alarming and sad. We encourage you to check out WBEZ's special report to learn more about the challenges that are before our schools and those who are working to augment student's schoolwork.