CPS Gives Kids a Voice in Cutting Dropout Rate: VOYCE students study what works in top U.S. schools

By Rosalind Rossi, Education Reporter • Chicago Sun-Times

Do kids know best?

More than 50 kids from 15 high schools think so.

Concerned about a 55 percent high school graduation rate, Chicago Public School kids spent 1½ years trying to figure out what to do about it, including visiting 12 standout high schools nationwide.

It turned my life around,'' said Roosevelt High junior Edwin Medina, who was toying with dropping out until he joined Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, or VOYCE, and visited five top-rated schools in Texas.

"I learned students are part of the answer to lowering the dropout rate. We're taking a problem that affects us and finding a solution.”

And now, some student ideas are coming to fruition. Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan is expected to announce today that he will implement at least two student-led reforms in eight pilot high schools:

• At-risk incoming freshmen will attend one retreat just before high school and go on two more freshmen year to build bonds with peers and teachers and work on four-year graduation plans.
  

• Kids will give input at their schools on what they're learning, and how they're learning it -- on everything from textbooks to teaching techniques. Duncan has even agreed to help students advise curriculum vendors on how to make textbooks more relevant.

"Students are a huge part of the answer. I want to do everything I can to continue to empower them to help themselves and help their peers,'' Duncan said.

A big theme that emerged from more than 1,400 VOYCE interviews with students and teachers was that kids want "rigor" and "relevance," according to "Student-Led Solutions to the Nation's Dropout Crisis," a 27-page VOYCE report being released today.

Edwin was impressed that at Science Academy of South Texas, biology students dissected a baby pig and labeled its internal organs. Two Texas schools offered rigorous medical or dental curriculums that led to certificates the graduates could use in the work force as dental or medical assistants. And one Houston charter school required all seniors to win acceptance to at least one college before they could graduate high school.

"They challenge the students every day to do their best,'' Edwin said.

Other kids liked the fact that some students in other states had a voice in what they could study. At San Diego's Kearney Digital Media and Design School, freshmen chose among a host of hot topics to debate with seniors -- from the economy and the war to abortion and global warming, said Hubbard High junior Karen Vallas.

Working with seven community groups, VOYCE students also plan to give teachers at pilot schools orientation tours of their neighborhoods so they literally better understand where their students are coming from, said Jenny Arwade, executive director of the Albany Park Neighborhood Council.

"The majority of CPS teachers don't even live in the communities in which they teach,'' Arwade said.

Other student ideas include longer, block classes to better prepare students for longer college classes; more teacher training in best practices; more teaching across subjects, tied to student interests; more peer-to-peer learning and self-directed learning; encouraging four-year student-staff relationships, possibly through a better advisory system, and regular student meetings with staff on school safety and security.

"They are identifying pillars of what a good high school is,'' said Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education. "I think these kids are right on."