Rahm Emanuel has a new plan: instead of funding the Chicago public schools, the Mayor–who controls the school system–has raised graduation requirements. Students cannot graduate unless they can prove they have post-secondary plans. Presumably, they will remain in high school for the rest of their lives if not.
Dare we say it is doomed to fail?
“In a radical policy change being referred to as everything from “forward thinking” to “remarkably silly,” high school seniors in Chicago, starting with the class of 2020, will not be able to graduate unless they present “evidence of a postsecondary plan.”
“The policy — formally known as “Learn.Plan.Succeed” — was announced by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in early April and quietly approved by the Chicago Board of Education in late May.
“Under the initiative, allowable evidence of a postsecondary plan can include things such as a college acceptance letter, a military enlistment letter, proof of employment or a job offer. It can also include acceptance into an apprenticeship program, a job program or a “gap year” program. Waivers may be allowed for students with “extenuating circumstances.”
“Emanuel is slated to discuss the new policy and other education initiatives at the National Press Club next week.
“The new graduation requirement — considered the first of its kind in the nation — comes at a time when Illinois finds itself in the midst of a longtime state budget impasse and massive debt, plummeting regional public university enrollment, and at a time when Chicago’s public school system itself had to borrow $389 million just to stay open to finish the 2016-2017 school year.
“It also comes at a time when concerns are being raised anew about concentrated joblessness among Chicago’s Black and Latino youth, who also comprise the vast majority of Chicago’s public school students.
“The new graduation requirement is drawing mixed reviews among youth and education policy experts, some of whom are raising questions about its workability and practicality given Chicago’s joblessness and Illinois’ budget woes.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Do you think “Getting the hell out of Dodge” counts as a post-graduation goal?
“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans” – Phyllis Diller, actress, comedienne, philosopher
Der Mensch tracht und Gott lacht, old Yiddish saying.
Exactly why Mayoral control of school distircts is a HORRID idea. Rahm needs to get a life.
Exactly why Rahm and all “do-gooder” neoliberals who actually sit down to discuss how to control the exact life-tracks of students need to GET OUT OF EDUCATION.
Yep!
So now kids here can take a gap year, as has been common in the UK for decades, but they have to be in “a gap year program” to be able to graduate? It’s a wonderful option, but unless that’s subsidized, unfortunately, it’s mostly privileged kids who will get to partake.
I think Rahm is intentionally feeding a rather new market for capitalists in America. For the sake of low income students, he should put his money where his mouth is and/or permit a gap year with parent guidance and permission instead of requiring participation in a gap year program.
Is something like this even enforceable? I can imagine how….
I don’t see this as actually enforceable. It seems to be more of another attempt to govern by slogan.
Here is my best guess about this requirement.
For over a decade, many states have required students to develop an Individual Learning Plan, also called an Academic Achievement Plan, Personal Learning Plan, Personal Graduation Plan, or 4-Year Plan.
Requiring a completed plan as a condition for high school graduation is an invitation to mischief and faking the process. This is especially true for students in Chicago Public Schools. Why?
CPS has a contract with Naviance, a software product from Hobsons. Naviance provides an on-line package for college and career planning. A version is available for grades 5-8 in addition to the high school version, grades 9-12.
Hobsons, founded in 1974, is an international company with 16 commercial partners and 12 education “partners.” Hobsons is part of DMG Information, a global portfolio of high-growth business-to-business companies, and a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust, a publicly listed company quoted on the London Stock Exchange. “The company’s solutions assist students in schools, colleges, and universities worldwide.” Hobsons, Inc. has offices in Melbourne and Alexandria, Australia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; London, United Kingdom; Arlington, Virginia; Oakland, California; and Oklahoma, Oklahoma.
The data made available in the Navient program can be linked to various portals for post-secondary education and career education. The idea of making a college/career plan as a condition for graduation means that Naviance will make a whole lot of money.
I have no desire to spend time on this, but all CPS contracts are online and available for research. Someone in Chicago may want to find out if the mayor or other officials have invested in Hobsons. http://cps.edu/Pages/Naviance.aspx
In addition to Navient, Hobsons offers Edumate, a Web-based K-12 learning and management system; and Radius, a platform that helps institutions to manage day-to-day contact with students, create cross-media marketing campaigns, and respond to inquiries. Hobsons recently acquired the website RepVisits (LLC) that allows high school and college admission personnel to schedule appointments times and organize college fairs.
My hunch is that someone in CPS has steered this lucrative contract and the mayor’s decision to require a plan means a garanteed payoff to Navient.
I knew I was right when I opted my children out of the Naviance program while they were in middle school. The guidance counselors tried to tell me how great it would be for my children to know what their strengths were for college and careers. My reply to them was that these are my children and no children this young should need to worry about what they want to be when they grow up. Shut them up pretty quickly and they couldn’t disagree.
And then those without a plan can just reenroll in high school as a perpetual senior, take the classes they want while Illinois continues to pay for it…because, after all, one must continue going to school until graduation . How’s that for a plan? Smh.
Insanity is as inanity does and this requirement and Rahm both fit both of those descriptors.
With all due respect, zany is the wrong word. Zany brings to mind people like Imogene CoCo. The word should be restrictive, draconian, punitive, etc.
When is Rahm going to make clear his own post secondary plan?
So far, he has bounced aimlessly from one job (and failure) to the next.
Oh, do make a poem! Rahm rhymes with bomb (as in failure NOT TNT).
“The Rahmper Room”
The wake of Rahm
Is that of bomb
A crater in the hood
The Rahmper room
Is fulla doom
And never fulla good
This is Rahm Emanuel’s bid to become Big Brother with control of every aspect of a citizens life from cradle to grave.
Rahm must not be aware that the Kremlin’s Agent Orange (You know, that malignant narcissist, serial liar, groper of women, fraud, con-man, wife cheater, that goes by the name Trump who lied his way into the White House), Bill Gates, Richard Mercer, Eli Broad, the Walmart poverty producing Walton Family, The religious freaks of the DeVos family, the pollution loving Koch brothers, and dozens of other autocratic minded billionaires that hate labor unions and democracy are already competing for that title.
I don’t think Rahm stands a chance to become America’s Big Brother. Too much competition unless he is only planning to carve out Chicago as his fiefdom and he will only be a baron instead of a King. What billionaire autocrat will he swear his loyalty to?
“What billionaire autocrat will he swear his loyalty to?”
In Chicago, that’s most likely to be the Pritzkers, heirs of the Hyatt hotel empire, such as Penny, who sat as an appointed member of the Chicago School Board (and has a charter school in her name) until Obama appointed her to his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. It could also be her brother JB, who is planning a run on the Democratic ticket in 2018 against the current Illinois billionaire Republican governor, Bruce Rauner.
Longtime Chicago resident Chris Kennedy, son of Ethel and Bobby (President Kennedy’s brother), is also running for governor and, much like his famous relatives, he seems to be the least noxious of the 1% and genuinely concerned about less fortunate people, so I doubt he’d be an autocrat or a supporter of Rahm.
Chicago has a school within the Cook Country Jail. Can you imagine those kids getting letters of acceptance in order to get their diploma?
This will not be enforceable.
What about California and its juvenile court schools?
“Juvenile Court Schools
“Juvenile court schools provide public education for juveniles who are incarcerated in facilities run by county probation departments. These schools are located in juvenile halls, juvenile homes, day centers, ranches, camps, and regional youth education facilities and are operated by the county board of education in the county in which the facility is located.
“Juveniles who are under the authority of the juvenile court system are required to attend school under California’s compulsory education requirements. Juvenile court school students are provided a California standards-based curriculum and must take educational assessment tests required of all students in the state’s public schools. These schools offer students a course of study that leads to a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate.
“Students released from a juvenile facility who are under the age of nineteen and have not yet graduated or received their high school equivalency certificate are required to continue attending school, most often at a district or county-run school. Students from ages sixteen to eighteen who are released by a juvenile court must continue their public education.”
http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/jc/
I wonder if the corporate pirates and frauds pushing corporate charter schools funded with public money (that should only go to traditional public schools ) want to offer this so-called choice to these juveniles too?
This will involve extra work on the part of school personnel – it will take time, it is invasive, it does nothing for those that have plans – for struggling students in poverty, it will either make them feel like shit or for those students pass caring, they will not give a shit. It is a reward – punishment model and does not inspire hope but compliance. Rahm – do not call yourself a Democrat.