Catalyst Chicago
Forced to announce another year of disappointing ACT scores, Schools CEO Arne Duncan last summer sought to temper the news by talking up the district’s investment in strategic improvements, highlighting some $3.5 million earmarked for test preparation.
Later, after the school year began, high school officials say they quietly decided to “repurpose” that money to ramp up the curriculum. Michael Lach, who last August took over the office of high school teaching and learning, says he worried preparation programs, where students were given strategies rather than learning content, weren’t worth the investment...