Promising results in some Illinois charter schools

DECATUR, Ill. -- When the Rev. Jesse Jackson appeared in Decatur following an incident at a high school in 1998, the Rev. Aubrey Hudson knew something had to be done to help black students in the public schools.

So he and his wife launched a campaign to form a charter school targeting what they saw as an underserved population.

"We said we must do something now," Hudson said. "We were in contact with our senators, mayor, community leaders, and we had them on board with our same vision."

That community support is what led to the school's opening this year.

Charter schools have a relatively short history in Illinois. Legislation was enacted in 1996 to allow parents, teachers and community members a way to experiment with new teaching methods, free from some state and local guidelines. In theory, those schools provide a choice for parents and therefore spur competition among public schools.

Schools also must report their academic performance and financial stability periodically to the district and the state.

The law specifically encourages schools for "at-risk children," on whom the Decatur and a proposed Champaign-Urbana schools hope to focus their efforts.

Five above average

Some Illinois charter schools have shown some promising results. Of the seven schools with elementary students, five scored better than their district averages on the Illinois Standards Assessment Test.

Fort Bowman Charter School in Cahokia is one of those. Despite opening in the 1998-99 school year amid protests from the community and former superintendent, principal Elisabeth Peeples said students there scored well above the district's average on the Illinois test last year.

Since then, the public schools in the district, just south of East St. Louis, have a new superintendent and changed many programs to improve the system. Behind some of those changes is the superintendent's reminder that Cahokia parents now have a choice of schools.

The charter school staff has "shared with myself some of the strategies they have used," superintendent Jed Deets said.