Logan Square Needs Brentano

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Logan Square Needs Brentano

A Performance and

Enrollment Data

Report

Brentano Math and Science

Academy

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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Table of Contents

1 Current Situation ..................................................................................................... 3

2 Closing Brentano Leaves No Open Seats in Logan Square ................................. 4

3 Brentano’s Academic Performance ....................................................................... 5

4 Brentano Has an Upward Performance Trajectory ............................................... 6

5 Brentano Stakeholders are 100% Aligned and Building Momentum ................... 7

6 Brentano is Beautiful and Well-Utilized ................................................................. 8

7 Brentano has Involved Families. ............................................................................ 9

8 Our Community’s 5 Year Plan for Brentano’s Academic Success .................... 10

9 Our Community’s 5 Year Plan for Brentano’s Efficient Utilization ..................... 11

10 The Choice that CPS Faces in Logan Square ...................................................... 12

11 Demonstrated Support .......................................................................................... 13

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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1 Current Situation

Brentano anchors a rapidly growing section of Logan Square, one of Chicago’s most diverse and thriving neighborhoods. While Brentano is currently under-enrolled, the neighborhood’s many families with young children actively seek excellent neighborhood public school options.

1.1 Brentano’s Role in Logan Square

Many young families are moving to Logan Square and actively seeking excellent neighborhood public school options. Brentano has a reputation for academic success and an inviting school culture. It is also one of few schools in Logan Square offering room to grow, meaning increased enrollment can make Brentano an even more vibrant, diverse, and high-performing school.

In January, Logan Square United for Brentano conducted a survey of the Brentano attendance area in order to quantify the presence of families with children under 5, and neighborhood demand for Brentano. Over 1,000 community members signed the survey, including the parents of 239 children not yet attending the school.

The CPS tier ranking for Logan Square has changed, increasing by 1 or 2 tiers in all parts of the Brentano neighborhood.

Due to the tier change, many neighborhood families will no longer have access to select enrollment schools outside of the neighborhood. Many neighborhood families will be relying upon and investing in their neighborhood school as it will be their only CPS option.

Logan Square community area, with Brentano starred. Green census tracts represent areas with increased CPS tiers, 2012-3.

“I am the parent of a 1st grader and alumni of this school. I will, by all means, keep my daughter here! It is a great school with great teachers.”

- greatschools.org

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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2 Closing Brentano Leaves No Open Seats in Logan Square

While one other school in the neighborhood, Darwin, also has room to grow, other elementary schools are now full, including Goethe, Logandale, Linne, and Monroe. If Brentano closes, Darwin will fill and there will be no schools with room to grow in our growing neighborhood.

Closing Brentano will leave NO ADDITIONAL CAPACITY in our growing neighborhood. While population declined for Logan Square from 2000-2010, the neighborhood has seen rapid growth in more recent years, particularly among young families. The presence of more pre-school age children in the neighborhood means more students will soon attend Brentano.

Redevelopment of the 1500+ units at Lathrop Homes will also soon drive a considerable increase in the presence of young children in the area.

Closings in Logan Square could be racially divisive in a diverse neighborhood. While Goethe has recently become increasingly diverse, Brentano and Darwin have not yet made this transition. Combining Brentano and Darwin could result in a disastrous local school division along socioeconomic lines in Logan Square. By ensuring a future for all three schools, CPS will enables Brentano and Darwin to continue growing into high-performing, well-utilized, diverse anchors in the neighborhood.

2012 Enrollment with Brentano Open 2012 Enrollment if Brentano Were Closed

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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3 Brentano’s Academic Performance

Brentano’s Academic Growth is Exceptionally Strong

As shown in the 2012-13 NWEA MAP results, below, Brentano’s students are making yearly progress that far exceeds the national average. This is credited to staff changes and the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum leadership team.

2011-12 ISAT composite meets and exceeds percentage is 76.6% - above the overall CPS average.

Brentano ranked 167th of ~400 non-selective enrollment CPS elementary schools on basis of ISAT composite

Brentano has the 10th highest composite ISAT score of 194 elementary schools on probation

Brentano is well positioned to be a top performer when CPS makes the transition to the common core standards.

“As a former student at this school and now currently bringing my own son it has been an amazing journey being able to see the positive transformation the school has made throughout the years”

- greatschools.org

Class Average

National Average

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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4 Brentano Has an Upward Performance Trajectory

Brentano’s current principal, Martha Salgado, inherited a school with staff issues, gang issues, poorly established early childhood programs, and poor parent involvement.

With 5 years of Principal Salgado’s leadership, Brentano has made ambitious progress and is now organized for success.

The effects of Brentano’s upward trajectory are already evident in the NWEA test data which shows Brentano’s average scores coming in line with national averages.

The University of Chicago’s 5Essentials study rates Brentano Organized for Improvement, making it 10 times more likely to improve student learning than less organized schools. Brentano’s overall 5Essentials rating.

From 2011-2, Brentano improved in all 5Essentials categories:

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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5 Brentano Stakeholders are 100% Aligned and Building Momentum Around Enrollment and Performance

In early 2012, community and LSC members established Friends of Brentano to support Brentano in building fundraising and enrollment. The group is already 50 members strong, and most members have preschool-aged children or younger. Friends of Brentano is modeled after and in contact with a similar successful program at Goethe school, which is now 99% enrolled.

Friends of Brentano is hosting a weekly playgroup at the school for future Brentano students aged 0-3, which draws dozens of toddlers. These future parents act as connectors and ambassadors to newer neighborhood families.

Brentano’s Enrollment team is working on four interrelated steps to increase enrollment: design of a new school website; community-wide enrollment drives; application for an additional pre-K classroom through Chicago Ready to Learn grant; and providing before and after-school care to accommodate working families.

Brentano offers a model pre-K, which is diverse, high-performing, full at 80 students, and maintaining a waitlist. The pre-K also includes a blended general education and special education program. The demand for pre-K spots at the school is much higher than the number of spots available and introduction of an additional pre-K section would immediately address the enrollment problem.

A recent Friends of Brentano playgroup. Many future Brentano students aged 0-3 regularly attend.

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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6 Brentano is Beautiful and Well-Utilized

Brentano maintains reasonable class sizes and utilizes non-homeroom spaces to offer a Library, Science Labs, Art, Music, and Computer Lab. We believe that Brentano is much more “utilized” than CPS data suggests.

The physical condition of the school is better than some CPS data reflects. In fact, Brentano’s facilities are in better physical condition than most schools in Logan Square.

Brentano’s auditorium was overhauled last summer. The hallways and many rooms are painted with murals and facilities are bright and well lit.

In 2006, a $1.1M grant was awarded to the school to build a campus park on Brentano’s grounds. The campus park boasts an AstroTurf field, a modern playground facility, and an outdoor classroom. The campus park was part of the Logan Square Open Space Plan, and for the neighborhood the school’s playlot has helped to offset the fact that Logan Square has less open space than all but two of Chicago’s community areas.

Brentano’s library is painted with murals. Its hallways are adorned with college pennants and artwork.

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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7 Brentano has Involved Families.

Brentano’s parents are engaged with the school. More than 350 turned up in support of the school at the first round of school utilization hearings at Horner Park.

A start of school picnic had over 400 in attendance. At the picnic, the School’s Science Club showed off their rockets – the younger kids built rockets from paper mache, the older kids built and launched rockets with engines.

Brentano parents volunteer at the school regularly. Many parents participate in English language and computer classes at the school, and come before and after to work on pressing needs at the school.

Brentano’s strong rating for Teacher-Parent trust in the 2012 University of Chicago 5Essentials Survey:

Brentano’s beginning of the year picnic:

Parents volunteer with students:

“I cannot express my gratitude to all the teachers and staff for their dedication and patience they give unconditionally. My children have learned so much and are eager to learn every day. They express excitement with their work/homework and I am sure this is due to the way they are being taught. I appreciate that the lines of communication with teachers and staff are always open. Brentano is not only a school but it is also my children's second home. I could not have picked a better school.”

- greatschools.org

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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8 Our Community’s 5 Year Plan for Brentano’s Academic Success Brentano offers CPS the opportunity to invest in a school

that is well organized for improvement. We suggest a five-

year plan for Brentano and Logan Square: parent-driven

plans to transform enrollment and performance.

Support the parent-driven schools renaissance in Logan Square. In the past five years, Friends of Goethe School has successfully jump-started enrollment and performance gains at Logan Square’s Goethe Elementary, which is now full. Friends of Brentano School and Friends of Darwin are new parent organizations modeled on the successful Friends of Goethe School organization. These new “Friends of” organizations are marketing Brentano and Darwin to newer young families in Logan Square, supporting academic improvements at each school and raising money for new programming.

Use academic reinvention to enable faster gains at Brentano and encourage community members to keep their kids in the neighborhood school Brentano’s feeder high-school Clemente, and neighborhood high-school Pulaski School, are both introducing International Baccalaureate programming which will require students to be better prepared. Support academic reinvention at Brentano through the introduction of STEM, Gifted, International Baccalaureate or Magnet programming. This change, supported by parents, teachers and the principal, would enable Brentano to re-tool, re-brand and re-introduce itself to newer Logan Square families now considering school options.

Reinvest in Brentano’s academic resources

The Brentano staff and community have worked hard to maintain the Math and Science focus of the school in the absence of CPS resources. The strength of programming has been maintained by partnering with outside organizations, including the Erikson Institute for Mathematics Coaching and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for music programming.

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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9 Our Community’s 5 Year Plan for Brentano’s Efficient Utilization Building on 5 years of organization at the school, in late

2011 members of Brentano’s LSC, Community Groups, and

Parents embarked on a 5 year plan to rebrand Brentano to

our transforming community. Key aspects of this plan

include:

Provide programming that is necessary for a school that is a resource for working parents, including early education, full day kindergarten, pre-k, after school programs, and before school care.

Rebrand Brentano’s public face, including redesign of the school website, up to date signage, and community engagement.

Invite the community into the school through playgroups and events to showcase the strong staff and resources of the school.

Pursue more robust academic programming at the school to make the school more appealing to neighborhood residents.

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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10 The Choice that CPS Faces in Logan Square The changes in Logan Square are real. They are

supported by data. At this moment, CPS has a clear

choice – preserve a thriving school community to manage

the efficient growth of a community, or shortsightedly

close Brentano leaving no capacity to accommodate the

needs of this changing community in the next 3 years.

Logan Square Needs Brentano

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11 Demonstrated Support Throughout January, dozens of parent, teacher, and

community volunteers confronted the winter cold to

canvass the attendance area of Brentano Elementary

Math and Science Academy.

Over 1,000 people in the Brentano Attendance Area

pledged:

“We support our neighborhood schools and we

believe Brentano is a vital anchor of our

community.”

We believe strongly that Brentano is at the tipping point of

a Renaissance that will make it one of Chicago’s most

sought after neighborhood schools.

Please help us to keep Brentano open,

independent, and growing.