Current Progress Summary

September 2008

Judge Joe Billy McDade listened to joint statements from attorneys for African American Plaintiffs and for the Champaign Community Unit School District #4 in a status conference regarding the Consent Decree signed by the parties in 2002 in an effort to improve educational outcomes for African American students.  The Consent Decree is set to expire June 30, 2009.  Read more...

March 2007

Final Collaboration Plan

Final Collaboration Plan - Appendix A

Final Collaboration Plan - Appendix B

Quarterly Report November, Fall 2006
The challenges in Unit 4 schools are evident in the continuing disparities between representation of African American students and their peers in equity areas being analyzed by the Court Monitor. Please note, however, the following accomplishments that provide encouragement as we continue our quest to provide equity and excellence for all students:                    

• Controlled Choice has been successfully implemented at the elementary and middle school levels, and the District meets its targets for student assignment to schools within racial fairness guidelines.  Moreover, the system of choice is successful, as demonstrated by the fact that the kindergarten lottery for SY2007 received the largest number of participants since the program’s inception in 1998 and the majority received their top choice in school selection. 
• The flexible goal for attendance is that the student attendance rate for minorities and non-minorities be at 95%.  Three of the eleven elementary schools meet that target.  The remaining eight elementary schools and two middle schools are within two percent of that goal.  However, one middle school and two high schools need to improve their attendance.

• Elementary Gifted enrollment of African American students has climbed from a mere 3% in 1998 to 17.2% last year.   Similarly, the Middle School African American Honors enrollment has almost doubled, from 14.5% in 2002 to 26.5% last year, and the District is less than one-half percentage points from meeting racial fairness guidelines.

• Key among the District’s disciplinary initiatives are behavior change models.  The elementary and middle schools use PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support), as set forth in the EEIP, and the high schools use PBF (Positive Behavior Facilitation).  The District’s approach to behavior management is to be proactive and constructive rather than punitive and reactive.  Both PBIS and PBF are positive reinforcement models and allow personalized intervention for individual student needs.  As part of the program, teachers are trained to recognize how their behavior may trigger or escalate conflict with students and how to prevent that from occurring.  The District also proactively intervenes with students to address behaviors before they reach a disciplinary level, such as counseling through social workers and counselors, mentoring, use of the BST process, and development of behavioral intervention plans.  Initiatives have reduced disciplinary incidents and actions significantly at ES – by over 40% -- and also at MS by approximately 10 % last year.
• During the 2005-2006 school year, the district totals for African–American participation rates were down in the following special education areas: all special education programs, behavioral/emotional programs, mental impairment programs, speech-language programs, and the all other special education category.

• Based on preliminary ISAT data, all elementary and middle schools achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

• At Bottenfield in 2002, only 37% of 3^rd grade African American students were meeting or exceeding State standards in math.  Today, an impressive 100% of African American students meet or exceed State standards, and the District closed the achievement gap completely.
• Similarly, at Garden Hills, which is a Title I school, (high percentage of students from low-income families) a stark 19% of African American students were meeting/exceeding math standards in 2001, whereas 100% do so now.
• Last year, all Elementary and Middle School made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB.  The results are also demonstrated in the 2006 preliminary ISAT data.  Look at the 3^rd grade math results for African American students, increasing from 40 % in 2002 to 80% today.  The achievement gap between African American and other students has been significantly reduced from 45% to 15%.  Similarly in 5^th grade, African American scores jumped from 23% to 67%, an increase of 44% since 2002. In 8^th grade, African American scores were at only 12.9% in 2002, but the District has increased that by 52% since then.  Not coincidentally, this reflects the same timing of the District’s curricular alignment, middle school restructuring, and implementation of the District’s first standards-based mathematics.
• District meets relevant labor force statistics for hiring and staffing of African American administrators, teachers and staff.  The District continues to pursue aggressively increased diversity, as exemplified by the 20 AA teachers hired just last year.  The District also has in place effective programs for teacher retention, such as the Novice Teacher Mentoring and the Minority Teacher Mentoring Program. 
• African American enrollment in Level 3 courses is near 40%, well within racial fairness guidelines.

Resources relevant to Court Hearing October 19, 2006:

• October 19, 2006 ORDER
• Superintendent Culver Public Comment - October 19 hearing.pdf
• District October 19 Hearing powerpoint.PPT
• Report to Court of Consent Decree Targets and Steps 09_22_06.PDF
• Exhibit A-C.pdf
• Exhibit D-I.pdf
• Exhibit J-S.pdf
• Exhibit T-U.pdf
• Johnson v. Board of Education - U.S. District Court webpage w/ additional documentation

History


In May and July of 1996, the United States Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights received complaints by several Champaign Urbana families addressing mandatory one-way busing of African-American students and the educational services provided to those students. The complaints were later amended to include allegations of system-wide discrimination in student assignments, within-school segregation practices and tracking, discipline, and staffing. In September of 1996, the Office of Civil Rights initiated a proactive compliance review of Unit 4 in two areas; the over-representation of minorities in special education, and under-representation of minorities in upper level classes. This review revealed statistical disparities between majority and minority students in the areas of gifted, upper level courses, within-school integration, discipline, and special education.  

Top Ten Things Every Unit 4 Employee Should Know About the Consent Decree
1. Unit 4 voluntarily entered into the Consent Decree (a unique form of court monitoring) to provide educational equity for African American students.

2. The Consent Decree focuses on the statistical disparities between majority and minority students in the areas of gifted, upper level courses, within-school integration, discipline, and special education.

3. The Consent Decree focuses on over-representation of minorities in special education and under-representation of minorities in upper level classes.

4. The level of detailed analysis and reporting on the effectiveness in the District's programs and services aligns with  national No Child Left Behind initiatives/requirements and has positioned Unit 4 as reference site for schools wishing to address problems of statistical disparities between majority and minority students.

5. Controlled Choice, the Unit 4 system for school assignment, is part of the Consent Decree and Controlled Choice is designed to bring the schools for grades k-8 within racial fairness guidelines.

6. The Family Information Center oversees the Controlled Choice process and serves as a resource for the District and the community.

7. Unit 4 provides Quarterly Reports to a court monitor describing District strategies and accomplishments in improving conditions for African American students. The reports, typically in excess of 500 pages, include data and graphs for each campus on Staffing and Hiring, Student Achievement, Student Attendance, Student Discipline, Special Education, and Gifted/Talented.

8. The District has developed a clear process and a detailed Implementation Plan to achieve educational equity for African American students. The Implementation Plan requires the full support of Unit 4 teachers, administrators, and support staff.

9. The Planning and Implementation Committee includes representatives from the District Administration, Plaintiffs, the Champaign Federation of Teachers, Board Members and Community Members.  The Planning Implementation Committee meets monthly to monitor the goals of the District’s Equity Improvement Plan.

10. The Consent Decree agreement is in effect through the 2008-2009 school year. The District will move out from under the Consent Decree when it has implemented systems that:

• Eliminate unwarranted disparities in the enrollment of minority students in upper level courses.

• Incorporate innovative, interactive, research-based curriculum and instructional practices that take into account students’ diverse learning styles.

• Deliver a professional development plan that provides on-going training and accountability for teachers and administrators in such practices.

Participants Involved

Dr. Michael Alves - Senior Desegregation Specialist, The New England Equity Assistance Center and developer of the Controlled Choice Software. He works as a regular consultant to the District advising on Choice issues and procedures. School choice is one of the hottest topics in education. Not only does it have the attention of educators, it has the endorsement of President Bush and a large following of parents. Books are being written, arguments waged, and bills drafted. There is a growing feeling that if parents can choose which schools their children attend, education will improve.  Michael Alves' Article on Schools of Choice

Dr. Robert Peterkin - Harvard professor who serves as the lead court monitor for the District. He has held school superintendencies in Cambridge, Mass. and Milwaukee, Wis. and has enjoyed a long career in educational leadership, from special education teacher to deputy superintendent, mainly with the Boston Public Schools. His current work focuses on the restructuring of urban public schools for educational equity and higher student achievement, expansion of school leadership to include women and people of color, and coaching school leaders with a focus on teaching and learning. Peterkin has written and lectured on equitable school choice, school governance, school desegregation, women and people of color in leadership, the achievement gap, and the impact of school reform on the achievement of African American children. Dr. Perterkin was appointed by the Court to serve in the Unit 4 Consent Decree.

Carol Ashley - Lead Counsel for the Plaintiff Class who has also served as lead Counsel in other Federal Court cases involving desegregation.

Jim Lucey - serves on the Court Monitoring Team and is involved in data analysis and serves as a consultant assisting the district in developing procedures for accurately gathering and analyzing student and program data.

Judge Joe Bill McDade - United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Peoria, Illinois. Judge McDade stresses the point that there is much work to be done and that he continues to expect improvement in eliminating unwarranted disparities between African American students and their peers in the areas of enrollment, attendance, educational achievement and discipline.  He also expressed continued concerns about the hiring of African American staff. He stated the District and the Plaintiffs have made significant gains toward the goals of the Consent Decree and that “ the citizens of Champaign and its school district are still boldly moving toward the journey’s end envisioned by Brown: equal educational opportunity for all students.”  

Unit 4 Administrators - Arthur Culver, Dorland Norris, Dedrick Martin, Roger Grinnip, and the Data Team compile and present the Quarterly Report to the Court Monitoring Team. District level as well as building level administrators are involved in analyzing and reporting data for the Quarterly Reports.

Report Topics
Each Quarterly Report contains an update on sections listed below. The adjacent administrator is responsible for gathering and analyzing the data with input from building level administrators.

Report Archives

Monitoring Reports
Monitoring Report - October, 2002
Monitoring Report - December, 2003 & Court's Response
First Quarterly Monitoring Report November, 2005

Quarterly Reports
Second Quarterly Section 01 Introduction
Second Quarterly Section 02 Information Technology
Second Quarterly Section 03 Attendance Enrollment
Second Quarterly Section 04 Discipline
Second Quarterly Section 05 Hiring & Staffing
Second Quarterly Section 06 Gifted Talented
Second Quarterly Section 07 Special Education Revised
Second Quarterly Section 08 Achievement
Second Quarterly Section 09 Controlled Choice
Second Quarterly Appendix A -Campus Analysis
Second Quarterly Appendix B-Hiring & Staffing

Court's Response to the Second Monitoring Report
U.S. District Judge Joe Billy McDade has ordered that there is no need to conduct a hearing at this time on the issue of the Champaign Unit 4 School District’s compliance with the Consent Decree.  Judge McDade cited the following examples of District progress toward the goals of the Consent Decree: 

• Stabilization of student assignments and transfers at the elementary level. 668 kindergarten students participated in the April, 2003 assignment process, which constitutes the largest number of early applicants since the beginning of Controlled Choice. The increase of 60 African American students in this group shows significant outreach to the African American community.
• Substantive positive change for Stratton Elementary
• Enrollment of African American students in gifted and talented programs has increased at the elementary level
• Implementation of a solid data gathering infrastructure
• Implementation of a Strategic Plan for complying with the Consent Decree and infrastructure to support it
• An innovative program to transition students at its alternate education facilities back to their home schools

“I am extremely pleased that Judge McDade has recognized the progress made in planning, organization and in establishing a shared vision for our District,” said Superintendent Arthur Culver. “I agree with Judge McDade that the results of the Consent Decree are inconclusive two years after implementation. We have spent the last two years analyzing systems and making changes as necessary.  My interpretation of the Judge’s order is that he recognizes our successful efforts and our good faith, and he is giving us the opportunity to make more significant progress with our data in the areas being monitored,” said Culver.

“This positive response from Judge McDade is very different from his response to the First Monitor’s Report.  After the first report, he basically put the District on notice that he expected to see change or we could expect intervention. I believe that he has seen change. He has seen us develop a Strategic Plan and a Theory of Action to guide the District toward success. He has already seen improvements in some areas. We have our staff, our students, our parents and our community to thank for these improvements.  I expect our next annual report to the Court to be even more positive,” said Culver.  Judge McDade joined Court Monitor Dr. Robert Peterkin and Consultant Jim Lucey for a visit in May to review progress in Champaign alternative programs.

Planning Implementation Committee
The Planning Implementation Committee is chaired by Dr. William Trent, and includes representatives from  the District Administration, Plaintiffs, the Champaign Federation of Teachers, Board Members and Community Members.

Please see below the meeting dates and times for the PIC meetings for the SY09 school year.  It was agreed in June that meetings would be held on the third Thursday of the month at 3:00 p.m.  All meetings will be held at the Mellon Building in the Board Room unless otherwise noted.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate Ellen Joe at 217 351-3701. 

3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. – Mellon Building – Board Room

October 16, 2008

November 20, 2008

December 18, 2008

January 15, 2009

February 19, 2009

March 19, 2009

April 16, 2009

May 21, 2009

Champaign Community Unit School District #4 * Mellon Administrative Center
703 South New Street * Champaign, IL 61820 * 217.351.3800