U. of C. gets $5 mil. to boost schools

August 25, 2005

BY DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter

It's not exactly a "genius grant,'' but for the University of Chicago's Center for Urban School Improvement, it's just as good.

The center received a $5 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation on Tuesday. The center didn't even apply for the money but can spend it any way it chooses.

The foundation only makes a few such grants each year to institutions that do work central to the foundation's core values. The center has received nearly $5.6 million in the past from the MacArthur Foundation, which is known for its annual no-strings-attached "genius grants."

"We are impressed with the University of Chicago's commitment to urban education,'' said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. "And the center is playing an important role in improving neighborhoods on the South Side."

Center director Tim Knowles said the grant offers "an incredible opportunity to prove that kids on the South Side can learn at high levels.''

The center has been a leader among research universities in trying to improve public schools -- not just through research but through running real schools on a day-to-day basis.

The center is in the midst of creating a network of 20 schools across the city that seek to dispel the myth that poor, minority children can't do well in public schools.

It already operates the North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School, which is 100 percent African American and 70 percent low income. The school has consistently outperformed others in citywide test-score averages. Its fifth-grade students even outscored the state average in standardized math tests last year.

'Want to be held accountable'

The center is opening another school this fall; another school proposal is pending before the Chicago Public Schools. It wants to build two more by 2010. The center also plans to support the start-up of 15 additional schools across the city, and will partner with the operators of those schools to create a network.

"No other university in the country is taking on this level of commitment,'' said Knowles. Most universities have partnered with public schools but don't take the extra step. "We are saying we will own and operate schools and want to be held accountable,'' he said.

U. of C. officials plan to use the money to create an endowment to fund those schools as well as other initiatives.

The money will also go for teacher training, including a support program for new CPS teachers that provides coaching, mentoring and continuing education. The charter schools will be run using a "teaching hospital model'' in which U. of C. education students will teach in the schools. Knowles anticipates 10 to 15 such student teachers in schools with a few hundred pupils -- a higher ratio than at most schools.

The money will also be used to help fund research into the best teaching practices and creating a video library where instructors can view such practices online.

Contributing: Kate Grossman