Reading the NY Times article on Emmanuel has made me think about the roles of statistics in defining success.  As you suggest, such numbers (the 58% to 70% increase in graduation rates, a 40% increase in African American students in AP classes, etc.) may point to successes within the school district.  Certainly a twelve point increase in graduation rates is huge in such a big city in such a short amount of time.  But it also makes me wonder who exactly were graduating in higher numbers.  The article does not explicitly state amongst which groups graduation numbers increased.

After the end of class last tuesday I was very concerned by the conversation surrounding teacher unions and the anti-union sentiments that were being brought up. So instead on focusing on one article or specific current event I chose instead to look for aspects of the articles that talked about and dealt with teachers and teacher unions. 

From the article on Rham Emanuel School Agenda Bedevils Chicago Mayor in Race by Monica Davey and Julie Bosman 

"[Rahm Emanuel] pushed to toughen teacher evalueations and oversaw an expansion of charter schools" 

I definitely agree that there are some positive changes Emanuel intiated in the school district of Chicago, but that many of his ideas concerning charters and evaluations are questionable, and it's good that Garcia is challenging those ideas and that many Chicago residents, including teachers and parents of students, are supporting him.

Graham's article reinforcing the idea that money is not enough for schools to provide a good education or appropiate resources to its students is important to keep in mind. In order to provide the space needed to cater the turnaround of Philly School's, we also need to provide well qualified teachers and educators. We need to provide all necessary tools for these schools to thrive as well as the education of our students. Without the appropiate support and unlimited access to resources, all the money invested in new schools will go to waste.

I've really noticed throughout the readings for this class that when the community around a school is strong (Kirp, McKilip, Lee & Hawkins) the school tends to be very successful and vice cersa. When schools are closed in communities, this negatively affects the community by taking away a safe place for the neighborhood children, jobs for adults in the community, and a resource for families.

Mr. Emanuel clearly has done some good for the public school system of Chicago. His closing of 50 schools allowed 93% of those students to go to a school with a better rating (20% in top tier schools, >33% in the same tier). As he put it "if you're going to close the education gap you can't keep kids trapped in underperforming schools." I do agree with this point. However, I think many of the other things he has done have not been helpful to schools, such as making teacher evaluations harder and expanding charter schools.