Chicago Valedictorians Struggle to Stay Competitive

Chicago Reporter, The, May, 2001 by Sarah Karp

Even though she worked hard and earned top grades in almost all her classes, Wendy Purham said her principal at Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School gave up on her and made her feel her dream of becoming valedictorian was beyond reach. So did her guidance counselor, who didn't include her in trips to college campuses.

It would have been easy for Purham to give up on herself. When she looked out the windows of her classroom at DuSable, 4934S. Wabash Ave., she saw a foreboding line of beige public housing high rises--the Robert Taylor Homes. She watched other girls pulling their children along. And in her junior year, Purham could reach down and feel her own baby growing inside of her.

It all scared the girl who, in eighth grade, set her mind on being No. 1 in high school. She wanted an abortion, but an uncle showed her a passage in the Bible and told her it was a sin. So she stopped eating, praying the baby would disappear.

"I felt like if I had this child everything would be taken away from me," she recalled.

But Purham's baby persevered. So did she.

On July 19, 1999, she gave birth to her son, Roosevelt. And on June 9, 2000, graduation day, she read her valedictory poem to the DuSable graduates, congratulating them for making it through and not settling for minimum wage jobs.

The word "valedictorian" conjures up images of the best and the brightest, of high-achievers who are headed to highly competitive universities like Harvard, Stanford or Yale. But many of the best from Chicago's predominantly black and Latino public high schools can't meet the standards of the most competitive colleges and universities, shows an analysis of schools data by The Chicago Reporter. Forty-six of the 60 valedictorians in the Chicago Public Schools' Class of 2000 might not qualify for colleges that are "very difficult." They scored below 26 on the national American College Testing exam--the median score of students admitted to "very difficult" colleges as listed in Peterson's Guide to Four Year Colleges.

A perfect score on the ACT is 36; the Illinois average is 21.5. Peterson's, an annual, widely used publication that profiles 2,243 colleges and universities in North America, established its ratings by surveying colleges and interviewing education experts, said Mark Zidzik, director of research development for the Lawrenceville, N.J-based guide.

Eight Chicago valedictorians scored 18 or below on the ACT, and all of them came from high schools where 99 percent of the students were either black or Latino, the Reporter's analysis shows. Like Purham, at least 75 percent of the students admitted to moderately difficult colleges as listed by Peterson's, such as Chicago State University, scored higher than 18.

Thirteen Chicago valedictorians scored above 26, and all but three went to schools that were at least 15 percent white or Asian.

Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education, said "it is not acceptable" that so many valedictorians are going to less challenging schools. The center works with teachers and principals in the public schools to improve curriculum and instruction. "These are your top kids," she said. "They should have greater opportunities to learn more and to become better prepared."

"Who becomes a valedictorian is relative to the school," said Peter Martinez, the senior program officer overseeing education grants at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. "With notable exceptions," predominantly black and Latino schools produce valedictorians who don't do well on standardized tests, he said, because these schools are more likely to have "low performing" teachers who do not challenge bright students and offer "less rigorous" curricula.

Paul Vallas, the schools' outgoing chief executive officer, was not surprised by the Reporter's analysis. "The level of expectation is lower at a lower-performing school," he said. "I would assume as much."

But since he took over the system in 1995, Vallas said, he has been encouraging "poor performing" schools to offer Advanced Placement courses, for which students can get college credit. He also boosted the number of schools that offer the high-performance International Baccalaureate Organization's Diploma Programme from one to 12.

Vallas said he is putting these "exemplary" programs in neighborhood schools, most of which are predominantly Latino and black. This article is the second of three focusing on education in Chicago. "Chicago Matters" is an annual public information series initiated and funded by The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago's community foundation, in collaboration with WTTW, Channel 11; WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago Public Radio; the Chicago Public Library; and the Reporter. The Reporter's sister publication, CATALYST: Voices of Chicago School Reform, is a special participant this year. For more information on the series, visit www.chicagomatters.org.

The public schools could not provide information on where its valedictorians went to college. But a survey of 60 valedictorians who graduated in 1990, 1995 and 2000 does reveal trends. The Public Policy Practicum at the University of Chicago conducted the survey for the Reporter, CATALYST: Voices of Chicago School Reform, and WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago Public Radio.