When Julie Toole started teaching at Pablo Casals Elementary in west Humboldt Park in 1992, the school offered music classes and an after-school program that taught students everything from tap dancing to violin.
The curriculum changes–which included dumping the music teacher in favor of a writing lab position–came about in the wake of a 1996 School Reform Board decision to require that third-, sixth-, and eighth-graders meet minimum Iowa scores in reading and math before being promoted to the next grade. That same year the school board, under the direction of CEO Paul Vallas, put 109 schools on probation for low test scores. Casals is not on probation, says Toole, but is “close to it.” Although scores have gone up 10 percent since the changes, she says such increases are often inaccurate representations of students’ abilities. Before she was the art teacher she had special education students who often guessed on every answer, yet would sometimes leap three grade levels at a time.
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Toole’s students made the videos, snapped the photos, and conducted the interviews. “I think they’re happy to feel like they have a forum,” she says. “I’m trying to teach them that art is a form of communication and that sometimes you can say things with art that people can’t hear another way.”
“School Reform” takes place Friday, June 8, from 7 to 9 PM, with performances at 7:15 and 8:15. It’s at Pablo Casals Elementary School, 3501 W. Potomac, and it’s free. Call 773-534-4444 for more information.
