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School Profile
Perspectives Charter School is located just south of downtown Chicago near the city's Chinatown area. It is chartered by the Chicago Public Schools, opened in 1997, and currently enrolls approximately 160 students in grades 6-12. The facility is housed within a former Chicago elementary school at the present time (March of 2003), but construction on a new facility is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2003. Perspectives was founded as a "school within a school" by two former middle school teachers from the Chicago school system. The school's founders and co-directors sought to provide students with a smaller and more personalized learning environment that emphasizes a positive school culture built around high expectations and achievement. They were dissatisfied with the manner in which parents were treated in the Chicago system, in that parental involvement was rarely sought out, and parents who attempted to get involved were frequently rebuffed. The school was also intended to provide students with real-world experiences in the form of internships and community service, as well as preparation for college for students who may not have had aspirations for this goal previously.
The mission of Perspectives is to create a meaningful learning experience
for students. The school accomplishes this goal by adhering to five
guiding principles:
INVOLVED GROUPS AND DECISIONMAKERS Stakeholder groups identified as being prominently involved in the
planning and development phases of Perspectives include the following
(note: the program survey did not investigate how the amount and nature
of involvement on the part of various stakeholders might differ):
Educators (the school's co-directors and teachers) are the most important
group in terms of influencing curriculum and instruction. A community business association known as Business and Professional
People in the Public Interest (BPI) has been very influential in organizing
and overseeing the development of Perspectives. This organization, whose
membership consisted of prominent Chicago-area business leaders and
attorneys, has been instrumental in providing members of the school's
governing board, as well as sources of internship placements and mentoring
opportunities. Students are also involved in governance issues in the
form of a student member on the school's governing board.
The Perspectives curriculum is described by one of its co-directors as being "somewhat different" from that found in a traditional high school, with the primary difference being the emphasis on the principles of A Disciplined Life©described above. The curriculum is organized around usual academic subjects, commonly referred to as Carnegie units, and is described by one of the school's co-directors as being prescribed "somewhat precisely" for teachers. The curriculum includes a basic skills component that "blends approaches which include an interactive math program from the University of Illinois." Also featured is a social justice class that is taken by all 10th grade students. All Perspectives students are actively involved in real-world learning opportunities. The most notable form that this takes is through community service and field experiences (for middle school students), and internships and job shadowing placements that students in the 9th and 11th grades participate in. These off-site placements are arranged by the school's co-directors and college/career coordinator, and take place through some 60 current business partners. A sampling of placement sites includes a local nursing home, the Chicago Tribune, a law firm, an architecture firm, a Chicago Police district station, the Children and Family Justice Center at the Northwestern University School of Law, and community service at a local nursing home. Placements typically occur on a weekly basis. Student experiences are documented in a field studies notebook, and businesses are surveyed to assess student performance during internships.
Perspectives students are also required, as a condition of graduation,
to develop a six-year plan for activities following graduation, which
can include postsecondary education and/or employment plans. This activity
encourages them to move beyond initial career exploration to identification
of specific career clusters and specific career decisions if possible.
Students also participate in exit interviews at the completion of 8th
grade and 12th grade. The primary challenge encountered by Perspectives thus far has involved funding and facilities. As indicated previously, the school has been housed since its opening in a former Chicago elementary school that the district has leased to Perspectives for $1 annually. The school will break ground in the summer of 2003, however, on a new facility located on the site of its current playground. The school's governing board, which consists of some 30 influential business leaders (including a prominent attorney and the CEO of the Nutrasweet Corporation), has been instrumental in helping to arrange funding for the new facility. Perspectives Charter School
1915 S. Federal Street Chicago, IL 60616 Tel: (312) 225-7400 Fax: (312) 225-7411 Web Site: http://www.perspectivescs.org
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