Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 23

Chicago Tribune, Thursday, December 1, 1983 Section 2 3 Citysuburbs Schools flunked fewer pupils Controversial reading program is given credit Chicago public grade schools How many students are promoted to next grade In percent ot students 96 01982 95 LJ 1983 94 93 92 91 I 1 r. 1 1 90 i 89 language arts. "Teachers are more familiar with the program, children are moving faster and spending more time on tasks." The schools failed 20,096, or 7 percent, of 288,120 elementary students in June of this year and 26,943, or 9 percent, of 292,840 students in June, 1982. By comparison, a spot check of about a dozen suburban districts in June showed failure rates ranging from 2 to 6 percent, with 8th-grade failure rates averaging 2 percent or less. Last June, 1,239 Chicago 8th-graders 4.3 percent of the class-did not graduate.

A year earlier, 1,746, or 6 percent, were held back in 8th grade. OVER THE LAST five years, the sharpest drop in the Chicago failure rate was in the 7th and 8th grades. From 1978 to 1983, the number of flunking 7th-graders and 8th-graders dropped by 56 percent, while enrollment declined over the same period by only 14 percent, an analysis of school board figures shows. Achievement in "mastery learning" skills is the key element in determining whether a child will be promoted or flunked. Other criteria1 include performance on other tests, including citywide standardized tests, and social, emotional and physical growth.

But school board policy makes it clear that the decision must be made "on a child-to-child basis." By Jean Latz Griffin Education writer CHICAGO PUBLIC schools flunked nearly 7,000 fewer elementary students this year than last, and school officials credit a controversial reading program and increased involvement on the part of parents for the improvement. 'The number of children who weren't promoted, which had remained fairly consistent from 1978 through 1982, fell nearly 24 percent from June, 1982, to June, 1983, according to Chicago Board of Education figures. "I don't see a beautiful garden of roses existing; we still have a long way to go, said Herbert Schiff, superintendent of the school system's District 9, on the West Side. "But we are more serious now, and parents are a lot more motivated and willing to help their kids. That shows up in the smaller number of retentions." School officials say that much of the credit for the smaller number of failures must be given to what is called the Chicago Mastery Learning Reading Program, a teaching system in its second year of use that stresses basic vocabulary and reading skills.

"MORE STUDENTS are being promoted because they are mastering more skills in the reading program, said Mattie Williams, director of the board's bureau of Board policy requires, however, that 8th-graders be graduated to high school once they nave reached their 5th birthday. THE SIZABLE increase In promotion rates irom 1982 to 1983 is not matched by the average pupil performance on standardized city-wide reading and mathematics tests reported in August by the Board of Education; only small overall improvement was shown on those tests in most grades. But school officials point out that larger-than-averagev test score gains were achieved where they were needed most among children who were on the edge of failure. If the gains came from low-achieving children who were saved from failure by increasing their reading scores, that could have been enough to reduce failure rates, even if it only raised the citywide median slightly," said Fred Schuster, head of research and evaluation for the Board of Education. An analysis of scores reported for the annual standardized tests bears out that point.

From 1982 to 1983. children in the bottom 25 percent of their class improved their reading comprehension at nearly twice the rate of students in the middle half, while the performance of the top 25 percent of students actually fell slightly. THE CHICAGO Mastery Learning Reading Program breaks down reading instruction into about 200 88 6 2 3 4 Grade Chicago Tnbun. Graphic: Source; Chicago Board of Education separate, small skills. Each instructor is to teach each pupil a few of those skills at a time, test to see if the child has learned them, and then teach them again until the skills are learned.

Opinions of the program's effectiveness are divided among teachers. Many have complained that it does pot allow them to use their professional judgment to decide how children need to be taught; others say mastery learning has worked in Chi--cago when nothing else has. Tnbuna pholo by (joorge Thompson Winter coverup Wjth the mercury hovering in the 20s, and a bitter wind making it feel closer to zero, students bundle up as they trudge to school Wednesday in! Elmhurst. A "high" of 28 degrees is forecast for Thursday. Bu Page holds up 25 of public defender funds Angels 1 V.

t- ai Suburban report two sections. We did it by ourselves. "I got my foot inside tne window. The building was billowing black smoke. I could see the kids milling around.

I yelled, 'Over here, over I must nave gotten 35 or 40 kids out of there, Just pushing them onto the ladder as I grabbed for another one. "Once that room emptied, we grabbed the net and caught other kids. Some children missed other nets. But none missed ours. It was after midnight before we left.

But the memories stay forever." This reporter also was among the first to arrive at the scene. IN ONE ROOM, the bodies or six children lay crumpled against a wall. The charred body oi their teacher, a nun, was buried by debris. In a room nearby, a porcelain figure of the Virgin Mary stood on a bookcase, looking out over desks on which pupils had been working on an arithmetic problem when super-heated gasses exploded from the ceiling. The papers never would be graded.

Teacher and pupils were dead. Cpntinued from page 1, this section save lives at the risk of their own. A now-retired firefighter, Walter Roman, was at the wheel of Truck 35, a hook and ladder unit that was among the first fire companies to arrive at the blaze. His longtime buddy Willard Martens was the tiller man, in charge of guiding the long and cumbersome trailer through the narrow residential streets. "We didn't know it was a school fire when we left our quarters at 1713 N.

Springfield Roman recalled. "It took us less than a minute to get there. We were the best team in town. Thank God, we had only five traffic lights and they were all green. I never took my foot off the accelerator.

"WE WHEELED UP to the curb. Martens and I put up a ladder to the second floor. That was a 50-foot ladder that usually takes six men to put up in THE DU PAGE County Board voted Wednesday to withhold 25 percent of the budget of the public defender's office, but Chief Judge Bruce Fawell, surprisingly, said he was not upset with the decision. The vote to withhold the funds, which would pay salaries in the office for the- last quarter of 1984, was taken without discussion as board bers approved a 1984 county budget of $160 million. Fawell, who has had a stormy relationship with the board in his two-year term as chief fudge, said the decision to set aside the money wasn't important.

"They decided to let it slide until next budget year while we do our own audit of the. office," Fawell said. "We've felt all along we could save some money, but the study's going to take awhile because the problems are so Irrbuna photo by George ihonipwin Walter Roman was one of the first -firefighters at the scene: "It was after midnight before we left. But the memories stayed forever." County bank holding companies have announced plans to expand their services by purchasing additional banks. First Oak Brook Bancshares the parent company of Oak Brook Bank, First National Bank of Oak Brook and Metropolitan Bank of Addison, has bought Warrenville Bank Trust Co.

Elm Bancshares which owns Elmhurst National Bank, the largest bank in Du Page County, has offered to buy Rock Island Bank in Downstate Rock Island. The proposal has been approved by the boards of directors of both banks and is awaiting approval by Rock Island Bank stockholders.1 Elm Bancshares' recent purchase of the Bank of Clarendon Hills is awaiting final approval by the Federal Reserve Board. Service Probe links fire ercmaimd.se to elevator oil leak 2 teens may have helped dump body TWO NEIGHBORHOOD teenagers may have unwittingly helped Roberta McCumber carry a portion of her slain boyfriend's body from the murder apartment, according to testimony Wednesday from a state criminal investigator. McCumber, a 22-year-old nurse's aide from Peoria, Is on trial in Du Page County Circuit Court on a charge of murdering rock guitarist Jeffrey Williams, chopping off his legs and dumping his torso in a ditch. The trial, presided over by Peoria County Circuit Judge Peter J.

Paolucci, was moved to Wheaton A PRELIMINARY Investigation into the cause of a Des Piaines apartment building fire revealed Wednesday that a hydraulic oi) leak or malfunction in the building's elevator equipment might have started the blaze that left about 90 people homeless on Thanksgiving Day. Fire department officials originally suspected arson because the fire seemed to have had several points of origin. Fire Chief Charles Gedroic said Wednesday investigators 'are "(airly after studying burn patterns at the scene, 950 Beau that fierce heat from the elevator equipment set off sprinklers in other parts of the basement, leading fire fighters at first to believe they were fighting several fires. 4 2 Du Page banks plan acquisitions TO COMPETE WITH banking services provided by savings and loan companies, stock brokers and even grocery stores, two Du Page 1. i after the Judge that i PORTABLE 0482 ELECTRIC HEATER I Distributes lan torced plus radiant heat.

Features automatic thormostat control, positive "oil and safety tip-over switctv 30H251AA widespread pumicity migrn. nave prevented McCumber from getting a fair trial in her hometown. The investigator, Harold Brigadello, said McCumber told him two youths who 2. lived in the same apartment building helped her carry a heavy package out to her car. "She said she told the i kids the package contained old news-i papers and magazines and rotten oranges, and when they got home PORTABLE BASEBOARD I d96 ELECTRIC HEATER 1500 and 1250 atts.

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Merhcbi had Just debarked from an Air France plane from Lebanon. She was charged with; possession of narcotics and was or-! dered held in lieu of $1 million bond Wednesday. N59f 1 CHICAGO STREET-GANG leader Jeff Fort was placed Wednesday on the U.S. Marshal Service's list of 15 most-wanted fugitives, said Stanley Morris, director of the service. Morris, at a press conference in the Dirkscn Federal Building, said Fort was placed on the list after he failed to appear Tuesday for sentencing on a drug conspiracy charge to which he had pleaded guilty in federal court in Oxford, Miss.

U.S. District Judge J.T. Senter Jr. issued a bench warrant Tuesday for Fort's arrest and ordered his $50,000 cash bond Torfcited, as well as the balance of his $500,000 bond. Fort, 36, was Indicted on the Mississippi charge last cummer.

Morris said marshals throughout the country have been alerted to look for "We will consider him to be dangerous." -Lebanese 'midwife held as smuggler I OFF1CIAIA OF THE U.S. Customs Service on Wednesday seized a kilogram of heroin at Hare International Airport that was being smuggled Into Chicago. Arrested Tuesday evening was Georgette Mcrhebl, 52, citizen of ZJorta, Lebanon, who csrrlbcd herself as a midwife. According to Peter Disrguirie, region- nrzn Robbery suspect's pal cleared in chase Cartiiry Convimw MM I 71'71 A SOUTH SIDE man who was with CMcaoo. the suspected leader of gang of hliirv MM.

ij QriH 1 fitgm RHrxxwio Pron M8u rUmH Stanang Plwn (SIM 7 iWO Nowwp, a. Norrwua Cwtwrwn (Atmn tmm Murtom Irving PiMll DnmitOrMl Hi)M, H. j. 1f dult Ro4 Ton and Country PIWl ft- PHon 1)12) u.no 4tE fum Hd enon out w-noo UiM so" ct aw. 0-'t UrrrU Ptara fion (312) HMM em (912) WVMOO MO 1ewn IVnd Pnon 32I frO0 0.Wl IN On Pa SVO1 Pf O' 4 IWu fl Pnn M01 CHKtlTttkt HOURS Mnnrtay thmuoo Sttvntty AM to 10 rise robbers when he was captured 3rvo lt( Si Pnwtt (3121 300 UUhurM by police turned himscir in Wednes day to Wenlworth Area detectives Mm Adwm lo Pratt 1312) 47 2731 SunrWw 11AM tr.

The 26 year-old man was released after police determined that he had 13121 4730270 UAiuAvm. wAimtOA. Nuts 3AKI Arl Sunam 11 AM lo 4 PM nothing to do with the series of robberies in downtown and North Copyright by Service Merchandise Company, 198 For (he location ol the showroom nearest you call toll Ire 1 800 SMC INFO! Side lakefront high-rise buildings. ThA BiirnAftfml I I ft KnttknM iv ou.Tjn i. vj auu vi tiro I wuvi o.

Gregory Hill, 33, was apprehended Tuesday night after a brief chase at a shootout with police..