Dundee-Crown High School shows improvement in safety, academics

In October 2008, a 16-year-old boy was attacked by another student as he was walking down a stairwell at Dundee-Crown High School.

The incident sparked outrage among parents, who demanded a safer environment for their children. Within a month, Community Unit District 300's new safety officer, Gary Chester, announced physical changes with that end in mind: brighter lights, more fencing, reduced landscaping and a new parking area for students.

In the year since those changes were implemented, students and staff at the Carpentersville high school have seen results, officials say. Bad behavior has dropped as school leaders work to improve the school climate and student achievement.

Last year, Dundee-Crown began "restructuring," which entails changes to curriculum, programs and staff. The state requires schools to restructure after two years of failing to meet federal No Child Left Behind standards.

The process is supposed to force schools to disrupt the status quo and take a hard look at their practices and personnel.

But even if they improve their test scores, many Illinois schools will find it difficult to emerge from restructuring because state standards are rising faster than even high-achieving schools can ultimately keep up with.

All schools can do is look for signs of measurable and sustained improvement.

According to a one-year progress report, those signs are apparent at Dundee-Crown.

Less violence

Last year, fights, gang activity and insubordination dropped by about a third, according to the report. The number of fights at the school declined from 78 to 27, and freshmen, who have been a focus of the school's restructuring efforts, had about half as many behavior problems as the previous freshman class.

School leaders have hailed the positive behavior data as a sign that the school's efforts to shed its image as a rough school and perennial underachiever are working.

"I think the school is in better shape than I've ever seen," said Rich Bogue, a teacher in his 24th year at Dundee-Crown. "This is the first time I can recall there's been so much effort in finding common ground. This is definitely the most pride I've seen in this building since I started."

Dundee-Crown is by far the most diverse high school in Community Unit District 300. Just under half of the more than 2,400 students at the school are low-income; almost 40 percent of the school is Hispanic.

The school's fissures along income, ethnic and gang lines have often erupted in violence in and around the school. During the past two years, spurred in part by feedback from residents, staff and alumni, District 300 has made safety a priority, and Dundee-Crown has taken steps to reduce the violence.

Last year, the district hired Chester, a former police and fire chief, to oversee school safety efforts across the district. The district also installed more than 100 security cameras at Dundee-Crown, implemented an anonymous tip line and enacted a three-strikes expulsion policy for gang-related incidents.

Out of about 20 tips the district received last year, six of them had substance; Dundee-Crown expelled 21 students last year, fewer than half for gang activity, administrators said. So far, the school has no expulsions this year.

Many at Dundee-Crown credit the elimination of flex block - a 45-minute period during which all 2,400 students could wander freely through the school - with reducing many of the incidents.

"There were a bunch of areas in the school where gang members would meet up," said Tim Riley, a senior who has worked on his school's restructuring effort. "By eliminating flex block, you kind of weed that out."

The end of flex block enabled Dundee-Crown to start a new, daily class period during which students can get extra help, hold club meetings and learn about the school's values and expectations.

Charger pride

The school's efforts last year to promote school pride through acronyms and slogans received mixed reviews, but school spirit got an unexpected boost from the boys basketball team's drive to the state Final Four last season.

"I don't think Charger Pride had a huge effect last year," said media center director Dave Hatcher. "I think the basketball team had a huge impact on the school."

The trick for Dundee-Crown is to maintain the sense of unity forged by the basketball team's success last year. This year, the school has involved more teachers in the Charger Pride effort and has continued to rely on a committee of student leaders to improve attitudes at the school.

"Feeling that I have a voice in the restructuring has made coming to school more enjoyable for me," said Dundee-Crown senior Tara Shedor, a member of the Voices committee created last year to encourage student participation.

The high school is also launching an initiative to get more Hispanic parents involved in their children's education.

"We're reaching out to parents, and the parents are responding in a very positive way," said Ann DiConsola, a guidance counselor.

Higher achievement

Of course, school leaders have introduced numerous changes to raise student achievement - many of them at the freshman level.

Dundee-Crown implemented a "freshman academy" last year. The idea is to isolate freshmen in a particular area of the school and provide more deans and guidance counselors to help the youngest students transition to the sometimes disorienting high school environment and the more rigorous high school curriculum.

Freshman English teacher Nikki Woodbury saw the benefits of freshman academy last year, when she worked with a team of teachers to address areas in which their students were struggling.

"We can talk about student progress. We can problem-solve together. It's mirrored in both classes," Woodbury said. "You get to create a relationship with these students that is maintained all school year."

Dundee-Crown has also focused on its minority and disadvantaged students. The school is starting a partnership with the Dundee Township Boys and Girls Club to provide tutoring and safe recreation for at-risk students.

The AVID program, which teaches skills students need to be successful, targets teens who are may be the first in their family to attend college. A majority of students in the program last year were Hispanic and low-income.

Addressing the gap in test scores between white and Hispanic students and between disadvantaged teens and the general student body is a top priority.

"It's certainly important for the school to narrow that gap," guidance counselor Judy Gard said. "Through some of the programs you're hearing about now, that's being handled."

Results

The programs already seem to have shown results. Even as the recession battered low-income families, the achievement gap narrowed last year. While only 16 percent of Hispanic students, compared with 62 percent of white students, met state standards in reading two years ago, last year 26 percent of Hispanic students met standards, while 67 percent of their white peers did.

Along with involving energetic young teachers like Woodbury in new initiatives, Dundee-Crown Principal Lynn McCarthy has also released nontenured teachers who were not meeting expectations, reassigned other teachers and replaced two deans.

"If teachers weren't doing what they needed to do, (department heads) would work with them," McCarthy said. "If they weren't showing growth, we released them."

Although the school only has one year of data so far, the improved school climate and new educational initiatives appear to have translated into higher test scores for the entire student body.

Last year, 48 percent and 42 percent of Dundee-Crown juniors met standards in reading and math, respectively, compared to 42 percent and 39 percent a year earlier.

Students and staff say the academic progress is a direct result of the better learning environment established during the past two years.

"When you feel more comfortable at school, you're going to give a harder effort," senior Tim Riley said. "People are starting to enjoy going to school more."