Best public schools to TEACH in in Chicago? (Lincoln, Avon: best neighborhoods, look for a job)

[laf10]

I'm getting certified in another state to teach, but I am interested in moving to Chicago after I graduate. I've heard negative things about the public schools, but are there good ones to teach in? Would I be better off in the suburbs? Also, how competitive are the jobs in public schools in the Chicago area. I'm not looking to teach in the "inner city schools" my first year out of college; I'd like to get my feet wet before I dive into a difficult position. Any advice would be great!

[Johnny Northside]

Generally, suburban schools are more competitive than the city for teaching jobs. The exceptions would be the poorer suburbs and the best neighborhoods in the city, where the reverse would be the prevailing climate. If you aren't interested in a hard-core inner-city experience, you may be reasonably successful looking for a job in a city community area such as Logan Square, Avondale, Belmont-Cragin Albany Park, Portage Park, Dunning, West Ridge or Rogers Park. You may be dealing with some of the same challenges as do teachers in the inner-city schools, but you will likely feel like you are in a reasonably safe environment.

[Lookout Kid]

"Inner City" is such a dated term... The innermost city neighborhoods are now becoming some of the nicest.

You could look for a CPS job in a nice neighborhood like Lakeview or Lincoln Park as well. All CPS schools are going to have their problems, but you can minimize that by avoiding schools that are completely surrounded by ghetto. Schools like Nettlehorst, Bell, Hawthorne, etc. are actually pretty decent places, but I'm sure most tenured CPS teachers would have dibs on those positions before some newcomer. Chicago is definitely a city where "clout" matters in any public position.

[ApolloGod]

CPS has good pay and benefits, and with so many schools to choose from, you'll really have a lot of options. Although suburb schools are much more competitive than CPS schools, the better CPS schools are still difficult to get into (Lincoln Park, Payton, etc.).

CPS does have issues (the politics of any big-city school system), but good teachers are needed in every school. That's why I'm part of a program to teach in the highest-need areas. This is probably not what you're looking for, but don't fret. As I said, there are a ton of schools in nice or moderate neighborhoods that would be good for first-year teachers. Check out Chicago Public Schools and look at the school directory to see which schools are in which areas.

[laf10]

Thanks so much for the responses! I've just read some really negative posts about Chicago's "best" schools actually being really bad themselves, and that scared me! But I guess that was just one poster's opinion! Thank you!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by laf10

Thanks so much for the responses! I've just read some really negative posts about Chicago's "best" schools actually being really bad themselves, and that scared me! But I guess that was just one poster's opinion! Thank you!

Well, there's a difference in "being good enough to work there" verses "being good enough to send your own kids there". I would think that there are several schools that might be good work environments, even if their test scores don't match those in the North Shore suburbs.

[laf10]

Thanks! Does anyone know how hard it is to get certified in Illinois coming from another state? I will have a valid certificate but no experience except student teaching. Will it take a few months? And if it does, can I apply for it before I move to Illinois so that I can teach when I get there instead of waiting months to be able to look for a job?

[wickedripeplum]

Also keep in mind that some subjects, namely math and science, are more in demand than others.

Though it's entirely not clear from your post which age group you're looking to teach so maybe I shouldn't just assume you mean high school.

[chet everett]

The challenges that come from working in a CPS school are from a hundred different directions. Even the best schools have to do deal with the "central office" which can and does screw-up the simplest things, from getting attendance forms to match the actual class roster, to matters of pay and deductions, to issues that are allegedly in the Union Contract. I have friends that still teach in CPS with as many as 50% more kids per classroom than the contract states is the MAXIMUM. Even in the BEST circumstances that is a challenge that reduces the odds of success for the students and places extraordinary strain on the teachers.

Some good principals can do A LOT to shake loose the resources to be sure their schools is not overcrowded/understaffed, but at a certain point there just are no more teachers that the principal would CHOOSE to be in charge of a room full of challenging kids.

Odds are not good that there are many well prepared students, involved parents, effective principals, or competent colleagues at a school that is chronically under-performing. Even if you are 'super hero' there is not much that one person can do. At the better schools there are much better odds that at least some of the other teachers know what they are doing and maybe there is a principal that has some savvy about how to get the really horrible kids into a setting they need and get the kind of staff that can lead most of the students to some kind of success.

The newer magnet high schools tend to have this combo, but as those principals go on to other assignments there is a crap shoot that things won't fall apart.

A tremendous amount stress goes with working in the schools that have a small number of highly capable students who are expected to work really hard AND a mass of under-prepared students that are unlikely to meet the most minimal of standards. Hollywood loves to tell stories about "happy endings" where all the kids smilingly turn things around, take AP tests and live happily ever after. The reality is that any urban district has very little success. Even Jamie Escalante took along time to get the under-prepared stream of students to the point where there was success at Garfield High with AP Calculus, but eventually that came undone too.

If you are lucky enough to get a position in a "good" school you tend to develop a tolerance for things that simply DO NOT HAPPEN in any reasonable suburb. Classes like Escalante had with 50 students never happen outside of urban settings.

When it comes to elementary/middle schools the situation is even more bizarre. The CPS has no coherent strategies for students with limited English proficiency, various learning/behavioral disorders and even physical issues. Some principals have sound ways of helping these kids, while others are clueless. If/when kids move from one part of the City to another they may or may not move into a school with sound follow through, and the principal at the receiving school may or may not be accommodating of the strains caused by such movement. Rarely do students move midyear into/out of well performing suburban schools and when this happens the administration almost always takes efforts to help the student AND address the added work this causes for the teacher. Too many parents of kids in the CPS have no clue as to their rights with regard to expecting all the kids get appropriate resources, and even if teachers go to bat for them they often cave in the face of bureaucratic nonsense. The rare parent who sticks with what they know they deserve tends to become such a PITA that even good teachers begin to hate their persistence. Bad systems turn everyone into adversaries.

Things in all but the most horrid suburban systems are simply much better, teachers who have any ability generally do OK. Of course pay is all over the map and the tenure system discourages mobility so it makes a huge difference to TRY and start out at school that compensates teachers fairly and ride the earning there higher. There are different kinds of challenges trying to motivate capable students in an environment where your efforts are appreciated vs the random mess that reigns in too many CPS schools.

I do have friends that have 20+ years experience working in CPS schools and they all agree it is not lack of young teachers, nor lack of funds, nor the difficulty of the work that takes its toll so much as it is the hardening that happens as they are forced to care less and less about things that they realize are outside of their control. Few of my friends that teach at suburban or private school express this frustration. They do face some tough things too, but rarely are they made to feel their efforts are meaningless. Even after CPS have been "disbanded" and "restaffed" often teachers get rehired who were the least productive, sometimes because they have an inside track, other times because literally no one else is available.

[vintage1985]

laf10,

I am in the same boat. I posted the same question on another board and someone said that you can apply for a provisional IL cert and they'll give you a few months to finalize everything. They also said you don't need to have the full cert to get a job. I just interviewed at a school (waiting to hear back!) and they did not seem to care that I was coming from out of state and hadn't been certified in IL yet.

Go here (Chicago Public Schools) to see the newest job openings. They list them every Wednesday. This (http://www.isbe.net/certification/pd..._checklist.pdf) is a checklist of all the forms you'll need to fill out.