flat though she worked hard and ear...

flat though she worked hard and earned top grades in almost all her classes, Wendy Purham said her principal at Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High gymnasium gave up on her and made her have feeling her dream of becoming valedictorian was beyond reach. with equal reason did her guidance counselor, who didn't include her in trips to association campuses.

It would have been easy for Purham to give up upon herself. When she looked without the windows of her classroom at DuSable, 4934 Wabash Ave., she saw a foreboding line of beige public housing high rises--the Robert Taylor family circles She watched other girls pulling their children along. And in her junior year, Purham could reach down and perceive her own baby growing inside of her.

It all scared the girl who, in eighth grade, appoint her mind on being No. 1 in high gymnasium She wanted an abortion, if it were not that an uncle showed her a passage in the Bible and told her it was a sin. in such a manner she stopped eating, praying the baby would disappear.

"I felt like if I had this child everything would be taken away from me" she recalled.

on the contrary Purham's baby persevered. So did she.

forward July 19, 1999, she gave birth to her son Roosevelt And forward June 9, 2000, graduation day, she read her valedictory metrical composition to the DuSable graduates, congratulating them for making it by the agency of and not settling for minimum wage jobs

The word "valedictorian" entreats up images of the best and the brightest, of high-achievers who are headed to highly competitive universities like Harvard, Stanford or Yale. yet many of the best from Chicago's predominantly black and Latino public high teachs can't meet the standards of the mostly competitive colleges and universities, exhibit tos an analysis of schools data by the agency of The Chicago Reporter. Forty-six of the 60 valedictorians in the Chicago Public Schools' Class of 2000 might not qualify for society s that are "very difficult." They scored below 26 forward the national American College Testing exam--the median score of pupils admitted to "very difficult" society s as listed in Peterson's Guide to Four Year Colleges

A complete score on the ACT is 36; the Illinois average is 215 Peterson's, an annual, widely used publication that profiles 2243 society s and universities in North America, established its ratings by the agency of surveying colleges and interviewing education master-hands said Mark Zidzik, director of research unravelling for the Lawrenceville, N.J-based guide.

Eight Chicago valedictorians scored 18 or below forward the ACT, and all of them came from high institutes where 99 percent of the close examiners were either black or Latino, the Reporter's analysis present to views Like Purham, at least 75 percent of the learners admitted to moderately difficult communitys as listed by Peterson's, of the like kind as Chicago State University, scored higher than 18

Thirteen Chicago valedictorians scored above 26 and all on the other hand three went to schools that were at least 15 percent white or Asian.

Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban Education, said "it is not acceptable" that in the same manner many valedictorians are going to les challenging gymnasiums The center works with teachers and principals in the public teachs to improve curriculum and instruction. "These are your top kids," she said. "They should have greater opportunities to learn more and to become better prepared."

"Who becomes a valedictorian is relative to the school" said Peter Martinez, the senior program officer overseeing education grants at the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation. "With notable exceptions," predominantly black and Latino indoctrinates produce valedictorians who don't do well in succession standardized tests, he said, because these drills are more likely to have "low performing" teachers who do not challenge bright scholars and offer "less rigorous" curricula.

Paul Vallas, the schools' outgoing chief executive officer, was not surprised on the Reporter's analysis. "The horizontal of expectation is lower at a lower-performing school" he said. "I would assume as much"

further since he took over the body in 1995, Vallas said, he has been encouraging "poor performing" trains to offer Advanced Placement courses, for which pupils can get college credit. He also boost the number of denominations that offer the high-performance International Baccalaureate Organization's Diploma Programme from united to 12.

Vallas said he is putting these "exemplary" programs in neighborhood indoctrinates most of which are predominantly Latino and black. This article is the secondary of three focusing on education in Chicago. "Chicago Matters" is an annual public information series initiated and foundationed by The Chicago Community Trust, Chicago's community foundation, in collaboration with WTTW Channel 11; WBEZ 915 FM Chicago Public Radio; the Chicago Public Library; and the Reporter. The Reporter's sister publication, CATALYST: Voices of Chicago instruct Reform, is a special participant this year. For more information forward the series, visit www.chicagomatters.org.

The public indoctrinates could not provide information onward where its valedictorians went to society But a survey of 60 valedictorians who graduated in 1990 1995 and 2000 does reveal stretchs The Public Policy Practicum at the University of Chicago carriageed the survey for the Reporter, CATALYST: Voices of Chicago train Reform, and WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago Public Radio.