UPTOWN — For the last month, McCutcheon Elementary Principal Jenn Farrell has found herself multiple times on the cusp of tears — at times out of joy and others out of frustration.
At the end of September, when Chicago Public Schools announced cuts to special education services, the school was told to cut 4.5 special education teachers and aides. While her first response was "concern," she was able to appeal the decision and keep the staff, Farrell told DNAinfo after her State of the School address Wednesday.
"When I heard there was an appeal process I was optimistic because I knew what our school needed. We were very intentional: [We] sat down and came up with a plan," Farrell said, explaining that CPS required a break down of schedules and the minutes the teacher was needed for.
"We were one of the first appeals in and we were granted our appeal. It was a lot of relief," the principal said.
The school has now added students and is requesting another aide, she said.
Farrell had a lot to smile about. At the beginning of November, the school was awarded a Level 1+ in the Chicago Public Schools quality rating report, which uses a broad range of indicators to measure schools by students’ success, including student attendance, academic growth and school culture.
When she received the news, she gathered the staff together and they were all on the verge of tears when she told them of the good news.
"It was really exciting. We’ve been doing really well. We were only a tenth of a point away last year and I totally feel we really upped our game," she said.
To receive the rating, McCutcheon made big improvements in the English Learner category and saw reading growth among African-Americans and diverse learners, the reports show.
The school was one of 170 to received the ranking, an improvement from last year when 162 schools received the highest rank. Joseph Brennemann Elementary School, 4251 N. Clarendon Ave., was the only other school in Uptown to receive the ranking. Both McCutcheon and Brennemann improved from level 1 ratings last year, CPS said in a press release.
To achieve the success at McCutcheon, the school kept its class sizes small and focused the budget to keep money "in the classroom," said Farrell.
"Two years ago, we didn’t have an assistant principal, we also don’t have one this year," she said.
Designated "teacher leaders" have become mentors to other staff members "which has been huge," she said, explaining, "It really helps to have a colleague supply that support."
McCutcheon also used a "tier support" approach in the classroom wherem after a lesson is taught to the entire class, students are assigned to smaller groups which work with the teacher. Students then rotate into different groups.
The approach allows students to "take ownership of their learning," she said.
Overall, "what has worked has been collaborating with the community, providing intervention support, making sure the basic needs of our students are met, having conversations with organizations about what we need and saying 'can you helps us?' And them coming in and helping make that happen," she said.
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