DOWNTOWN — Ogden International School has earned top marks from Chicago Public Schools.
Ogden Principal Michael Beyer told parents Monday night that the Downtown school received a Level One-Plus rating, the highest school rating on CPS' five-point scale, this year. Ogden, which serves grades K-12 across two campuses, was considered a Level One school last year.
According to the full CPS report, Ogden received excellent grades across many criteria, including elementary standardized test scores and high school dropout rate. Beyer, who just joined Ogden this school year, was quick to praise others for the distinction.
"Congratulations to all the faculty, staff, students, parents, and administration! I can claim zero credit for this, since it all happened well before I arrived," Beyer said in the e-mail to parents Monday. "We have an amazing school community, and we'll be in great shape no matter what happens this year."
The achievement is a nice capstone for Ogden, which endured some turbulent years recently featuring a revolving door of interim and fulltime principals. Like many other schools, Ogden cut its budget this year due to CPS fiscal woes, and is considering merging with nearby Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts to address an overcrowding problem at its Gold Coast elementary school.
CPS is expected to report all school ratings Tuesday morning.
Ogden successfully appeals special education cuts
Beyer also told parents last week that Ogden succeeded in appealing a CPS decision to cut eight special education jobs from the school. Instead, Ogden will lose just two fulltime special ed teacher jobs that were already vacant, and actually gain one more special ed assistant due to a higher-than-projected enrollment of students with special needs, Beyer said.
Last month, CPS told Ogden to cut five of its 18 special ed teachers, and three of its 20 assistants.
CHECK OUT OGDEN'S 2015 SCHOOL QUALITY RATING REPORT:
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