You may recall any or all of the following:
1. It was three years ago today that Chancellor Hyman’s appointment to lead the City Colleges of Chicago began (Happy anniversary, Chancellor!).
2. It was two and a quarter years ago (ish) that the Board of the City Colleges of Chicago resolved “that the Board of Trustees expects all staff and officers of the District to advance the goals of the Reinvention of the City Colleges of Chicago and will hold staff accountable for reaching these goals” and, further, “that as the governing body of the City Colleges of Chicago, all Trustees pledge to hold themselves accountable for reaching these goals for student improvement and success.” The board resolution promised to track progress on interim benchmarks and milestones to achieving the Reinvention goals, “including but not limited to:
- Increases in the graduation rate
- Increases in the student retention rate
- Increases in the credit accumulation rate
- Increases in the employment rate
- Increases in the percentage of students who transfer to a 4-year institution after receiving an Associate’s degree
- Increases in the percentage of students who move through remediation and successfully challenge a college-level course
- Increases in the percentage of upper-level adult education students who move into college-level courses”
3. It was just a little over two years ago that a faculty group put together an open letter to then Board Chair Cabrera quoting Board rule 2.2.3 (““The Board shall conduct an annual review of the performance of the Chancellor. Such review shall be conducted by such persons, designated by the Board, and in such manner, as the Board may deem appropriate”) and asking for, among other things, information about the Chancellor’s review.
4. It was about a year and a quarter ago that an article in Inside Higher Ed focused on the administrative accountability for the City Colleges’ Reinvention goals and plans, the penultimate paragraph of which reads, “After just one year, many of the plan’s recommendations are still being phased in. But it calls for regular checks on progress beginning this summer, and system officials promise that performance evaluations of administrators will be tied directly to the reinvention.”
5. It was about a year ago that CCC released news about exactly one of the seven “interim benchmarks and milestones,” highlighting the rise in graduation rates.
6. It was about 9 months ago that the CCC budget was released with the baselines for Key Performance Indicators broken out by schools and departments (Daley: p124; Harold: p141; KK: p160; MalcolmX: p182; OH: p202; Truman: p207; Wilbur: p240). (Interestingly, there is no scorecard for the Board, the Chancellor, nor the the Chief of Staff’s office, but they pick up again with the Department of Academic Affairs (p269). So you may be thinking that the Board and Chancellor get a mean score from the rest of the metrics. It’s also not clear in the budget how the scorecards work–is it Pass/Fail? And if so, on each category or on all of them? Is one ‘F’ enough to doom the leadership? Or will they do a color code (like a stoplight (red, yellow, green) or homeland security)? All fascinating questions that plead for answers…)
But perhaps, in your cynical, grinchy heart, you recall all of that and continue to think, as you have all along, that it’s a bunch of hot air and hooey–political mumbo jumbo that is founded on the dual expectation of being able to cherry pick the confirmation data points and mystify/withhold the less flattering numbers.
Is that you?
Well, prepare for your heart to grow three sizes this day! It’s Christmas in April today, my friends, and with you I shall share a gift bestowed upon me by a person in the know–a modern day Deepthroat, a local Julian Assange, an educational Aaron Swartz!
That’s right, for answers to your questions and a peek at the Board of Trustees’ frank and refreshingly transparent 360 review of the Chancellor (and their own performance) in light of the above, you’ll have to travel below the fold by clicking on the “More” button…
Take a peek at this!!!
April Fools, suckers.
The Harold Lounge 
I looked for the “more” button for 2 minutes before I got the joke. You are mean PhiloDave.
This is an argument against sabbaticals.
Ha! Those might be my favorite comments of the year!!
The Venn Diagram of the two would have HILARIOUS in the middle!
Great stuff. Thanks. They made it totally worth it.
You can’t handle the truth! [Peeps], [you] live in a world that has [colleges], and those [colleges] have to be guarded by [vice-chancellors] with [badges]. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, [PhiloDave]? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom! You weep for [John] and you curse the [District]. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that [John]’s [retirement], while tragic, probably [created administration positions]. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, [creates jobs]! You don’t want the truth, because deep down in places you don’t talk about at [Development Week], you want me [in those colleges]! You need me on [those faculty members]! We use words like “[Reinvention]”, “[PeopleSoft]”, “[Branding]”. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline! I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a [blogger] who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said “Thank you,” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a [badge], and [do your frikin job]. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!
Signed,
DistrictHackedPhiloDavesBlog
THAT WAS AWESOME!
Fell for it completely.
Well done