REAVIS REBIRTH - LISC Chicago

1 SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY CONTEXT
The Reavis Way: High
expectations, mutual respect
and teamwork
Reavis Elementary School sits at 50 th Street and Drexel
Boulevard on the border of the Grand Boulevard and
North Kenwood neighborhoods, a short distance from
historic Bronzeville and Hyde Park. The school’s 467
children from pre-kindergarten to 8 th grade are almost
entirely African-American, mostly poor and sometimes
seen as trouble by teachers at area high schools.
The school has a high population of students with asthma,
diabetes and special education needs, and more than
one-quarter of the students move in or out during the
school year. Reavis feeds students primarily into two
nearby high schools, the Walter H. Dyett Academic Center
and Kenwood High School, and is down the street from
Martin Luther King College Preparatory School, one of the
city’s selective-enrollment high schools.
PROFILE:
Reavis Elementary School
STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS (2006)
Number of students (PreK-8) 467
Number of middle-school students (Grades 6-8) 147
Percent low-income 95.9
Percent African-American 98.9
PERFORMANCE (2006)
Percent 8 th -graders meeting standards – reading (ISAT) 67.4
Percent 8 th -graders meeting standards – math (ISAT) 45.7
Attendance rate 94.0
Percent mobility (transfers out/year) 26.4
Source: Illinois School Report Card, 2006
Four years ago, Reavis was a low-performing school, and
there is still room for improvement. The student
attendance rate in 2006 was 94 percent, slightly below
the citywide average of 95 percent. Teacher attendance
and the quality of teaching have been serious issues in
past years and more progress is needed. Discipline
problems also require attention, with 45 suspensions as of
May 2007, though this is a reduction of about 66 percent
from the previous year.
Despite these challenges, Principal Michael T. Johnson
believes the school is on its way back; he calls it the
“Reavis Rebirth.” A graduate of the New Leaders for New
Schools principal-training program, Johnson arrived at
Reavis four years ago when the school was on academic
probation and had severe behavior problems. Now, with
Reavis Elementary School ISS Plan
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