High school’s performance called into question

The Chicago Tribune turned its spotlight on Austin Polytechnical Academy in Tuesday’s editions.

Reporters David Jackson and Gary Marx write about the high school’s failure to meet the goals its founder, labor activist Dan Swinney, set when it opened in 2007.

“Nearly seven years into its existence, few of the academy’s graduates hold the steady, high-paying manufacturing jobs Swinney promised West Side families, according to Tribune interviews with Swinney and more than a dozen former students and teachers,” the Tribune reports.

“And while the academy has made some progress on academic measures since last year, its record includes woeful test scores, substandard graduation rates and frequent turnover among principals, teachers and administrative staff,” the paper wrote.

Here’s the story.