CHAMPAIGN – In his last visit to the Champaign school district before a federal consent decree is scheduled to expire, court monitor Robert Peterkin said the district has made changes in the last couple of years that have made a difference for students and that have "enormous potential" for the future.

"I think they are in the best position they've been in to attack the problems brought up in the consent decree," Peterkin said, "but they can't claim total victory."

Peterkin, a Boston-based consultant who has been working with the district on equity issues for 12 years, spent the last three days meeting with administrators, teachers and students and visiting schools. He meets quarterly with district administrators and plaintiffs' representatives to monitor the district's progress on meeting the goals of the consent decree.

Carol Ashley, the plaintiffs' attorney in the consent decree case, said it was business as usual during Peterkin's visit, but everyone knew the June 30 expiration date of the consent decree is looming.

Peterkin visited all three middle schools, Centennial and Central high schools, the Academic Academy, and four elementary schools – Garden Hills, Washington, Dr. Howard and Stratton.

One of the issues the district and the plaintiffs worked on resolving during Peterkin's last visit, in November, was special-education evaluations. This week, he and James Lucey, another member of the monitoring team, saw how teachers monitor the progress of special-education students and what strategies to use to help them.

"It's really targeted and focused," Lucey said.

They also saw how literacy coaches and teachers work together to assess what students need to help them with reading. Lucey said the focus was on what was needed for each individual child.

"It's a real contrast to what we saw in the past, where the focus was on the teacher and what they were going to do," Lucey said.

Peterkin said the main issues for the monitoring team were whether the changes put in place by the district were widespread, whether plans were being carried out, and whether they were producing results.

Superintendent Arthur Culver said he thought the visit has gone "exceptionally well."

He said the school visits have given Peterkin the opportunity to see that the district's plans are being carried out at the campus level, and are making a difference in day-to-day instruction.

Peterkin said teachers are being held accountable for carrying out the district's plans, "but it's really new."

Although the district has made progress, he still has several concerns. Peterkin called the district's schools-of-choice program "one of the most successful controlled-choice plans in the United States." But as the district moves from using race to economic status as a factor in student assignments, he worries that there could be a resegregation of the schools.

Peterkin said the disproportional representation of black students in special education is "practically unchanged" from when the consent decree began. And he is concerned about high school graduation and dropout rates.

Culver acknowledged the district still has a way to go in some areas, but "the key is we have things in place to address those things."