All Shook Up: April 1996

When Teacher Magazine called on award-winning Chicago principal Charles Mingo in 1996, both he and his beloved DuSable High were under the gun. The all-black school, located near the notorious Robert Taylor housing projects on the city's South Side, had such abysmal test scores that district officials were considering "reconstitution," an overhaul that threatened to strip the principal and faculty members of their jobs. The word was out: Raise test scores—or else.

But that would not be easy. DuSable students were a transient, ill-prepared lot. Most arrived at the high school with academic skills at the 6th grade level or below. Thirty-eight DuSable students could not read at all.

Since assuming control of the school in 1989, Mingo had come to be known as an innovative principal with a tough but conciliatory manner. As DuSable's educational leader, he knew it was his job to keep the school focused on teaching and learning, but one thing or another always seemed to get in his way. Mingo's days were filled with mundane tasks and interruptions: Chasing down false fire alarms, dealing with substitutes, fielding parent complaints, keeping up with district paperwork, answering endless questions about parking, security, supplies, and field trips. Like Don Corleone in The Godfather , Mingo would wave one petitioner after another...