What Others Have To Say
Covering the back-stabbing Mike Klonsky
Neither the Sun-Times and Trib even covered the story. Is it an embarrassment for the mayor? Not an importnat enough story? What?

High school senior speaks out against violence Community Beat
Jorge Pule, who will be a senior this fall at Little Village-Lawndale Multicultural Arts High School, made the following remarks June 13 during the ecumenical prayer service that kicked off the "Healing the Hood" event in Little Village.

Could you survive in a public housing high-rise? Part II One Story Up
We're used to talking about CHA tenants as the needy ones.

Interested in a new Montessori Charter School? CPS Obsessed
I've gotten word of a potential Montessori charter school starting up in what I think is the Old Irving Park area. 

The education saga of Thaddeus Lott Chicago Examiner
You may not have heard of him, but most professional educators have, and they would prefer you never did.

Suspensions in Chicago Schools Target Black Boys Most Often Catalyst
When punishment for one group of students is so clearly out of proportion to their enrollment, something's undoubtedly amiss.

Five Things On My Mind
1.  Things may not really have been as good as they said they were in recent years, but that doesn't mean that they've been getting demonstrably worse (or that things were all that good before 1995).  Very few Chicagoans really want to go back there. 

2.  Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost nationwide, and teachers - especially in declining cities like Chicago -- will likely be among them. Let's not act like teachers should get preferential treatment over nurses, small business owners, or anyone else.  

3.  What matters most isn't where someone comes from or how long they've been doing what they're doing, but how well they do it -- what the results are.  To claim that only those with a certain amount of experience can do a job is discriminatory.

4.  While it's easy to focus on new schools, closed schools, and charters, the vast majority of Chicago schools are still neighborhood schools with LSC-picked principals and discretionary budgets and, many of them, faculties made up of veteran teachers.  Who takes responsibility for the failures of these schools?  I don't hear many volunteers.

5.  Neighborhood gentrification isn't necessarily all bad, unless you take the view that everyone should stay poor and live in impoverished neighborhoods with failing schools -- or that gentrification somehow became bad once you got yours.  Most of you (or your parents) moved to better neighborhoods or worked to improve where you were. 

Thursday Morning News Study Blasts Chicago Public SchoolsWBEZ
A new study says perceived improvements in Chicago Public Schools are just that: perception.

Report: Chicago's public schools making little progress in student achievementCTDN
The report says gains on a state achievement test have little to do with improvements in student performance, and it praises charter schools as a way to educational reform.

Layoffs in central office will reach nearly 1,000 by end of summer Catalyst
From what we are hearing now from sources, secretaries and support services personnel, such as professional development staffers, are getting the ax first.

No Budget? Here is a list of some family service agencies' cuts Tribune
There are several around Chicago, and each one of them is in a different financial situation.

Study: Illinois 4th in child obesity Tribune
One in three Illinois children is overweight or obese, according to a new report that puts the state on an unenviable Top 10 list.

CHA mixed-income building has class clash Tribune
"I don't think they intentionally oversold the place," he said, referring to the building's marketing efforts. "I just think the adversities weren't all thought out."

Revamped Trib Education Team Taking Shape
From the editors of the Tribune:  "Stephanie Banchero has returned from her fellowship and will begin doing watchdog reporting on the education team... Azam Ahmed has been attacking [the CPS beat] as if he owns it. So now he does." 

Five years as a working reporter, Azam (pronounced "aah-zum") went to UVA and has worked at the Tribune since October 2006.  He says he's a proud product of the Virginia public schools and a regular reader of this site.  (Not that any of that will protect him from site readers' ire in the future.)

What Other Folks Have To Say
There are a few other blogs and sites that track education issues -- some new, some old, some regular, some occasional.  Here's a roundup of some of them that seem interesting or timely:

Civic Committee stabs Duncan in the back Mike Klonsky
He toiled faithfully on their plantation for 10 years before going to D.C. to serve as Obama's education chief.

Chicago Teachers - Can you say "burnout?" Gerrard McLendon
There were times within a school year when I felt overwhelmed, insecure, overworked, and frustrated, but thank God for fall break, report card break, in-service meetings, winter, spring, and summer breaks.

CPS Positions - Out with the old, in with the new -- maybe you? CPS Obsessed
I actually have no idea how many areas there are, I just know that I live in Area 2.

Block Party Fever Begins to Rise Marshfield Tattler
Last night Peter Pan told me his mom wanted to know if we could do the block party on July 4. Good Lord--that's like next week!

First major event for Chicago Parents Union! PURE
Our first event is a two-day training session for CPU union stewards, and we would love to see you there!

Umoja University Trains School Leaders as Community Change Agents Community Beat
In the last few years, Umoja has been expanding its efforts beyond Manley, to south and southwest side schools like Gage Park, Carver, Dyett and ACE Tech Charter.

What are the other sites I should be highlighting? What do you think about these issues?

Wednesday Morning News
 Chicago schools cutting 550 workers Breaking News
The cuts will come from a pool of about 5,300 non-classroom positions and are expected to result in savings of up to $100 million, sources said. Another round of layoffs is expected later in the summer.

Ill. begins new budget year without new budget Defender
Illinois is once again beginning a new budget year without a budget.

Daley presents at Chicago Gay Pride Month reception ChicagoPride.com
Joining Daley and the Commission on the podium were prominent LGBT supporters Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL), Chicago Public School Chief Ron Huberman, ...

CPS needs solutions to teacher turnover Chicago Sun-Times
Because of successes like that, Ron Huberman, Chicago schools CEO, plans to extend that mentoring to all new teachers, as many as 700, this fall. ...

Regional schools office raided CST
Investigators from Cook County state's attorney's office this morning raided the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education in Westchester in connection with an ongoing investigation into Supt. Charles Flowers.

Teen bullying: Tormented boy's short life ends in suicide Tribune
Death stuns suburb, raises awareness of link between bullying and depression

Ex-prep football player sues over 1999 hazing CST
A 1999 Stevenson High School football player who was sodomized with a broomstick and a banana by his teammates as part of a violent hazing ritual filed a lawsuit last week against his attackers, coaches and former school.

Another Report Questions Chicago Improvements

Chicago Public School reform largely has failed, reports Crain's political reporter Greg Hinzbased on a just-release report from the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club -- a longtime ally of the city in its reform efforts.

"The report directly challenges widespread claims by current and former CPS officials that local students have shown substantial progress over the last decade on standardized tests." 

In response, spokespeople for Arne Duncan cited improvements in 8th graders' performance, even after adjusting for the changes in the tests, and increases in ACT scores. Really?  That's all they have.

Outsiders At 125 S. Clark Street.
You may disagree, but I think that the Broad Residents program is a pretty interesting model.  Not that most Broadies should be put in charge of everything, as may sometimes feel like it's the case at CPS, but that central offices shouldn't just be full of people who were trained as teachers and school leaders.  The program gives fancypants outsiders a chance to put their money where there mouths are, and hopefully learn some things on the inside.  I recently joked that there should be a Broad Residents program for union locals.

Anyway, the Broad Class of 07-09 just "graduated," and mentioned among them was Aarti Dhupelia, Chicago Public Schools, who apparently "led the effort to develop a new 5-7 year strategy for Career & Technical Education for the district with the goals of providing more viable pathways to college and careers for Chicago Public Schools students and building a stronger pipeline into the city's workforce."

Anyone dealt with Dhupelia, good or bad?  Anyone run into these Broadies in meetings and find them great or horrible? 


Continue Reading Outsiders At 125 S. Clark Street. »

Jobs For Everyone (At CNTC)!
Hidden in yesterday's hullabaloo about teacher retention was the news that, starting this year, new teachers won't go through GOLDEN MINT or whatever CPS used to provide.  Instead, the Chicago New Teacher Center is taking over. 

CNTC's model is based on fulltime "induction coaches" who are supposed to meet with new teachers weekly, rather than part-time, school-based mentors.  [Disclosure:  I did some consulting for CNTC in 06-07.]

Check it all out here -- a knowledgeable friend of the site sent this along the other day. 

Will CNTC coaching do any better than the old CPS program?  Is anyone going to miss GOLDEN (other than the folks who ran and staffed the program?)  Most immediately, I'm guessing that CNTC is hiring coaches to work with new teachers.  Everyone, send them your resumes!

Tuesday Morning "News"
Ex-coach testifies he bought sex toys and underwear for 15-year-old student Tribune
An ex-basketball coach at Walter Payton College Prep High School on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two 15-year-old students acknowledged buying sex toys and underwear for one of the girls and engaged in sexual conversations.

Six Men Shot Dead In 24 Hours In Chicago Chicago News
Shootings claimed the lives of six men in the city over the weekend. The first shooting happened around 8:20 p.m. Friday, when Tijuan Edwards, 18, was talking to a 25-year-old man in the street at 1916 S. Trumbull Ave.

Beatriz Rendon: bringing Tucson global attention Arizona Daily Star
Rendon began her career in the Chicago Public Schools and was quickly promoted to positions of increasing responsibility while going to night school at ...