Cassandra West | catalyst-chicago.org

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School closings

As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.

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Cassandra West

In the News: A 'lawsuit waiting to happen' March 07, 2013 By: Cassandra West Nine out of 10 of the Chicago Public School students potentially affected by school closings this year have a predominately black student body, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found, a discovery one community activist called a “lawsuit waiting to happen.” (Sun-Times) Read More \| (8) Comments	In the News: CPS' 30-student classes questioned March 06, 2013 By: Cassandra West After examining how CPS is using 30 as the "ideal" size for kindergarten through eighth-grade classes, the Tribune calls into question how Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett are framing their case for school closings. Read More \| (1) Comments
In the News: CPS looking for new headquarters March 05, 2013 By: Cassandra West CPS announced Monday that it's looking for a new Central Office home and the district issued a Request for Proposals to begin this process. The move could save $2 million to $3 million annually, CPS says. Read More \| (2) Comments	In the News: State owes public schools $768 million March 04, 2013 By: Cassandra West Two-thirds of Illinois school districts are operating in the red, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. Since 2010, the state has come up lacking in general state aid for Illinois public school districts every year, shorting them $518 million for the 2012-13 school year alone. In all, the state owes public school districts $768 million, according to the Rockford Register Star. Read More \| (2) Comments
In the News: Unprepared to teach Common Core March 01, 2013 By: Cassandra West Even as the Common Core State Standards are being put into practice across most of the country, nearly half of teachers feel unprepared to teach them, especially to disadvantaged students, according to a new survey. Read More \| (5) Comments	In the News: Most CPS seniors not on college path February 28, 2013 By: Cassandra West A new report from the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research found that the majority of CPS high school seniors have schedules dominated by makeup courses and electives and other non-core subject areas, and students themselves describe senior year as unchallenging and easier than previous years. Read More \| (0) Comments
In the News: Pediatricans blast suspension policies February 27, 2013 By: Cassandra West Schools are too quick to suspend or expel students and need to take a hard look at these "drastic" and "superficial" policies, the American Academy of Pediatrics said this week, adding to an earlier position published six years ago questioning zero-tolerance school discipline policies. Read More \| (4) Comments	In the News: Full-day kindergarten coming to CPS February 26, 2013 By: Cassandra West The mayor and schools chief announced on Monday, that for the first time, every CPS school will offer full-day kindergarten starting next school year. CPS has increased access to full-day kindergarten by 50 percent since 2011 and now all incoming students will have access to full-day kindergarten, according to a mayor's office news release. Read More \| (1) Comments
In the News: African American test scores still lag February 22, 2013 By: Cassandra West Hispanic eighth-graders in Illinois have higher reading scores than the rest of the nation’s big states, but the state’s African-American children still struggle mightily with reading, math and science, according to a new report — “Mega-states: An Analysis of Student Performance in the Five Most Heavily Populated States” — published Thursday that examines test scores in the country’s five largest states, the Sun-Times reports. Read More \| (6) Comments

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