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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.

Debra Williams

October 30, 2007

In 2000, four schools in the country were named "Schools to Watch" by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, a group focused on improving middle school education. Tucked away in Irving Park is one of them, Marshall Middle School.

"We created a vision of what we thought a quality middle school should look like," says Debby Kasak, the Forum's executive director. "Marshall was making good inroads in that direction."

October 01, 2007

This fall the district has launched an initiative to standardize reading curricula in hopes of curbing the negative impact of mobility on reading instruction and achievement.

The initiative has begun with 150 elementary schools that volunteered to be part of the first cohort. Over the next three years, 150 schools will be added annually, adopting one of the two reading programs the district has selected.

September 20, 2007

In a new, state-of-the-art community center near 69th and Sangamon in Englewood, slots for early childhood programs are going begging.

By mid-August, only four of 34 slots in the half-day Head Start were spoken for, and only six of 20 slots in the full-day program. The center has applied for two Preschool for All classes, and needs to fill those as well.

"We are shocked that we are having trouble filling our slots," says Leon Denton, who oversees the child care programs and is waging a door-to-door campaign in the African-American community to find eligible children.

August 06, 2007

As a young man growing up in Indianapolis, Thomas E. Darden Jr. remembers attending low-performing schools. But good teachers helped him succeed in school and helped spark an interest in public education, says Darden, who is managing director of Reliant Equity Investors and a member of the Board of Directors for the Chicago Public Education Fund. Darden, who believes community involvement is part of being a good businessman, is also a member of the Board of Trustees at National-Louis University.

May 10, 2007

Last year was a stressful one for O'Keeffe Head Start teacher Jeanine Pelican. At home, she watched helplessly as a beloved family member battled a terminal illness. At school, she attempted to corral a classroom of 20 high-energy 4-year olds, many of whom exhibited behavioral problems and were difficult to teach.

"It was a very rough year for me," recalls Pelican, who has been teaching for 10 years, first at a Catholic school, then at child care centers, but for the last five years at O'Keeffe Elementary in South Shore.

April 09, 2007

Economic policies that support work and boost income are a proven way to improve children's academic achievement, says Greg Duncan of Northwestern University. Duncan is co-author of the new book "Higher Ground: New Hope for the Working Poor and Their Children," on a three-year program instituted in Milwaukee in the mid-1990s. The New Hope Project provided 22 poor African-American and Hispanic families with jobs, wage supplements, subsidized health insurance and child care, then examined the economic and educational impact of these extra resources.

April 05, 2007

Chicago Public Schools will be hit this year with a record number of principal vacancies. One in five school leaders—120 systemwide—have notified the district that they will step down from their jobs at the end of the year, CPS reported in mid-March.

That's already a 71 percent increase over last year, when about 70 principals stepped down. And the number could climb even higher, since principals have until April 15 to notify the district that they will be leaving.

March 29, 2007

Chicago Public Schools will be hit this year with a record number of principal vacancies. One in five school leaders—120 systemwide—have notified the district that they will step down from their jobs at the end of the year, CPS reported in mid-March.

That's already a 71 percent increase over last year, when about 70 principals stepped down. And the number could climb even higher, since principals have until April 15 to notify the district that they will be leaving.

March 07, 2007

Principal Laura Williams of Harvard Elementary had a big problem with student mobility during the 1990s. Students transferred in and out of the Greater Grand Crossing school at an alarming rate. Anywhere from a third to half of students moved each year.

Citywide, the picture wasn't much brighter back then: About one in three kids switched schools each year—many of them mid-year, which educators say is most disruptive to a child's education.

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