catalyst-chicago.org

To paraphrase a common saying, sometimes a statistic is worth a thousand words.

As reporting for this issue of Catalyst In Depth unfolded, a telling statistic emerged (shown in the accompanying graphic). Its point: Racial disparity in CPS reaches down even into small-scale programs that fly under the radar.

CEO Jean-Claude Brizard challenged a Chicago Urban League audience on Monday to become more forceful advocates for better education, in order to close the widening achievement gap between minority and white students in CPS, especially African Americans.

When Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the new $500 million Early Learning Challenge Grant competition in late May, educators weren’t the only ones who joined him at the event. Duncan was accompanied by an array of leaders from outside the education world who endorsed Duncan’s call for increasing investment in early education.