catalyst-chicago.org

CPS officials approved several new charter and alternative schools at Wednesday’s board meeting, and also announced new plans to engage with Community Action Councils.

But the charter schools that were approved might face an uncertain future. Both Foundations College Prep, which will open in Roseland, and Orange Charter, which has not picked a neighborhood yet, were pulled from the December meeting agenda, had their openings delayed by a year, and were given additional conditions they must meet before they are given final approval to open.

Starting this spring, CPS will launch new principal evaluations that are based half on a school’s progress-- including students’ improvement on test scores--and half on observations by district administrators.

The U.S. Department of Education recently announced that a nearly $15 million Investing in Innovation grant will bring extra resources to the New Teacher Center’s mentoring programs for Chicago’s new teachers.

It’s not yet clear how many newcomers will be served, though. Throughout its time in Chicago, politics and leadership changes have gotten in the way of the program scaling up.