Sarah Karp | catalyst-chicago.org

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Adolescent Literacy

A raft of past programs have failed to substantially improve the reading skills of middle grade and high school students. CPS is trying once again, as part of a federal project that aims to help teens learn how to analyze complex non-fiction.

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Sarah Karp

More scrutiny on the horizon for Chicago’s alternative schools; advocates call for more money November 12, 2009 By: Sarah Karp CEO Ron Huberman said today that he’s added positions charged with going out, finding dropouts and figuring out what’s needed to pull them back into school. He also told the audience at a dropout forum that he is putting alternative schools through his performance management process, to figure out which ones are effective and which ones aren’t. Read More \| (0) Comments	Chicago schools new admissions policy: Will best magnets become less diverse? November 10, 2009 By: Sarah Karp In announcing a proposed new admissions policy for magnet and selective schools, district officials say they want to maintain diversity despite the recent scrapping of the desegregation consent decree. But the devil will be in the details: Can the district achieve that goal, especially in the most sought-after magnets, which have already become less diverse in recent years? Read More \| (26) Comments
Three Friends Update: Navigating the pitfalls of life after high school November 04, 2009 By: Sarah Karp After a bumpy start at Dyett High, Micah Williams, Cassius Rodriquez and Kenny Rainy met a pair of committed mentors who helped them walk away in June with plans in place for life after high school.But by this fall, the young men weren’t where they thought they would be. And the program that provided the mentors—seemingly so crucial to setting them on a positive path—is no longer at Dyett. Read More \| (10) Comments	Cash the key question in alternative schools expansion October 16, 2009 By: Sarah Karp Alternative education in Chicago is set to undergo a sea change, and one issue is certain to become paramount: Money. Read More \| (0) Comments
Second chance for dropouts October 16, 2009 By: Sarah Karp On day two of her second try at high school, Brianna Gibson is full of resolve. In a windowless classroom with a world map on the wall and history books on the shelves, the young woman slides into a desk, offers up a smile and says she thinks that the small alternative school she chose is going to be a good experience. Read More \| (4) Comments	Missing: Black and Latino boys October 16, 2009 By: Sarah Karp In Humboldt Park’s Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, one stairwell is adorned with pictures of Puerto Rican male activists with quotes beneath that speak to the men’s cultural pride and pain. Principal Matt Rodriguez says he wants to communicate that the school—overall, one of the higher-performing alternative schools in Chicago—is a place where the oppression his students may feel is understood. Indeed, the school is named after one of the leading political figures in the Puerto Rican independence movement. Read More \| (2) Comments
Unintended outcome October 16, 2009 By: Sarah Karp When then-state senator Miguel del Valle passed a law in 2004 that raised the compulsory school attendance age to 17, he hoped it would force schools to fight to keep 16-year-olds from dropping out. But by all accounts, some 16-year-olds continue to leave Chicago high schools. And the change in the law had an unanticipated problem: When it came to alternative schools, the options for these young people were limited. Read More \| (0) Comments	Violence on the rise inside Chicago high schools October 14, 2009 By: Sarah Karp In the past year, violent incidents inside or on the grounds of Chicago’s high schools rose by almost 20 percent, with students committing aggravated battery, bringing weapons to school and fighting with staff at an alarming clip. Read More \| (29) Comments
Duncan says turnarounds not to blame for school violence October 07, 2009 By: Sarah Karp Before a room filled with foreign, national and local media, former CEO, now Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke passionately about youth violence as a product of hopeless teenagers, saying this is not the time to blame anyone and that money is not the problem. Duncan announced a $500,000 emergency federal grant for Roseland’s Fenger High, and sought to shoot down the notion that his policies as CEO had anything to do with the increased tension around the Far South Side school. Read More \| (10) Comments