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

Union to vote Tuesday: Suspend strike or go back to negotiations September 17, 2012 By: Sarah Karp On Tuesday, one of two things will happen in the ongoing Chicago teachers strike: The House of Delegates will suspend the strike, or they will send their leaders back to the negotiation table—a move that will likely kick off a complicated legal battle over whether the strike is legal at all. On Monday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Peter Flynn declined to hold a hearing on the city’s motion for an injunction to “immediately” get students back in school, questioning why a hearing couldn't wait till Wednesday, when the strike could be over. Read More \| (11) Comments	Mayor wants injunction to stop strike, union wants more time to consider deal September 16, 2012 By: Sarah Karp Within an hour after CTU’s House of Delegates refused to vote to suspend the week-long teachers’ strike, Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement saying he has told city lawyers to ask a judge to force teachers to go back to work. Read More \| (3) Comments
Task force: School closings criteria set to expand September 14, 2012 By: Sarah Karp CPS officials have told a state legislative committee that they will expand the criteria for closing schools this year to include under-utilization, not just long-term academic failure. Officials also have been going out to community action councils—CPS-organized groups of community stakeholders—and giving them lists of under-utilized, low-achieving schools, as if to prepare them for what might happen. Read More \| (12) Comments	At central office, major turnover but minimal savings September 08, 2012 By: Sarah Karp To pass a balanced budget last year, CPS leaders promised to find $107 million in savings by reorganizing central and area offices. But while the massive reorganization was carried out, only a small number of cuts were made, a Catalyst Chicago analysis of employee rosters has found. Read More \| (18) Comments
CPS makes new salary offer, CTU calls it "unacceptable" September 05, 2012 By: Sarah Karp CTU leadership has consistently said that salary will be discussed in the last stage of contract negotiations, and on Wednesday they revealed that CPS made a new offer. It is five days before the Sept. 10 strike date. CPS officials have given up their hope of getting merit pay or what they call a differentiated pay scale in this contract and they will continue to reward teachers with salary increases for getting more educational degrees, said CTU President Karen Lewis on Wednesday. Read More \| (42) Comments	CPS, community groups make plans in case of strike August 30, 2012 By: Sarah Karp If the Chicago Teachers Union goes on strike, CPS has plans to open about one-third of public schools for a half-day, serving meals to students and offering some activities--but no instruction. Meanwhile, community groups are scrambling to see if they can pull together their own plans for students if teachers decide to walk out. Read More \| (1) Comments
CPS budget approved, but changes are expected August 22, 2012 By: Sarah Karp The CPS Board of Education approved a $5.7 billion budget on Wednesday, though Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley said he is sure it will have to be adjusted once the teacher contract is resolved. Teacher compensation is one of the big issues still unsettled, but there’s little room left in the budget to increase salaries. Read More \| (4) Comments	Jones and Urban Prep shine as citywide college enrollment rises August 21, 2012 By: Sarah Karp Jones College Prep, a selective enrollment high school ranked No. 1, and Urban Prep, a charter high school for African-American boys, ranked No. 2 in the percentage of 2011 graduates enrolling in college. In previous years, Urban Prep has claimed 100 percent of its grads were admitted to college, only to see official figures for college enrollment from the National Student Clearinghouse come in much lower – 76 percent for 2010. This year is different, with Clearinghouse data yielding 91 percent. Read More \| (21) Comments
Another analyst criticizes CPS budget August 15, 2012 By: Sarah Karp Access Living, an advocacy group that analyzes the Chicago Public Schools budget each year, has joined the Civic Federation of Chicago in opposing the proposed spending plans for 2012-2013. While Access Living advocates for students with disabilities, it has many of the same concerns as the Civic Federation, a fiscal watchdog of local governments. Top among them is the plan to drain the district’s reserves. Read More \| (3) Comments

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