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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.

Guest Column

October 10, 2011

In the last 20 years, the United States has plummeted from first place to 12th place in college graduation rates. As a result, this generation of college-age Americans is at risk of being the first generation to be less-educated than their parents.

September 29, 2011

Teachers have all attended bad professional development. Your principal tells you a sub will cover your class the next day because she is sending you to a workshop described only by a five-letter acronym. You go to the district’s online PD catalogue, CPS University, where it takes you half of your prep period to sign up. When you arrive, you spend an hour playing get-to-know-you games before you realize that the session is meant for beginning teachers--but you are entering your eighth year. 

September 18, 2011

Recent articles about Austin Polytechnical Academy in Chicago—in the New York Times, The Reader, Substance, Austin Talks, and some blogs—focused on recent turmoil at the school.  Some of the teachers were given poor evaluations and asked not to return.  Some students took disciplined action in support of those teachers and were suspended.  We have a new principal—the third as we enter our fifth year.

September 18, 2011

Recently, Paul Sznewajs and Nick Rabkin made an introductory case for restoring the arts into Chicago Public Schools. They noted that past research has shown the positive benefits of arts instruction, especially for low-income students. There is irony here in the word “past.” For, indeed, over the last several decades, reams of research has been produced to validate the role of the arts, while in the same span of time, which Sznewajs and Rabkin make note of, we have seen that very same role significantly diminished.

September 18, 2011

With the recent news that Chicago Public Schools is planning a property tax increase to fund operations in the current school year, Chicago’s perpetual debate over school funding has kicked into high gear.

July 25, 2011

With the United States facing tough financial times and the misinformation of many citizens as to the myriad contributions of documented and undocumented immigrants to our economy, the anxiety level about immigration reform is high and xenophobia increases.

Immigrant children are likely to face among the most severe consequences of society’s anxiety. While adult immigrants are often aware of the risks they take in moving to a new country, children are not, and they bear the worst burden.

July 14, 2011
By: CReATE

When Richard J. Daley, the longest sitting mayor in Chicago history and the first to voluntarily vacate the office in half a century, announced that he would not seek re-election, residents of every background and political orientation experienced a kind of collective light-headedness. The political moment--part hope, part fear, part giddy speculation--opened a floodgate. Veteran politicians as well as novices rushed to create exploratory committees and began gathering petitions and raising money for possible campaigns.

July 08, 2011

One bright light in the challenging work being done to improve Chicago’s public schools is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that the arts, in all its forms, are part of our children’s everyday experience in the classroom. 

June 09, 2011

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