Updates | catalyst-chicago.org

Departments

Catalyst In Depth
Catalyst Notebook
Opinions
In Focus

Current Issue

School closings

As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.

Read More

Updates

Candidate recruiters March 05, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008--Eighteen organizations and one individual have been chosen to receive $250 grants to help recruit candidates to run for 5,700 open seats on 550 local school councils. They will get an additional $6 to $7 for every candidate they recruit. The organizations are: Advocates for Empowering Parents, Schools & Communities Alliance for Community Peace Annette Williams Bethel New Life Beverly Area Planning Associates Community Life Line Foundation Designs for Change Enlightment Read More \| (0) Comments	WebExtra: Electing an 'education president' February 18, 2008 By: Cindy Richards and Lorraine Forte Democratic and Republican presidential contenders have very different ideas about how to fix education in the United States. With the primary season still underway, Catalyst examined the education platforms of the two major candidates still in the running from each party. Read More \| (1) Comments
WebExtra: Tougher hurdles in the works for aspiring principals? February 18, 2008 By: Debra Williams Principal preparation programs would have to meet new standards under recommendations to be presented next month to state lawmakers by a task force that examined principal preparation across Illinois. Read More \| (0) Comments	WebExtra: Leaders named for high school turnarounds February 18, 2008 By: Cindy Richards and Rebecca Harris Posted January 24, 2008--CPS is taking its broadest swing ever at its most seriously underperforming schools, promising to transform four high schools and their four feeder schools into high performers—half of them to be run by the district and the other half to be run by the Academy for Urban School Leadership. Read More \| (3) Comments
Task force members February 11, 2008 The members of the Illinois School Leader Task Force are: Chair: Steve Tozer, professor of policy studies in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago Jo Anderson, executive director, Illinois Education Association Brent Clark, executive director, Illinois Association of School Administrators Deborah Curtis, dean of the College of Education at Illinois State University Ill. State Sen. Deanna Demuzio (D-Carlinville) April Ervin, executive director, New Leaders for New Schools Read More \| (0) Comments	Schools on the chopping block? January 24, 2008 By: Rebecca Harris Posted Jan. 23, 2008: CPS officials plan to announce the next round of school closings and restructurings Thursday afternoon. In recent statements, Mayor Daley and Schools CEO Arne Duncan have indicated that the district will close or consolidate under-enrolled schools—as many as 50 over the next five years—to save money. School officials say students would be moved to nearby schools with more programming options. Read More \| (0) Comments
CPS budget hanging in the balance January 23, 2008 By: Aaron Chambers SPRINGFIELD, Dec. 14---In the coming weeks, Chicago Public Schools faces two possible scenarios: Reap tens of millions in state funding—or, in a worst-case development, face the prospect of mid-year budget cuts. Lawmakers in coming weeks may consider House Speaker Michael Madigan's proposal to expand gambling and generate $1 billion in state revenue, primarily to support a statewide capital infrastructure plan and possibly also to bail out Chicago-area mass transit. Read More \| (0) Comments	WebExtra: Teachers ratify 5-year contract January 18, 2008 By: John Myers On Sept. 10, teachers ratified the tentative contract agreement reached between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public School officials in late August. Some 1,900 supplemental votes remained uncounted as of Sept. 11, but they were too few to change the outcome. Results released by the union tallied 11,788 votes in favor of the pact and 8,941 against it. "Our membership is unified," said CTU President Marilyn Stewart during a press conference announcing the results. "We shouldn't have to fight for the things we need. We tried to include something for everyone." Read More \| (16) Comments
High schools neglected under NCLB December 18, 2007 By: Debra Williams When it comes to high schools, the federal No Child Left Behind Act is not an effective tool for educators and administrators seeking to improve them. Such was the consensus of a panel of experts who were convened for a Dec. 10 forum on reauthorization of the landmark federal education law and how it can be changed to support high school improvement. CPS Schools Chief Arne Duncan described the landscape of Chicago's public high schools, which include some of the nation's top schools as well as some of the worst. Read More \| (0) Comments

go here for more