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

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Charter schools and unions August 24, 2007 Charter schools and unions A conversation among: • Steve Barr, founder of the Los Angeles-based Green Dot charter schools, where teachers have their own union contract. • Marilyn Stewart, president of the Chicago Teachers Union. • Jo Anderson, executive director of the Illinois Education Association. Mike Klonsky, founder of the Small Schools Network, moderated this discussion at an Aug. 15 program co-sponsored by the Workshop, National-Louis University and Catalyst Chicago. Read More \| (0) Comments	Left out of the mix, so far July 12, 2007 By: Sarah Karp As the district prepares for the second year of its ambitious High School Transformation project, an important piece is just now getting attention: How to teach special education students and English-language learners the new curricula. "We should be further along on this than we are," says Allan Alson, executive director of the project. Read More \| (0) Comments
WebExtra: Teacher evaluations linked to contract talks July 12, 2007 By: John Myers Posted July 12, 2007-- Teachers don't like it. Principals rush through it. Schools CEO Arne Duncan says it's ineffective. Yet Chicago Public Schools' version of teacher evaluation persists as little more than busy work, having resisted reforms dating back to the 1980s. In fact, some critics contend Chicago doesn't even meet the minimal teacher evaluation guidelines set by the state, which recently earned a "D" from the National Council on Teacher Quality. Read More \| (1) Comments	ISAT gold for CPS July 03, 2007 By: John Myers The longer students spend in Chicago Public Schools, the better they perform on state tests, according to a new report by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. Black and Latino students in CPS fare especially well the longer they remain in the district: The report's analysis found they outperform minority students elsewhere in the state by the 8th grade. Read More \| (0) Comments
WebExtra: Deja vu all over again? June 22, 2007 By: Aaron Chambers What a difference three months makes. This spring, school funding activists were brimming with optimism that the legislature would finally takes steps to substantially boost the state's share of education spending. Read More \| (0) Comments	WebExtra: McMagnet schools for Chicago? June 19, 2007 By: Sarah Karp Posted June 18, 2007-- CEO Arne Duncan is floating the idea of "franchising" Chicago's stellar schools, but the concept is in its infancy and no one knows exactly how it would work. The question is whether sought-after programs like Whitney Young or Lincoln Park high schools and magnet elementary schools have branding power in the same way that well-regarded universities do, notes one school official. "Would those names draw people's interest?" asks Steve Washington, chief of staff to School Board President Rufus Williams. Read More \| (2) Comments
WebExtra: Longer school day a key issue in contract talks June 18, 2007 By: John Myers Mayor Daley publicly repeated calls for a longer school day and year during a speech at the Executives' Club of Chicago on Tuesday, signaling a key point of pressure on the Chicago Teachers Union as it negotiates a new contract this summer. Currently, Chicago has one of the shortest school days and years when stacked against the nation's 50 largest districts. If no action is taken, Chicago could fall farther behind, even as a national movement to boost classroom time for low-income children has already padded school calendars in schools in Massachusetts, Florida and New Mexico. Read More \| (2) Comments	WebExtra: No traction on plan to strip LSC powers June 05, 2007 By: Aaron Chambers An 11th-hour effort by Chicago Public Schools to take away local school councils' authority to fire principals has failed to move forward in the Legislature this session. Although CPS started quietly shopping its idea to state lawmakers in mid-April, district officials waited until May 25—days before the scheduled end of the spring session on May 31—to offer up a formal legislative proposal. Read More \| (4) Comments
WebExtra: More charters heading for CPS? May 31, 2007 By: Aaron Chambers Chicago would get 15 new charters, but have limits placed on expansion campuses of existing charters, under proposed legislation crafted by Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and the Chicago Teachers Union. At least three of the new charters would be required to serve chronic truants and dropouts, an idea hatched by legislators who recently visited several such schools in California. Read More \| (2) Comments

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