catalyst-chicago.org

Mayor Daley and Chicago Public Schools and police officials joined in the dedication Wednesday of the new Eric Solorio Academy High School (5400 S. St. Louis Ave.) that honors a Chicago police officer who was killed in the line of duty several years ago. About 300 freshmen will begin classes at the school next week. It's the first public high school named after a police officer killed on duty. The school cost taxpayers $100 million cost and will be managed by a private company (WBEZ and CPS press release)

Mayor Daley and Chicago Public Schools and police officials joined in
the dedication Wednesday of the new Eric Solorio Academy High School
(5400 S. St. Louis Ave.) that honors a Chicago police officer who was
killed in the line of duty several years ago. Eric Solorio grew up in
the Back of the Yards and Brighton Park neighborhoods and was involved
in mentoring youth and community activities. He was killed in 2006
following a car accident while he was on duty. About 300 freshmen will
begin classes at the school next week. It's the first public high school
named after a police officer killed on duty. The school cost taxpayers
$100 million cost and will be managed by a private company (WBEZ and CPS
press release)

ABC7 News also has a video report of the new state-of-the-art school.

Chicago Public Schools principals are feeling "lost at sea" without a chief education officer, the No. 2 position in the district, says Clarice Berry, who heads the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. (WBEZ)

Teacher layoffs at CPS leave educators scrambling for new careers. (Chicago Defender)

In the state

Crystal Lake High School District 155 is considering boundary changes that would have all students who live in Cary attend their hometown Cary-Grove High School instead of the more distant Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake. (Daily Herald)

In the nation

The broader public and teachers are markedly divided in their support for merit pay, teacher tenure and Race to the Top, the fourth annual survey conducted by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance and Education Next found.   The poll from a nationally representative sample also shows that Americans support merit pay for teachers, while teachers oppose the policy by a large margin. There is strong opposition among the public to teacher tenure, while teachers favor it; and teachers are significantly more opposed to the federal Race to the Top program than the broader public. Among other findings:  support for charter schools remained essentially unchanged between 2008 and 2010—rising from 42 percent to 44 percent. Support for charter schools in minority communities rose steeply—from 42 percent to 64 percent among African Americans and from 37 percent to 47 percent among Hispanics. The survey also covers public opinion on virtual education, charter schools, raising taxes for local schools and the teacher unions. William G. Howell, a professor of American politics at the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago, co-authored the study. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was one of the study's funders. (press release)

The New York Times reports on U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's "celebratory road trip" through Maine, New Hampshire and other Northeast states after last week's announcement that nine states and the District of Columbia had won the Race to the Top, the Obama administration's most prized education initiative.

NBC News is planning a special week of programming and other activities late this month to draw attention to the challenges in U.S. education and how to address them. (Education Week)