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During a luncheon with civic leaders from the famed City Club Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard unveiled the district's plans to adopt a more rigorous curriculum to coincide with a longer school day beginning in the 2012-13 school year.

During a luncheon with civic leaders from the famed City Club Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard unveiled the district's plans to adopt a more rigorous curriculum to coincide with a longer school day beginning in the 2012-13 school year. A handful of CPS schools are expected to implement this new Common Core State Standards curriculum this school year, focusing on boosting student performance in core subjects such as math and reading.  The Chicago Teachers Union also embraced the more rigorous curriculum.  CTU President Karen Lewis said the state standards curriculum adds a "breadth and depth" of instruction that has eroded away in this era of high-stakes testing. (Tribune)

The American Federation of Teachers has awarded the Chicago Teachers Union Quest Center a grant for $600,000 ($200,000 for each of the next three years)  for its proposal to hire teams of teacher leaders to partner with the union’s curriculum and instruction experts. The grant will create model units of instruction, classroom performance assessments, and materials aligned to the new, higher and more rigorous set of state-adopted Common Core State Standards. (Press release)

Parents at one Wendell Smith elementary school on Chicago's far South Side are so fed up with the school’s poor academic performance, they voted Tuesday night that it should be converted to a charter school. The resolution isn't binding, but it's believed to be the first time any local school council has ever taken such action. (WBEZ)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel appealed to Chicago’s newly created Youth Commission on Tuesday to get behind the education reform he has championed, but not yet found a way to implement: a longer school day and school year. Emanuel also said he can’t wait for what he called “that high-class debate” on what to do with the extra time. (Sun-Times)

Lindblom Math & Science Academy to expand Arabic offerings to district and community. (WBEZ)

Area activists, including teachers, principals, and parents, gathered at Jane Addams Hull House Saturday to launch SOS/Chicago as a follow-up to the July 30th Save Our Schools March and Rally in D.C. A second SOS/Chicago meeting is tentatively planned for Sept. 27th. (Mike Klonsky's Small Talk Blog)

Save Our Schools/Chicago will be holding Teach-Ins in public spaces throughout the city every Thursday in September. Teachers will be planning lessons, grading papers, tutoring students and holding parent conferences. Organizers want the public to see how much work teachers really do and that their day doesn't end when the last class is over. The first Teach-In is Sept. 1 at the Thompson Center Plaza. Others are: Sept. 15 — Plaza at North Avenue and Claybourn (next to Apple store); Sept. 22 — Union Station Main Hall; Sept. 29 — Millennium Park, The Cloud Gate (Bean). For more information, email: aheenan@gmail.com.

Ogden International School Principal Kenneth Staral spent thousands of taxpayer money on travel, according to records obtained by FOX Chicago News and the Better Government Association. Between January of 2009 and June of 2010, he racked up nearly $17,000 in credit card charges in France, Serbia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Bahrain, South Korea, and Mexico.

In the state

Since school began last week, bus problems have been reported in several suburban school districts. Administrators from District 58 along with officials in Downers Grove-based Community High School District 99 and Woodridge District 68 were baffled why Westway Coach, under contract for roughly $10.8 million, has failed in its task of picking up and dropping off some students. (Tribune)

In the nation

The College Board has released a survey that asks recent high school graduates to reflect on their high school experiences and on their transitions to college and work. Forty-four percent of students said they wish they had taken different courses. The biggest regret was not taking more math, science, and writing-intensive coursework in high school. But only about half the respondents wished they'd worked harder in high school, and only one-third said they think high school graduation requirements should be tougher. (Education Week)

The Los Angeles Unified School District has bought out the contract of its chief academic officer, a key appointee who worked closely with former Supt. Ramon C. Cortines, but who quickly fell out of favor with his successor, John Deasy. (Los Angeles Times)