catalyst-chicago.org

Those who drop out of high school receive on average $1,500 a year more from government than they pay in taxes because they are more likely to get benefits or to be in prison, according to a study of Illinois and Chicago residents done on behalf of the Chicago Urban League and some education groups. (Reuters/Tribune)

Chicago Public Schools swam deeper into charter school waters when it signed a compact agreement Tuesday with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pledging greater cooperation and collaboration between the city's charter and traditional neighborhood schools. The agreement allows Chicago to compete for a piece of a $40 million grant from the Gates Foundation, aimed at building relationships between the city's charter and traditional neighborhood schools. (Tribune)

The Sun-Times' take on the CPS-Gates deal: Chicago Public Schools Tuesday jumped into the race for a chunk of $40 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by agreeing to share what works among its charter and traditional schools and to break down barriers between the two often-competing factions.

In its report on the CPS-Gates agreement, Catalyst reported that Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that he hopes high-performing charter operators from around the country will “look at this as an opportunity to set up shop.”

Consumer Watchdog on Tuesday warned the Chicago Board of Education to consider Google's failures in implementing an email system for the City of Los Angeles as the seven members consider a new email and collaboration system for the nation's third largest school district. (Sacramento Bee)

IN THE NATION

At some of New York City’s highest-rated public elementary schools, recess is now a time for lunchtime clubs that focus on the extras, like music, arts and computer science.  (The New York Times)

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s assertion that a preoccupation with class size is silly flies in the face of education studies. (The New York Times)

The blog Dropout Nation takes issue with the Natalie Hopkinson piece in The New York Times on "school choice" that we spotlighted here yesterday. Blogger RiShawn Biddle says Hopkinson's argument doesn't ring true and is "spectacularly flawed and shortsighted." Rather her child can't attend a shiny new middle school in an affluent section of Washington not because of school choice but because of Zip Code Education rules that restrict families from accessing high-quality options within traditional districts.

Washington, D.C., school district unveils first ranking of public charter schools. (The Washington Post)

Rick Roach, who is in his fourth four-year term representing on the Board of Education in Orange County, Fl., a public school system with 180,000 students, took a version of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test earlier this year. And, he didn't do so well. The scenario lead him to think there's something seriously wrong with the testing culture that have overtaken public education. "It makes no sense to me that a test with the potential for shaping a student’s entire future has so little apparent relevance to adult, real-world functioning," he told writer Marion Brady, a veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author who wrote about Roach test taking in The Washington Post.

The Michigan House Education Committee on Wednesday advanced the first in a package of bills aimed at lifting the lid on charter schools in the state, over objections from Democrats and the state's largest teachers union. (The Detroit News)