catalyst-chicago.org

An advocacy group, Designs for Change, has analyzed ISAT scores and found that many high-poverty neighborhood elementary schools are out-performing turnaround schools.

And some of those high-performing neighborhood schools are getting results in facilities sorely in need of repair, while CPS is pouring millions into turnarounds, said Don Moore, executive director of Designs for Change, Catalyst reports. 

Public Schools has reached a deal with community leaders on the West Side to bring in a new neighborhood high school to replace Crane Tech, which is expected to begin a three-year phase-out next fall. (Tribune)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday sought to frame Monday night's protest outside his home by hundreds of people upset at his plans to close or restructure several schools as a response to the difficult but necessary steps he's taking to improve the education of Chicago children. (Tribune)

The Chicago Teachers Union, parents and community members will picket in front of the Board of Education in support of a massive call for a moratorium on CPS' actions that could lead to the closure and turnaround of several neighborhood schools.  The school board is expected to vote on the proposals during its regular 10:30 a.m. meeting.  All of the targeted schools are in Black or Latino neighborhoods. “CPS’ decision to starve some schools and resource others amount to education apartheid,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “Most of the students impacted by these failed policies are African American and Latino. All public school students deserve access to a high quality education; and anyone who works in these schools demands to be treated with respect.” (Press release)

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chancellor Cheryl Hyman announced Tuesday a $479 million five-year capital plan to support City Colleges of Chicago’s College to Careers initiative. The capital commitment includes construction of a new Malcolm X College, including a new Allied Health Academy that will strengthen ties to the Illinois Medical District and prepare Chicagoans for the expected 84,000 local job openings in healthcare over the next 10 years. The new Malcolm X College campus, projected to open in the spring of 2015, will be located just south of the United Center, across the street from the current college site at Jackson and Damen streets on land already owned by City Colleges of Chicago. The 500,000 square foot campus will be composed of two 3-story academic buildings and a 1,500-car parking facility connected via an atrium. (Press release)

Chicago will build a new $251 million Malcolm X College and 1,500-space parking garage in the shadows of the United Center to create a state-of-the-art facility to train students for careers in health care, Mayor Rahm Emanuel disclosed Tuesday. (Sun-Times)

On the eve of the Board of Education vote on school closings and turnarounds, CPS leaders said they will reopen a neighborhood option in the Crane High School building, city council members questioned CPS leaders and activists and parents made final arguments that their schools have made gains and don’t need dramatic change. (Catalyst)

After months of intense fighting between officials and activists about whether or not to close the Near West Side’s Crane High School, Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard has signed on to a plan to keep the school open. Under the new plan, Crane will be shifting its mission, changing from a high school that’s solely neighborhood-focused to one that’s focused on training students for jobs in the medical industry. (Chicago Journal)

IN THE NATION
The Obama administration is working on setting nutritional standards for foods that children can buy outside the cafeteria. With students eating 19 percent to 50 percent of their daily food at school, the administration says it wants to ensure that what they eat contributes to good health and smaller waistlines. The proposed rules are expected within the next few weeks. (The New York Times)

Seniority rules and teacher transfer rights will remain intact in Oakland's public schools this year, despite the superintendent's call for a change. (Mercury News)

Many parents and Denver Public Schools community members vented in a survey that the district’s calendar features far too many weeks in which children are not in school for full days Monday through Friday. (Education News Colorado)

Across more than 30 topics covered in the Advanced Placement program, participation in geography is rising faster than any other. It's joined by AP courses like Chinese, environmental science, psychology, and world history that have been gaining ground most rapidly in recent years. (Education Week)

A trio of studies released last week by the Civil Rights Project, a social science research group at UCLA found that black and Latino community college students in Southern California are failing to advance because many have graduated from low-performing high schools that ill-prepare them for college work. These students then end up at similar two-year institutions with poor transfer records. (Los Angeles Times)