catalyst-chicago.org

Parent groups and city officials are coalescing on different sides of the strike issue as the Chicago Teachers Union prepared to take a strike authorization today.

CTU will take a strike authorization vote today, as most have probably heard by now, and one teacher, who is hospitalized, is so determined to not miss the opportunity that she contacted her school delegate hours after surgery to request a ballot be delivered to her bedside, according to a union press release.

A Sun-Times editorial says CTU risks setting teachers’ hopes too high.

A federal civil rights law that allows some public school students extra time on tests and assignments is applied less often in the Chicago area's poorest schools and most frequently in affluent districts, a Tribune analysis found. (Sun-Times)

Within Chicago Public schools, where roughly 20 percent of students are at or above grade-level in reading, learning disabilities, like dyslexia, can easily go undiagnosed unless a parent demands help, WBEZ reports.

IN THE STATE

District U-46 names new principals, administrators. (Courier-News)

When classrooms close for the summer, so do school cafeterias and their free and reduced lunch and breakfast programs. For thousands of area children, that means a harsh summer lesson about hunger and improper nutrition. A study by Feeding America, a hunger relief charity, shows there are more than 400,000 children in Cook and the collar counties who spend at least some time hungry or not receiving proper nutrition. Northern Illinois Food Bank officials say that problem becomes more acute in the summer months when school food is not a guaranteed part of a child’s day. (Daily Herald)

IN THE NATION

Private school choice—at least in its current form—hasn't done much to produce new educational models, as measured by innovation, entrepreneurship, and changes in the structure of schools, a new study argues. (Education Week)

Without a strong and relentless focus on "professional capital," U.S. policymakers will continue to miss lessons from other countries about how they produce teacher fulfillment and effectiveness, according to Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves, co-authors of Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School (Teachers College Press, 2012).

The cost of New York City’s special education prekindergarten program has nearly doubled in six years, and governmental oversight of the contractors running it has often been lax. (The New York Times)

Whatever the sob stories about recent college graduates, the situation for their less-educated peers is far worse, according to a report from the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University scheduled to be released on Wednesday. (The New York Times)