catalyst-chicago.org

An analysis by WBEZ shows a jump in the last 20 years in the number of highly segregated black and Latino schools, while white students in suburban Chicago are more likely to attend a school that is racially diverse.

WBEZ goes deeper into segregation in Chicago-area schools as part of its "Race Out Loud" series. Here's a map plotting public school integration, 20 years ago and today.

WBEZ interviews a graduating high school senior who's only attended an "extremely segregated" school, where more than 90 percent of students come from their same race.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights says it wants to remind school districts that they can use race in their admissions policies. That came in response to an analysis by WBEZ that shows deepening segregation in the metro Chicago.

Catalyst reporter Rebecca Harris talks with staff members at the Illinois branch of Democrats for Education Reform who assert that, amid a contentious season of negotiations between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union, they’ve been mislabeled as anti-union outsiders.

Chicago Public Schools is losing both its top legal officer and its top labor executive to retirement in the midst of tough contract negotiations with its teacher's union, according to the Tribune. General Counsel Patrick Rocks and Chief Labor Relations Officer Rachel Resnick will both be retiring.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday defended his decision to authorize a $41 million school property tax increase — the second tax-to-the-max increase during his first year in office. (Sun-Times)

IN THE NATION
High school graduation rates increased across California and dropout numbers declined, according to 2011 state data released Wednesday. (San Francisco Chronicle)

The Los Angeles Unified school board has approved a $6.3 billion budget for 2012-13 that calls for thousands of employee layoffs, a shortened school year and cuts to adult education and preschool programs. (San Francisco Chronicle)

The part of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision upholding the new federal health-care law that also held that its Medicaid expansion was unduly coercive on the states likely has implications for federal education spending programs. (Education Week)

The Pennsylvania high school teacher whose blog drew national attention for calling students "frightfully dim" and "utterly loathsome" was fired Tuesday for "unsatisfactory performance." (The Inquirer)