catalyst-chicago.org

While educators and psychologists have said for decades that the effects of poverty interfere with students' academic achievement, new evidence from cognitive and neuroscience is showing exactly how adversity in childhood damages students' long-term learning and health.

The stress of a spelling bee or a challenging science project can enhance a student's focus and promote learning. But the stress of a dysfunctional or unstable home life can poison a child's cognitive ability for a lifetime, according to new research. (Education Week)

The City Of Chicago will hold a job fair on Friday at Kennedy King City College to help fill hundreds of vacant city positions, including openings at CPS. The fair will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Chicago Public Schools' seven-day teachers strike may have long since ended, but it was just one of a series of important events that will redefine the nation’s third largest public school system this year. (The Atlantic Cities)

IN THE NATION
Teachers unions scored political victories in several states Tuesday, beating back proposals that ranged from merit pay to school vouchers and unseating a Republican school superintendent with a national reputation for aggressively changing the way teachers are evaluated and compensated. But the unions also lost several battles, including an attempt to enshrine bargaining rights in the Michigan constitution and to quash proposals to create public charter schools in Washington state and Georgia. (The Washington Post)

Voters in Georgia approved creating a commission to approve charter schools, while Washington State was still tallying votes on whether to allow charter schools. (The New York Times)