In the Tribune, a "call for calm" in the Derrion Albert tragedy. Meanwhile, another beating has taken place in the Edgewater neighborhood.

Related: Mary Mitchell notes that an internal investigation is underway within the police department to determine if a nearby squad car should have responded earlier.

WBEZ's Linda Lutton says sprawling fights like the one that claimed the life of Albert are all too common in Chicago's schools.

During our reporting from Robeson High School last school year we saw fights regularly that involved dozens of students. Principal Gerald Morrow shooed kids off school grounds, and the fights spilled down the block. They often began with a false fire alarm pull.

Lutton also reports that CPS officials, ministers and politicians have meet with community members to seek solutions to the violence.

* The Sun-Times reports that a former Walter Payton boys basketball coach will serve 3 years of probation for groping two female students.

* The Tribune highlights educational programs that promote Chinese culture, taking note that Chicago Public Schools has the largest Mandarin program in the country.

* Also on The Notebook: First steps toward a Harlem Children's Zone in three Chicago neighborhoods and a court decision raises questions for new charter law.

Across the state

* The state's Education Funding Advisory Board, which gives the General Assembly a recommended minimum per-pupil funding level for high-poverty school districts, will hold its second meeting on Oct. 7. The Illinois State Board of Education will provide a live audio cast on its website.

Gov. Pat Quinn reconvened the five member panel, chaired by Sylvia Puente of the Latino Policy Forum, in response to a BPI lawsuit.

Catalyst noted earlier that National-Louis University researchers hope to beef up the science behind the panel's recommendations with a new definition of adequate funding.

* A Naperville Sun story suggests that western suburban districts will probably ignore President Obama's call for a longer school day and year.

* Quinn says a cigarette tax may offer a short-term solution to MAP grants.

* A Medill report looks at the healthier food options at Oak Terrace, one of 140 Illinois schools to snag a federal Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program grant. Some 400 of the state's schools applied for the grants.

Across the country

* The US Department of Education announced $43 million in teacher quality grants yesterday, including $4.2 million for two Illinois programs. The department is billing the spending as a kind of precursor to nearly $100 million in additional teacher quality grants that will be awarded through stimulus funding in early 2010.

Roughly $2.9 million will go toward a teacher residence program at National-Louis University that is run in partnership with the Academy for Urban School Leadership, a clear favorite of US Sec. of Education Arne Duncan.

From an AUSL press release: The AUSL-NLU-CPS TQP grant will expand and improve the urban teacher residency program, an intense, full-year apprenticeship with a mentor teacher at a Chicago public school in which graduates earn their Illinois teaching certification and a master’s degree through NLU. The $2.95 million award funds the first year of a five-year TQP grant.

* While Illinois lawmakers consider their options for snagging Race to the Top money, the Oregonian reports that its state has assembled a 22-member “design team” to help craft a strategy.

* Chicago union activist James Thindwa was in Cleveland last week making the case for charter school unions. Thindwa has been helping to organize Chicago charter teachers, including some who recently established a union at three Chicago International charter schools run by Civitas.

* Ed Week's Mark Walsh notes two Chicago-related cases before the US Supreme Court, including a question on firefighers' employment tests and the city's anti-gun laws. For a closer look at the confrontation over guns, see this Tribune report.

* On Huffington, Gerald Bracey critiques the Washingon Posts' glowing review of Caroline Hoxby's latest chart school research.

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