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Guest Column Duncan's task: Keep the spotlight on education December 17, 2008 By: Lorraine Forte Quick, name three of the last seven secretaries of education (not including Margaret Spellings). Outside the world of education, most people probably can’t—which says something about the level of attention the general public typically pays to the job, despite poll after poll that says we rank education as one of our top priorities. Read More \| (1) Comments	Guest Column Community must demand high-quality schools December 12, 2008 By: Phyllis Lockett Thank you for drawing attention to the high demand for more quality public school options in Chicago. Your recent article on school choice (“The challenges of choice”) notes that 62% of African-American CPS students are attending schools outside of their neighborhood for high school. This is a startling figure and testament to the need for more and better options across our city. Read More \| (1) Comments
Guest Column Making the case for better school choice in Chicago December 02, 2008 By: Dea Meyer With a monumental national election behind us and change coming to both Washington and Springfield, now is the time for our state leaders to tackle one of the most intractable problems facing our state: the need to create a better public education system for our children. We commend efforts by Catalyst for highlighting the intense disparities in education choices and the painful search facing desperate parents looking for a quality education for their children (see Catalyst In Depth, November/December 2 Read More \| (1) Comments	Letter From the Editor School choice no guarantee of equal education for kids November 07, 2008 By: Lorraine Forte Dorian Sylvan wasn’t looking for anything extraordinary in a school. What parent wouldn’t want the qualities she ticks off—strong academics, art and music programs, diversity and involved parents? Read More \| (1) Comments
Letter From the Editor Making connections: Sounds easy until you try it September 10, 2008 By: Veronica Anderson It boggles the mind that a solution—maybe the solution—to the intransigent problem of fixing the worst public schools could sound so simple: making connections. Yet these deceptively simple two words are monumentally difficult to achieve and sustain. Read More \| (0) Comments	Guest Column Tinkering around the edges not enough for failing schools September 04, 2008 By: Lorraine Forte A kid who lives in Austin is closer to suburban Oak Park-River Forest High School than to Whitney Young, a comparable top-scoring Chicago school. And according to state Sen. James Meeks, that Austin student should be able to enroll, at no cost, in Oak Park, less than a mile-and-a-half away (compared to almost 7 miles to Whitney Young). Read More \| (0) Comments
Letter From the Editor Catalyst Chicago is changing June 02, 2008 By: Linda Lenz & Veronica Anderson We at Catalyst have spent much of the past year exploring ways to serve you and, therefore, our city’s children better. Our new vision is an expansive one that is based on what more than 200 people told us in interviews, focus groups and surveys: Read More \| (1) Comments	Letter From the Editor Getting in touch with the heart April 22, 2008 By: Veronica Anderson Teachers who are best at getting their students to perform better know there’s more to it than delivering content. Just ask Nikki Williams and Barry McRaith of North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School. Read More \| (0) Comments
Letter From the Editor Enrollment X factor undermines efforts to improve high schools March 19, 2008 By: Veronica Anderson Letter From The Editor Frankly, we were stunned when Associate Editor Sarah Karp first reported in the Catalyst Chicago newsroom that there were so many incoming 9th-graders registering late at Marshall High School that the freshman class nearly quadrupled within the first month. Only 85 were pre-registered when Marshall opened its doors on the first day of school Sept. 4. A month later, on the critical 20th day, when budgets are locked for Chicago public schools, the freshman class had mushroomed to some 322 students. Read More \| (0) Comments