Current Issue

School closings

As CPS prepares to close a record number of schools, the fate of students and communities is in question.

dropouts

October 05, 2012

Almost 75 percent of the sophomores in Chicago Public Schools are on track this year to graduate, according to their freshman year performance. (WBEZ)

July 18, 2012

For Angeline White, a 2011 graduate of Prologue Early College High School in Chicago, the opportunity to direct a film about being homeless changed her life.

The film, titled “Home Sweet Home,” punched her ticket to the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, held in Seattle in April. Angeline worked on the film through the Community TV Network (CTVN), a non-profit that works with former out-of-school youth to teach them to imagine themselves as smart, capable and successful individuals with the ability to tell powerful stories. 

January 27, 2012

This morning's Tribune is reporting on faith-based groups that show their community support for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial plans to lengthen the school day and close failing schools while also receiving millions of dollars in grants from his administration.

January 10, 2012

While Mayor Emanuel on Monday defended his choice of lengthening the school day to 7.5 hours, saying the number was "not arbitrary," the teachers union and a parent group maintained that research does not support such a long day. (Tribune)

December 07, 2011

Those who drop out of high school receive on average $1,500 a year more from government than they pay in taxes because they are more likely to get benefits or to be in prison, according to a study of Illinois and Chicago residents done on behalf of the Chicago Urban League and some education groups. (Reuters/Tribune)

December 06, 2011

One in seven Chicagoans age 19 to 24 are dropouts and the costs to the city and state are staggering, according “High School Dropouts in Chicago and Illinois: The Growing Labor Market, Income, Civic, Social and Fiscal Costs of Dropping Out of High School,” a report Northeastern University researchers prepared for the Chicago Urban League and released today.

December 06, 2011

Natalie Hopkinson, a Washington-based writer and parent, takes on the perverse inequities that play out along racial lines and have resulted from a "reform" process that proponents say will bring choice and accountability to school systems in majority-black neighborhoods such as hers. (The New York Times)

November 28, 2011

A study that will be released by Chicago Public Schools today shows teachers strongly oppose tying student achievement to their own performance. (Tribune)

November 08, 2011

Nearly half of 7th to 12th graders experienced sexual harassment in the last school year, according to a study scheduled for release on Monday, with 87 percent of those who have been harassed reporting negative effects such as absenteeism, poor sleep and stomachaches. (The New York Times)

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