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Adolescent Literacy

A raft of past programs have failed to substantially improve the reading skills of middle grade and high school students. CPS is trying once again, as part of a federal project that aims to help teens learn how to analyze complex non-fiction.

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elementary schools

At schools, an upsurge in mental health crises December 10, 2012 By: Sarah Karp Driven largely by an increase in calls from schools, the number of calls to the state’s mental health crisis hotline for children has soared by 37 percent over the past five years to nearly 42,000 calls in 2011—about 115 calls per day. Read More \| (18) Comments	Grades for Illinois education up slightly, but still low November 13, 2012 By: Sarah Karp Only one-third of Illinois students are proficient in reading at 3rd grade, begin high school academically on-track to graduate and leave high school ready for college, according to the latest Advance Illinois report on education in Illinois. Read More \| (1) Comments
New school reports show stark gaps in achievement November 08, 2011 By: Sarah Karp The marquee outside of Beidler Elementary School in East Garfield Park makes the bold statement: We are off of probation. But when parents trucked into the school last week to pick up first-quarter report cards, they got some sobering news from the district’s colorful new school progress report: Beidler is categorized as a mid-level school in terms of performance on state tests, but less than a quarter of students scored at or above grade level on a different, more rigorous test and only 7.5 percent of 8th-graders met college readiness benchmarks. Read More \| (7) Comments	CPS announces draft criteria for school closings October 31, 2011 By: Rebecca Harris Officials released the district’s long-awaited criteria for school actions this afternoon, providing a glimpse of which schools could be closed, phased out or consolidated at the end of this year. Read More \| (5) Comments
For the Record: Full-day kindergarten October 10, 2011 By: Candelaria Rosales and Rebecca Harris Despite a huge budget deficit, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CEO Jean-Claude Brizard have boasted of committing $15 million to expand full-day kindergarten. Emanuel emphasized the point at a recent press conference, noting that while other cities are cutting their programs, “in Chicago, 6,000 more children will be in full-day kindergarten.” Read More \| (1) Comments	For the Record: Schools will be able to opt out of "mandatory" recess, but criteria unclear August 15, 2011 By: Rebecca Harris Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard made waves when he stated during his new monthly WBEZ call-in show last week that recess would be in every Chicago elementary school by the 2012-13 school year. Read More \| (10) Comments
CPS releases new guide to bring back recess May 23, 2011 By: Sam Barnett For six years, Lynn Morton and her parent activist group POWER-PAC have fought for recess in Chicago’s elementary schools. With the release Monday of a new Chicago Public Schools guide to implementing recess, it looks like the work is finally paying off. Read More \| (8) Comments	Tilton and Marconi get reprieve, won't be consolidated this year April 07, 2011 By: Sam Barnett Chicago Public Schools officials announced Thursday night that district officials would not go forward with a proposal to phase out Tilton Elementary School and send its future students to Marconi Elementary on the West Side. Read More \| (2) Comments
Chicago summer school to get a makeover May 13, 2010 CPS is revamping its summer school program to focus more on students’ individual needs, rather than the one-size fits all approach it has previously offered. In the past, 3rd-, 6th- and 8th-grade students who failed to meet promotion requirements all attended the standard Summer Bridge program that focused on reading and math. Read More \| (4) Comments

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