Current Issue

School closings

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

special education

March 15, 2012

New statistics show black students and students with disabilities are most likely to be restrained or isolated in school, according to Education Week.

January 24, 2012

Some parents are speaking out, forming groups, drafting petitions and setting up Facebook pages to call on CPS to rethink the 7.5 hour extended day, which they say is making their children physically and mentally exhausted, the Tribune reports.

December 19, 2011

In the 21 months since U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stood on an iconic bridge in Selma, Ala., and pledged to aggressively combat discrimination in the nation's schools, federal education officials have launched dozens of new probes in school districts and states that reach into civil rights issues that previously received little, if any, scrutiny.

October 19, 2011

As state officials prepare to roll out a new teacher evaluation that is partially tied to student test scores, a leading advocate wants them to “think long and hard” to avoid adopting a process that inadvertently harms special education students.

October 13, 2011

Experts say it is usually better to have learning-disabled students in classes co-taught by a regular education teacher and special education teacher. Yet in the lowest-achieving schools, a higher percentage of students have learning disabilities and the chances are higher that these children will spend substantial time in separate classes.

October 13, 2011

Marshall has long been a candidate for drastic action, with the percentage of students meeting state testing standards lingering in the single digits for years. But when CPS leaders announced that Marshall would become a turnaround, there was an additional outside push: The state had sanctioned the school because of its poorly run special education program.

January 28, 2011

The district is faced with a backlog of up to 1,500 children under 3 students who were referred for special education evaluations last year but have yet to undergo them, leaving them without special services at a critical stage in their development.

February 17, 2010

The Illinois State Board of Education is backing off its proposal to cut Chicago’s special education allocation by $53 million this year, but the district still faces the threat of a fundamental change to the way it receives state funding.

February 01, 2010

Members of a task force on special education said Monday they were not ready to move forward with a proposal that would change the way CPS' state special education is funding, but a state board committee is pressing ahead with the plan, including a proposal to slash the budget next year.

The task force spent three hours discussing a report that concludes the state’s special education funding system is inequitable because Chicago receives more than its share of money. 

go here for more