Current Issue

School closings

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

teacher evaluations

May 06, 2013

The Consortium on Chicago School Research surveyed 700 principals and assistant principals and 900 teachers in December about CPS' new teacher evaluation process and will do so again in May. CPS, however, would not authorize the organization to release preliminary findings. A district spokesman said the data are "too preliminary to be of any value."

October 16, 2012

Because of a quirk in the calendar after last month's strike, many Chicago teachers didn't show up for work Monday at year-round Track E schools, leaving CPS to scramble for substitute teachers. In some cases, administrators were pressed into duty. (ABC7 News)

July 03, 2012

Federal officials are pressuring Illinois to speed up the rollout of a controversial evaluation system that will rate teachers in part on how their students perform, records obtained by the Tribune show.

May 31, 2012

The Obama administration's push to make student test scores a bigger part of teacher evaluations may be having an unintended side effect: It's cooling officials' appetite for making the data public.

April 20, 2012

For reasons including a lack of space, changing priorities and tight budgets, 98 Chicago public elementary and middle schools don't have outdoor playgrounds, which poses a logistical problem when Mayor Rahm Emanuel's longer day is introduced citywide and recess will be part of the schedule at all elementary and middle schools.

April 02, 2012

The first round of negotiations between the Chicago Public Schools and the teachers union went squarely to the district, which will get its way in weighing student performance more heavily in teacher evaluations. (Tribune)

March 27, 2012

Two citywide youth groups packed CPS headquarters Tuesday afternoon to ask the district to incorporate student surveys into teacher evaluation.

“We are the ones in the classroom, and we are the ones impacted by the quality of the teachers,” said Timothy Anderson, a student at Gage Park High School and a member of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education. VOYCE joined with students from the Mikva Challenge, an organization dedicated to youth civic engagement, in making their request.

February 21, 2012

Despite a well-publicized commitment to involve parents in the city’s public education system, some of them are not happy with how Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his school team are following through. And some say they are still not familiar with the new Office of Community and Family Engagement, according to the Chicago News Cooperative.

January 30, 2012

Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard told about 250 people at Saturday's New Schools Expo at Soldier Field that the best school options come from improving neighborhood campuses rather than from increasing the number that have selective enrollment.

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