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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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teachers

Greater freedom, new standards for alternative certification programs November 30, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris For years, alternative teacher and principal certification programs have been legally tethered to universities and dependent on state-accredited schools to provide the coursework required for teacher certification. Read More \| (3) Comments	Three experts weigh in on how to improve teacher evaluation November 01, 2010 Value-added test scores are an unreliable measure of individual student performance that fails to capture the entirety of what teachers are expected to do, says Susan Moore Johnson of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Johnson was the keynote speaker for Monday’s Chicago Schools Policy Luncheon, the first of two policy luncheons on the topic of teacher quality. The series is co-sponsored by Business and Professional People in the Public Interest and Catalyst Chicago. Read More \| (7) Comments
Teachers turn out, support colleagues labeled 'do not hire' October 27, 2010 Current and former teachers came out in force at the October board meeting to support a cadre of their out-of-work colleagues who feel they were unfairly labeled as “not recommended” when they tried to reapply for jobs this summer. Read More \| (3) Comments	Judge delays enforcing teacher layoff injunction October 19, 2010 A federal judge today put a hold on an earlier order that CPS negotiate with the Chicago Teachers Union to retroactively change its teacher layoff process. Read More \| (5) Comments
More subject knowledge, better teaching? Chicago policy suggests "yes" October 18, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris Three-fourths of math and science teachers in grades 6 through 8 – as well as about one-half of language arts teachers and one-quarter of social studies teachers – are still working to earn endorsements that the district says they must have by next year. Read More \| (0) Comments	Teacher prep programs face more scrutiny to win ISBE recognition October 14, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris By the end of this decade, teacher and principal preparation programs could be judged in part by how well their graduates do in raising the standardized test scores of their students. The state is seeking public comment on a new set of rules for state recognition of programs, and one of them would link students’ test scores to the universities their teachers and principals attended. Read More \| (2) Comments
Judge gives laid off Chicago teachers second chance October 05, 2010 By: Sarah Karp UPDATE: The Chicago Tribune is reporting Tuesday night that CPS CEO Ron Huberman said the district will appeal the judge's decision. A federal ruled Monday that CPS wrongly dismissed hundreds of teachers in a bid to rid the district of poorly performing educators. But CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union disagree on whether the ruling means that the teachers must be hired back. Read More \| (16) Comments	Chicago wins more federal funds for teacher merit pay September 23, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris As CPS prepares to pull the plug on its current merit pay program, known as Chicago TAP, the district has received a $34 million federal grant to launch a new merit pay program that would affect over 1,100 teachers at 25 schools. Read More \| (5) Comments
Merit pay for teachers: One program ending, another in the works September 07, 2010 By: Rebecca Harris This month, Chicago Public Schools will find out whether the district has been selected for a federal grant to launch a new initiative on merit pay that would radically restructure teacher compensation at participating schools. The new initiative would replace Chicago TAP, the local version of the national Teacher Advancement Program, which will end in CPS when federal funding runs out in spring 2011. For more, go to our latest stories in In Focus. Read More \| (2) Comments

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