catalyst-chicago.org

Mayor Rahm Emanuel reacted angrily Tuesday to questions of whether it was a conflict of interest to award management of six new turnaround schools to the Academy for Urban School Leadership, whose former executives were handpicked by the mayor to help run Chicago Public Schools, the Tribune reported.

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.

The first round of student report card pick up begins Wednesday and Thursday for CPS Track E schools, where parents also will receive a report card on the progress of their child’s school and give them a level of transparency and detail on school performance intended to empower them to have meaningful dialogues with principals and teachers about their child’s performance, according to a CPS press release.