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Posts in category "Communities & CBOs"

Homeboy Chicago?

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LA doesn’t have CeaseFire (that I know of) but Chicago doesn’t have Homeboy Industries, LA’s long-running nonprofit social services program (that I know of), either. Homebody  isn’t technically an education program, but the initiative  – described in Douglas McGray’s recent Fast Company article, “House Of Second Chances” — is full of education connections and lessons for... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
May 4, 2012 at 7:05 pm
• 5 comments

The Next Lincoln Park High School?

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Which neighborhood school will be the next LPHS?  Hidden at the bottom of Linda Lutton’s new story about neighborhood IB programs is a chart showing schools like Kelly with massive programs and decent results.  Most have much higher percentages of black and Latino kids, and lower ACT scores for IB kids.  Some have perceived or... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
April 25, 2012 at 8:56 am
• 11 comments

CICS: "Haphazard" Expansion?

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The most recent Chicago Schools Wonks includes a long, anguished post from former TFAer Seth Lavin about the pattern of abrupt and usually unpublicized management changes taking place among charter schools in Chicago -- CICS and Edison Learning just broke up, just like CICS and AQS broke up a couple of years ago.  He's dismayed at the changes, and skeptical about the possibility that Edison's replacement can happen without school and community disruption."Why did we empower reformers to open campuses so quickly and expand so haphazardly? "  Charter-haters among you will respond gleefully, I'm sure, but I'm wondering what those folks teaching at or sending their kids to CICS feel about these changes, and the pattern of changes?  It's not like CPS schools don't go through sudden direction changes, either... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
April 24, 2012 at 8:44 am
• 26 comments
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2.4x Higher Housing Costs Near Better Schools

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Want to live near a great CPS school?  That’ll cost you 2.4 times what it will cost you to live near a bad or average one.  A new Brookings Institute report shows some things we already knew but a few surprises as well:  The familiar news is that the Chicago metro area ranks 2nd in... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
April 23, 2012 at 7:44 am
• 1 comment

LSC Elections 2012

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There are basically two kinds of news stories — ones that are speculative (like the strike vote stuff) and ones that are about things that are actually happening in schools — like this week’s LSC elections. This and other education news of the day are below.  Tell us how the LSC candidates look and who... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
April 17, 2012 at 9:05 am
• 2 comments

PBS Features Albany Park Theater Project

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On Monday night the PBS NewsHour ran a long segment on APTP, the well-known youth theater project.  Watch it below or click the link and watch it over there.  Are there other groups like APTP, as good or better?  Is this latest show, Home Land, particularly good?    ... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
March 29, 2012 at 8:25 am
• 2 comments
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Anyone Running For LSC?

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A handful of schools (Baubien, Trumbull, galileo, Nobel, Columbus, Lane, Westinghouse, and Simeon) have a dozen or more parents running for one of six LSC spots (see below), but the vast majority have fewer than that — and many have fewer candidates than positions.  Check out this map and spreadsheet, via @sethlavin, which lets you... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
March 21, 2012 at 7:59 am
• 1 comment

Rose Is Out (Of CPS)

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Today’s news includes the blockbuster revelation that Jamika Rose is no longer going to run community engagement.  You may recall first hearing about her last summer (see here).  Obviously there were issues, but there’s no news on her replacement and I’m not sure that having the position vacant helps anyone though it might be satisfying... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
March 16, 2012 at 6:40 am
• 13 comments

Remembering Chicago

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I refuse to celebrate Pulaski Day but this Chicagoist remembrance of being a kid taking the CTA from one side of Chicago to another as part of CPS’s 1970s-1980s deseg efforts (Hay to Pressing) is pretty nice. Go over there and check it out, then come back here and tell us your favorite Chicago story.  Happy 175th... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
March 5, 2012 at 9:01 pm
• 1 comment
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Overcrowded, Under-Enrolled, Or Both?*

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Chicago Public Schools’ enrollment keeps going down, but reports about overcrowding like this one from WTTW’s Eddie Arruza suggest that at least in some places the problem remains a serious one.  How can CPS be both overcrowded and under-enrolled at the same time?  The obvious answer is that the kids and the schools aren’t necessarily... Read more »
By Alexander Russo,
February 24, 2012 at 10:52 am
• 8 comments