For 2020, Chicago Unheard Promises You More Parent Voices and School Snapshots

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As we move into a new year and decade, I looked back on our top posts of 2019 to see what our readers found most compelling. For 2020, I can promise you more how-they-did-it stories from strong Chicago schools serving the highest-need kids and lots more reflections from parents with kids in Chicago Public Schools.

In 2019, Chicago Unheard fans eagerly read stories of CPS neighborhood schools succeeding, especially in neighborhoods with large numbers of low-income students. From Chinatown, where Chicago Magazine named Haines Elementary the city’s top neighborhood school, to South and West Side up-and-comers Bennett, Ryder and Faraday elementaries, Chicago Unheard gave you the scoop on where great principals are doing great things for kids.

At Faraday Elementary, games get students fired up to learn.

In 2020, watch for Chicago Unheard to get you inside more of these schools. Plus, we’ll visit outstanding charter schools where adults support kids to achieve.

Strike Coverage Got You Talking

Striking CTU teachers take to the streets last Friday.
Striking CTU teachers take to the streets downtown.

The fall teachers’ strike prompted plenty of comment and controversy here on Chicago Unheard. From my own piece supporting striking teachers, to a South Side Black parent’s frustration with kids being used as pawns, to a longtime Chicago reporter’s encouraging the union to “Take the Win Already!” our readers paid close attention and shared their takes in comments.

Finally, Chicago Unheard readers, you all wanted to talk admissions, whether to elementary, high school or college. We told you about the great, free college counseling tool CPS isn’t using because a charter network built it. We invited parents to speak their truth about admissions: from making the case to end selective enrollment as we know it to showing us what it’s like when one family chose to get off the selective enrollment hamster wheel.

Admissions is a favorite topic on Chicago Unheard

In this new year on Chicago Unheard, we’ll be talking about what equity looks like. We’ll watch and comment while CPS considers revamping how it funds schools. And, as always, we welcome your voices. Share your story with us here.

Welcome to 2020!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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Maureen Kelleher

Chicago Unheard blog manager Maureen Kelleher also serves as a senior writer and editor at brightbeam, a nonprofit network of education activists demanding a better education and brighter future for every child. Before joining the brightbeam team, she spent a decade as a reporter, blogger and policy analyst. Her work has been published across the education world, from Education Week to the Center for American Progress. A former high school English teacher, she is also the proud mom of a middle-schooler. Find her on Twitter at @KelleherMaureen.
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