Category: Blog

CPS High School and Academic Cut Scores for the 2022-23 School Year

‘Tis the season once again for high school admissions in Chicago.  The CPS Office of Access and Enrollment released High School Round 1 results on Friday, March 18.  CPS recently announced that they have extended the Round 1 decision deadline to Monday, April 4 at 5 PM CT.  CPS has announced upcoming changes to the selective enrollment admissions process for…

This CPS Sub Will Be Keeping Her Masks On, And Hopes Others Will, Too

We’re all struggling with heightened anxiety these days. And for subs, the nature of our job is not conducive to relaxation. Simply being a substitute teacher in Chicago Public Schools is not a job for someone who relies on order and predictability. Most of the time you are expected to just jump in and get to work, making sure that 15 or 30 or 50 children somewhere between the ages of 4 and 21 have a relatively successful school day and learn something, and that nobody gets hurt or dies in the process.

How Many High School Counselors Now, like Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Then, Are Still Telling Black Teens ‘Don’t Set Your Sights So High?’

As we as a nation watch the confirmation process that Judge Brown Jackson will traverse over the next few weeks, we should use this as an opportunity to reflect on our nation’s education system. If our public and private k-12 education system was up for confirmation would we have the courage to acknowledge its faults and take deliberate and purposeful action to solve the inherent built-in inequities that deny Black and Latino students their ability to fulfill their full potential?

Research affirms full-day pre-K boosts attendance, but will Chicago make it more accessible?

Two new studies from the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research have confirmed what working parents already know – that when pre-kindergarten programs offer a full-day option, enrollment and attendance rates at those programs increase, especially among Black and Latinx families.  The research comes in the midst of widespread labor shortages, with women representing a disproportionate number of those…