I’m a parent and a person who watches schools for a living. This guarantees I’m a fussy school-shopper. In kindergarten, we tried three schools in five months before settling down at dual-language Namaste Charter School. I thought Antonia had found a home to last. Unfortunately, I was wrong. After starting the year at Namaste, with Halloween and Dia de los…
Category: School Choice
Your High School Freshman Can Have a Great Experience in Any School
Because of my deep experience in Chicago’s schools, friends and friends of friends sometimes call and ask me, “Is my neighborhood school a good school?” Or, “My child did not get into a selective enrollment high school. Should they go to Noble Charter?” Unfortunately, the real answer is, whether neighborhood, charter or selective enrollment, there is no perfect school. I…
Real School Choice Means We Need Good Neighborhood Schools Too
I believe in school choice. But I believe in it like I believe in capitalism or college football. It’s a cool idea and I’m glad it’s around, but it doesn’t always work quite as well as advertised. Capitalism needs regulations and external guardrails to operate in any sustainable, fair way, and college football needs…well, I don’t have room to go…
To Get the Schools We Deserve, We Must Tell Our Stories
I have a love/hate relationship with the city of Chicago. I love the city for its beauty, vibrancy, diversity and opportunity. I hate the city for how its underserved communities sometimes gets the short end of the stick—especially when it comes to education. I grew up in Englewood and there were no good school options in my community. Luckily, my…
Black Voices, Black Choices: “Children are an investment in our future.”
For many Black families, education is about maintaining the high-quality experiences they had as a child. They know what a great school is because they experienced it themselves and they want that same experience for their children. Meet Delilah Brooks: What is your dream for your children’s education? I always dreamed my children’s education would prepare them to be successful men and…