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…
Before Others Replicate Chicago’s Teacher Contract, Let’s See the Impact on Kids
Chicago’s new teacher contract contains proposals permeating our nation’s public school systems. But are they good for kids?
Two Chicago Charter School Students Named Cooke Young Scholars
With help from High Jump, two talented young women from Chicago charter schools have been selected as Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars.
Honoring All Our Students Demands We Look Hard at Our Teaching
To create safe classrooms spaces for all students, teachers must analyze their practice. We must challenge our biases and honor all our students’ identities.
Friends of the Children Chicago Builds a Vital Bridge Between Families and Schools
Friends of the Children-Chicago cuts through the endless debate over whether to address poverty or education first by simply mentoring kids and families for the long haul.
The New Conversation about Controlled Enrollment Shows How White Privilege Works in CPS
For 20 years, controlled enrollment meant hardship for Southwest Side families. Why is the district suddenly coming up with a kinder, gentler model for affluent North Siders? Thanks, white privilege.
Open Books and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Bring Books to Englewood and Beyond
Last Saturday, Open Books and Imagination Library partnered with Teamwork Englewood for a celebratory kick-off of their efforts to inspire a love of reading in young Chicagoans. Already Open Books has enrolled over 2,000 children in the Austin, Garfield Park, Little Village, North Lawndale and Pilsen communities in the Imagination Library program. Recently, executive director Eric Johnson’s plans to reach every…
Here’s How My Family Escaped the Selective Enrollment Rat Race
In the 1980s my parents spent the night in their Toyota Tercel, waiting in a line to get a lottery number to get me tested and into a spot for kindergarten at a magnet school for gifted kids. In 2012, our family waded through an online lottery process to get our oldest into a kindergarten spot at one of Chicago…