Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/author/genevieve-lill/)
The Edgewater and Rogers Park communities have roughly seven state pre-kindergartens, seven private preschools, eight Head Start centers, 64 licensed home day cares and a multitude of social service agencies serving 2,300 children ages zero to 5.
Daycare operator Charlotte Manteaw got advice that solved a problem plaguing one of the seven children she cared for.
The daunting transition from middle school to high school was even more challenging for Bowen High sophomore Olivia Rodriguez, who entered freshman year unable to write in English. “I’ve been having problems now that everything is in English,” she says.
CPS is proposing to restructure Williams Elementary into a K-12 school to reopen in the fall and coverting Dodge Elementary into a teacher training academy. The proposal calls for the schools to partner with a number of outside experts, including Erikson Institute, Illinois Institute of Technology, National-Louis University and the Academy of Urban School Leadership.
Last month, 93 CPS teachers who earned National Board Certification—the profession’s highest credential—received $5,500 one-time awards from the Chicago Public Education Fund and the School Board. They will also receive $30,000 over 10 years from the Illinois Board of Education (ISBE).
By September 1995, the nation’s first universal access pre-kindergarten program officially opened to all 4-year-olds, regardless of family income. Enrollment that year was 44,000—nearly three times higher than it had been the previous school year. By the 2002-03 school year, 65,000 children were enrolled, and the program’s annual budget was $128 million.
Four new small schools will open this fall at Bowen, Orr and South Shore high schools, all of which began the process of breaking up into smaller units this year. Last fall, these schools created five small schools with grants from the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative, which is funded by local foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Chicago Panel on School Policy Initiative Status Reports—some previous issues have covered principal training, national certification for teachers and year-round schools—provided interim feedback to show whether programs were working, Buell explains. In six years, the Panel published 20 such reports. Since 2000, it has distributed 500,000 pamphlets that condensed the report research into more usable formats for parents, Buell says.
The daunting transition from middle school to high school was even more challenging for Bowen High sophomore Olivia Rodriguez, who entered freshman year unable to write in English. “I’ve been having problems now that everything is in English,” she says.