Presenting Hugo Balta, Nadine Naber, and Dr. Lance Williams offering weekly insights on issues and concerns in Chicago’s Latinx, Muslim, and African-American communities–only in The Chicago Reporter!
Cover Story
The question of tech equity
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Technology isn’t a silver bullet for learning, but schools can’t reap any benefit if they don’t have what’s needed to make the best use of it: fast internet, enough computers and trained teachers.
Catalyst Chicago
Inside Noble
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The Noble Network of Charter Schools has grown into a district within a district, with its own sports league, teacher-training program and a growing army of alumni spreading the brand. But its expansion comes with increased public scrutiny and internal questioning about whether its core tenets work for all students.
Cover Story
Local School Councils: ‘Catalysts for change’
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Of the all the reforms that have swept through Chicago Public Schools in the past 25 years, the creation of local school councils is one of the few that persists. Although their authority has been curtailed over the years and not all new or struggling schools have them, the councils in many ways continue to deliver on the initial vision of allowing parents and community members to be catalysts for change at their schools.
The founder's retrospective
Well, since you asked …
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I’m often asked — by friends, television hosts, people I’ve just met — whether Chicago’s public schools have gotten any better after decades of reform. I know they’d like a simple yes or no, but I find neither satisfying. Rather, it’s been more like yes and no, or two steps forward, one step back.
charter schools
Noble takes up rugby
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In an odd twist, rugby, the national sport of Ireland, has become one of the most popular sports among Noble Street campuses. All of the 16 campuses have boys’ teams and most have girls’ teams as well.
Cover Story
Beyond basketball, a tough road for sports
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CPS is known for a handful of powerhouse basketball teams. But most high schools, especially those in poor communities, offer few opportunities for teens to get involved in sports. To do so, schools must raise their own money for athletics.
Catalyst Chicago
The price of fundraising
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For a select but growing group of schools in wealthier communities, parent fundraising has risen to new heights. In just a decade, the number of parent groups that raise more than $50,000 a year doubled to 41; 30 schools brought in more than $100,000 and eight raised more than $200,000. Altogether, these 41 schools raised roughly $7.6 million in one year.
Criminal Justice
Police face choice of handcuffs or helping hand for mentally ill
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As first responders to emergency calls, police play a critical role in determining whether people living with mental illness receive treatment or go to jail. But too few Chicago police officers are trained to handle these mental health crisis calls.
Housing
Dismantling the towers
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Twenty years after the demolition of Henry Horner Homes on the city’s Near West Side, former residents don’t think mixed-income housing is working for them.
Catalyst Chicago
City Colleges scholarship has benefits, drawbacks
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Since City Colleges began taking applications for a plan widely advertised as “free college” by a campaigning Mayor Rahm Emanuel, more than 1,000 students have applied for the offer of waived tuition, books and school fees. But research shows that City Colleges are not the best post-secondary choice for high-achieving students who will benefit from the Star Scholarship.