Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/central-and-area-offices/)
CPS officials announced Tuesday that they are cutting the number of networks, the mid-level administrative units that work directly with schools. Nearly every administration has reorganized these offices at least once.
Allan Alson, former executive director of the CPS Office of High School Transformation, is the new director of leadership development at the Consortium for Educational Change; CPS is slated to get $30 million less from Springfield this year
Who’s joining High School Transformation, what’s changing at AUSL, new principals
Since the district hired area instructional officers in 2002, some parts of the city have made significant achievement gains while others still lag behind. AIOs with a winning track record let effective principals run with the ball, but provide strong support to those who need it.
Once upon a time, there was a very large school district called Chicago Public Schools. While some of its schools performed well, many did not. This is a cautionary tale about leadership styles and the complexity of overcoming entrenched poverty in public education.
Before Jose Torres stepped in, his predecessor in the Area 14 instructional office spent four years trying to make a difference for a group of low-performing schools in Englewood, Auburn Gresham and Greater Grand Crossing. He didn’t.
A Q&A with Area Instructional Officer Jose Torres, who has the challenge of turning around a group of schools that have shown little or no progress for a decade.
A hands-off approach let Principal David Pino take charge and turn around a failing school.
Maria Cruz was thrilled when she became principal of Moos Elementary, but she knew that something needed to be done to boost students’ academic performance, especially in reading, and to get the school off probation, where it had landed the previous year. Effective, focused support from the area office helped.