The digital divide
The building blocks for digital learning
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Schools that have embraced technology in the classroom have much in common. But the one element that’s indispensable is cash.
The digital divide
A $27 million market
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CPS schools that bought ed tech products in 2015 spent an average of $30 per student, but the impact on achievement is still in question.
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
Closing the digital divide for all students
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A teacher and former Chicago Public Schools student says technology can be a game-changer for ‘young people who need opportunity the most.’
bilingual education
Dual language programs to expand, but fears over money linger
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Five elementary schools are starting programs that will teach children in both English and Spanish, an approach that has gained traction across the country. Community groups played a role in lobbying for the programs.
Catalyst Chicago
1 in 10 CPS students a no show on PARCC
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About one in 10 CPS students eligible to take the PARCC test skipped the exam this past spring. Officials say it’s unclear what effect the opt-out movement had on student outcomes.
charter schools
Threatened with closure, ChicagoQuest drops “gaming” focus
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The Chicago International Charter Schools board voted narrowly this week to keep its ChicagoQuest campus open, but to eliminate its seventh and eighth grades and modify its curriculum. Instead of having a focus on “game-like learning,” which staff and administrators admit was never fully executed, the school will embrace a “college prep” theme.
Catalyst Chicago
Four charter schools contest proposed closure
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The CPS Board of Education will vote next week and in December about whether to close four underperforming charter schools. CPS officials say quality is the issue, but some question why the district’s recommendation came so quickly after a new policy was adopted, and whether the district is trying to make room for new Noble and LEARN schools likely to open with new federal funding.
Catalyst Chicago
Twenty-five years by the numbers
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In the past two and a half decades, the number and types of schools in the Chicago Public Schools have risen dramatically even as enrollment has declined. The face of the student body and teaching corps has undergone significant change. And although the system still lags behind the state on many measures, CPS has seen improved test scores and rising high school and college graduation rates.
Catalyst Chicago
‘In decline since the ’70s’
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In a wide-ranging interview earlier this summer for our 25th anniversary issue, Pedro Noguera, a leading national voice on urban education, told Catalyst that these days “education is largely reproducing the inequities in society.”