Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/curriculum-achievement/page/2/)
CPS students posted gains in 8th-grade math and 4th-grade reading on the 2015 NAEP exam — bucking national trends. But Chicago’s gap between white students and students of color in math and reading has widened more than in other large districts over the last 12 years.
Some Chicago high schools are turning to innovative programs — such as intensified math and competency-based learning — to address the “high school challenge.”
At least 40 states have one or more districts implementing competency education, and that number is growing, according to one 2013 report. In Chicago, Juarez High is using an approach called “benchmarking.”
As Illinois rolls out the new PARCC exam and anti-testing advocates push the opt-out movement, a survey of teachers in three states finds that they believe the PARCC is much better than previous state tests. They also want more training on the exam.
Nearly 46 percent of students identify as Hispanic this year, and district leaders say it’s necessary to make the study of Latino history and culture a core part of education.
As Chicago quickly expands alternative schools with new, mostly online ventures, it’s clear that altruism is heavily mixed with profit-making savvy, according to a Catalyst Chicago/WBEZ investigation.
The decision to give the new test to all students is certain to galvanize parent activists who oppose standardized tests and are part of a growing national opt-out movement
A Catalyst Chicago/WBEZ investigation shows that the district’s increasing reliance on new, for-profit alternative schools inflates the high school graduation rate.
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.
Nationwide, more than one-third of undergraduate students are over 24, and a majority of them attend college part-time.