From the Blogs
The best of our Blogs.
Economic woes mean Latino vote no gimme for usual immigration platitudes
The recession left few communities untouched by layoffs, foreclosures and cuts to social services. But the Latino community has taken the hardest hits and faces the toughest road to recovery. Read more »
High HOPES coalition outlines plan to reduce school suspensions and expulsions in new report
CHICAGO, March 14, 2012 (News Release) — Student, parent, community and faith leaders with the High HOPES Campaign today presented a resolution to the Chicago City Council, highlighting a new report by campaign leaders to reduce student suspensions, expulsions and arrests in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) through the use of restorative justice practices. Read more »
Crete: Lax oversight and a history of abuse lead to doubts about the Corrections Corporations of America
The Corrections Corporation of America has earned some infamy. The private prison company operates 65 facilities in 19 states, had about 570 lawsuits filed against it between 1998 and 2008, and earns $109.1 million a year before interest and taxes. Read more »
Child-parent centers to expand
Chicago’s child-parent centers are slated to expand and gain additional resources with a $15 million Investing in Innovation grant won last year by the University of Minnesota.
The money will fund five new child-parent centers in Chicago, four in Evanston/Skokie District 65, and a total of 14 new locations in Normal School District 5, Milwaukee Public Schools, St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools, and two other Minnesota districts. Read more »
Who's afraid of the low-income vote?
Two voter ID laws making their way through the state Legislature could end up keeping some of Illinois' poorest residents from exercising one of their basic democratic rights–voting. Come Election Day, voters would have to present a government-issued photo identification card at the polling place, if Senate Bill 2496, which was introduced last week, is ulimately approved by lawmakers. A similar measure--House Bill 3903 --was introduced in the lower chamber in December. Read more »
Tougher principal selection process in the works
Chicago Public Schools is embarking on yet another revamp of its controversial principal eligibility process, based on a new set of principal skills that will also play into new state-mandated principal evaluations.
The changes could take effect as soon as this summer, but it’s not clear yet what they will be. The current process includes an application with essays and an initial interview; a scenario exam; a school data case study; a more in-depth interview; and a mock teacher observation. (Those could still be part of the revamped process.) Read more »
At AUSL, progress but ‘this is not magic’
On average, AUSL turnaround schools are outperforming neighborhood schools on state tests. But most of the improvement has been in math and science, while reading achievement is still lagging. And some neighborhood schools that have not gotten the same resources are gaining ground at a similar clip. Read more »
How segregated is this city? Chicago speaks
A recent study of segregation in Chicago by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, based on census data, found that while Chicago still has the dubious honor of being the most segregated major city in America, it also experienced one of the sharpest declines in spacial segregation. Read more »
More young people are killed in Chicago than any other American city
Since 2008, more than 530 youth have been killed in Chicago with nearly 80 percent of the homicides occurring in 22 African-American or Latino community areas on the city’s South, Southwest and West sides. Read more »
Vacant homes to rentals has potential but also potential problems
Vacant homes are trouble. There's no doubt about it. From attracting squatters, falling into disrepair or lowering home values, there's not a neighborhood in this city that doesn't have empty homes creating problems. More are piling onto the market every day, with little hope of a quick recovery. Read more »
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