Environmental Racism Puts Our Students at Risk
The appalling filth and environmental hazards in our schools are driven by decades of neglect, particularly in schools that serve Black and Brown children. But Chicago’s working class communities of color have been dogged by generations of environmental racism, as well.
Chicago’s Amazon Bid: More at Stake Than Just Tax Dollars
Amazon’s logistics footprint expands with the help of billions in tax dollars, but scholars find their promise of job growth empty.
Segregationist Policies’ Impact in CPS
Recently, CPS CEO Claypool invoked the racist policies of the south to draw attention to inequitable state funding in Illinois. However, he refuses to acknowledge the ways Jim Crow policies have shaped school opportunity in Chicago, both in the past, and under his...
Stop Criminalizing CPS Students
The City of Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools are targeting certain neighborhoods with police state tactics. Last year, the Chicago Reader and the Shriver Center began investigating police assigned to work inside Chicago Public Schools. The news article and the...
What’s happening with ESSA?
Earlier this month, Congress voted to block the implementation of a key bundle of Obama-era education policies in a 50-49 Senate vote. A week later, Betsy DeVos issued her own replacement guidelines. Under her new rules, state education agencies have to consult with...
Just how much sanctuary does Chicago provide for undocumented students?
The US Department of Justice has confirmed what we’ve known to be true in Chicago: the Chicago Police Department consistently uses unreasonable and deadly force against communities of color with little accountability. These findings come from a DOJ report that states,...
School Segregation Continues
Recent investigations by education reporters detail actions taken by Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked Board of Education that clearly further racial segregation in Chicago Public Schools.
Students with Incarcerated Parents
The Illinois prison population has doubled in the last twenty-five years, mostly due to the “war on drugs,” and incarceration rates tend to be concentrated in high-poverty communities. CPS does not have enough social workers or counselors to help students…
EdWeek praises state-led school assessment. In Illinois, that might be a problem.
This month, Education Week published an article praising the language of the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for presenting student poverty as a barrier to success for American kids. Ed Week is very optimistic about…
