Latest news with #IllinoisAssessmentofReadiness
Chicago Tribune
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Guest column: Promise of dual language programs in Illinois must be embraced
The auditorium was full of families, all eyes on the brightly lit stage. Alejandra nervously approached the podium. Only her hairbows were visible as she shared what speaking both Spanish and English meant to her, her family and her community in a clear, confident voice. She spoke of the importance of bilingualism in service of her family, in making new friends and in helping her achieve her goals in life. As she finished with, 'Soy de dos mundos (I am of two worlds),' there wasn't a dry eye in the house. During this district-wide celebration of bilingualism, it felt freeing and empowering to raise our bilingual voices in this way. It is equally empowering to know that dual language programs all over our state are striving to raise high-achieving, biliterate students, able to express themselves in two languages and ready to participate as citizens of a multilingual world. Supported by decades of research, dual language programs have a proven ability to close achievement gaps for all students. Illinois has passed Public Act 103 0362 that encourages schools to expand its dual language efforts and harness the power to close the gap for students, especially those with less opportunities. While our state is making progress, more needs to be done to gauge these programs' accountability and ensure that students like Alejandra receive high-quality instruction to help them reach their long-term goals. Illinois' current school report card system looks only at English language arts scores. If we're serious about our students' achieving biliteracy and if we're to have successful bilingual programs, we should be gauging our students' ability in both languages. The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) for students in grades 3-8 assesses their knowledge of the state standards is our most influential test. Seventy-five percent of school designations, and thus funding, is based on this test so schools feel immense pressure to show IAR growth. I know from my own experience that the data that affects the school rating is at the top of the agenda, whereas other equally meaningful data, like scores on the standardized test used to evaluate English learners' proficiency, is left out of the conversation. If we want to see more children like Alejandra stepping up to proudly declare their two languages, then we need to update the state accountability system to incorporate authentic measures of what our multilingual students can do, whether dual language programs are working well and what can be done to improve them. There are two additional ways we can improve the system and support our students: It's time for the state to see the fullness of what our bilingual students can do, just as Alejandra and 12 other bilingual writing winners showed our district in 2023. Alejandra found — and raised — her voice and is now excelling as a biliterate middle school student. If we value bilingualism and biliteracy in schools, we should do everything we can to support our students and their learning.
Chicago Tribune
21-04-2025
- Automotive
- Chicago Tribune
Community news: Golden Apple for area principal, car show in River Grove, more
Prospect School principal receives Golden Apple Award Kristin Cummings, principal at Prospect School in Clarendon Hills, recently received a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership, one of six finalists to earn the honor in Illinois. She and the other finalists received their award earlier this month from the Golden Apple Foundation during its Celebration of Excellence in Teaching & Leadership at the Q Center in St. Charles. The event honored ninth to 12th grade teachers and pre-K to 12th grade school leaders. The awards are presented in honor of Golden Apple board member Stanley Golder. Cummings, who has more than 25 years of experience in education, including being a principal for seven years at a Title I school. She has increased student performance through professional learning communities that allow teachers to collaborate on student data and talk about best practices. Illinois Assessment of Readiness reading scores rose to 81% from 72% over four years, according to a news release. Beyond academic achievements, she helps lead an annual toy drive at Prospect for Hope Children's Hospital, with students collecting toys for children who have medical challenges. She also heads up clothing, book and food drives for the People's Resource center and Prospect's sister school, William Penn Elementary School. Car show revs up in River Grove Triton College hosts its annual car show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 27 in the West Campus parking lots at Fifth Avenue and Hemingway Drive in River Grove. Voting for the competition begins at 10 a.m. Competitors vie for Best in Show, Best Truck, Best Student Care, Peoples Choice and Beat Paint Job. Winners will be named at 12:30 p.m. Admission and parking are free, and there's no fee to be an exhibitor. Exhibitors check in from 8 to 10 a.m. Register to show off a vehicle at Advance registration closes at noon April 25. During the show, hundreds of car enthusiasts from across the Midwest are expected to attend and show off their vehicles. The show will feature antique and classic cars, trucks and modern vehicles, as well as special awards, food, music and fun for families. Food and beverages will be sold. Tobacco, pets and alcohol are not allowed on the campus. Triton's Automotive Program offers associate degrees as well as several certificate options. Tours will be available at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in the T Building. They include an automotive faculty member giving a brief program overview followed by a 50-minute walking tour. Registration is required for the tours. Check-in starts 15 minutes before each start time. The rain date is May 4. Information is at 708-456-0300, Ext. 3062, or by emailing carshow@ Raise money for counseling by joining Walk the Walk Walk the Walk for mental health steps off at 9 a.m. May 18 at The Community House, 415 W. Eighth St., Hinsdale. The 1-mile 'color walk' raises money for the counseling center at The Community House to provide 'equitable access to life-changing mental health services for children, young adults, and families in need,' according to a news release. An expo with local vendors, colorful opening ceremony and fun takes place before the walk begins, and music, games and food trucks will be available afterward. Participants can walk alone or create a team; everyone receives a free event T-shirt. New this year are prizes for raising money: a baseball cap for raising $100 and a hoodie for bringing in $250 or more. Register at or by calling 630-323-7500. Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra performs Gershwin George Gershwin's piece 'An American in Paris' opens the Elmhust Symphony Orchestra's final performance of the 2024-25 season at 7 p.m. May 3 at Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church, 149 W. Brush Hill Road, Elmhurst. The program, conducted Music Director Stephen Alltop, also includes Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's 'Sinfonietta for Strings (II and III),' Gershwin's 'I Got Rhythm Variations featuring Sylvia Wang on Piano and Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition.' The evening begins with a pre-concert talk at 5:45 p.m. to offer insight into the musical selections. The Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra is a community-based professional ensemble. Tickets cost $35 to $45 for adults, $32 to 42 for older adults and $12 for students with ID. Visit or call 630-941-0202. 'Midsummer Night's Dream' hits stage BrightSide Theatre presents 'A Midsummer Night's Dream at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 25 to May 11, at 2 p.m. at Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St., Naperville. The show, a new version of William Shakespeare's comedy, includes three songs with original music that incorporates his text. Tickets cost $32 to $37 and are available at or by calling 630-447-TIXS.
Chicago Tribune
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Paul Vallas: The decline in Black teachers has nothing to do with CPS' evaluation system
The Chicago Teachers Union claims that Chicago Public Schools' lack of Black teachers is, in part, the result of an evaluation system that discriminates against them — specifically singling out Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago's Students, or REACH. Let's be clear. This latest invocation of race is a political move by CTU President Stacy Davis Gates and her Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE). With union elections approaching, this is an effort to rally their base and bolster the union's broader campaign against standards and accountability. The CTU's criticism of REACH is misleading. The evaluation system is designed as a tool to help teachers improve — not as a means to penalize them. In fact, CPS does not penalize teachers for low REACH scores. There's virtually no teacher accountability for poor academic outcomes. In Chicago, you would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of teachers fired for poor performance despite abysmal student test scores and 40% of teachers being chronically absent in 2023. The CTU has made it a mission to eliminate meaningful teacher accountability. Last year, the school board — backed by CTU allies — voted to stop ranking schools by academic performance. Rather than confront poor student outcomes head-on, the union aims to redefine success by emphasizing metrics unrelated to academics, downplaying testing and reviving policies such as social promotion. This is how the district can tout record graduation rates while fewer than 1 in 3 students meet grade-level standards in reading — and just over 1 in 6 in math on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness standardized test. Since 2017, SAT scores among high school graduates have plummeted across all demographics. Meanwhile, CPS is retreating from teaching standards altogether, as evidenced in its evaluation practices. Despite attacks on REACH, consider how CPS teachers were rated the past two years. According to the Illinois Report Card, 93.4% of CPS teachers in 2024 were rated 'excellent' or 'proficient.' That's up from 86% in 2023. Clearly, there is a major disconnect between teacher evaluations and student performance. Now, the CTU wants to weaken evaluations even further. A version of the union's contract demands leaked last year includes extending evaluations for tenured teachers rated 'excellent' or 'proficient' to once every three years. Other tenured teachers would be evaluated annually. They also propose reducing the number of classroom observations from three to two per cycle, with a third only conducted if both the teacher and observer agree. The CTU would have the Black community believe that CPS is discriminating against Black teachers in hiring and evaluations. But this claim doesn't hold up to scrutiny. For instance, 44% of all CPS principals were Black in 2019-20, far exceeding the proportion of either Black teachers or students. By comparison, 45% of CPS teachers are white and 20% are Black. If discrimination were at play, it would imply that Black administrators are somehow complicit — a claim that's hard to take seriously. The actual reason for the decline in Black teachers is part of a broader national trend: Fewer students are entering the teaching profession, and there's been a significant increase in Latino teacher candidates. In the 2019-20 academic year, U.S. colleges and universities conferred 85,057 bachelor's degrees in education — just 4% of all degrees awarded. That's down 19% from 2000-01 and a staggering 50% decline since 1970. Over the past decade, the percentage of Black teachers in CPS has dropped from nearly 50% to 20.6% — even as Black students now make up about 34% of enrollment. However, this decline isn't due to white teachers replacing Black teachers. The percentage of white teachers has remained steady. Instead, Black teachers have largely been replaced by Latino teachers, whose share of CPS' teaching workforce has grown alongside the city's growing Latino population. Today, 25% of CPS teachers are Latino, while Latino students make up 47% of enrollment. If the CTU truly wants more Black teachers in the classroom, it should focus on expanding the overall pool of teacher candidates — in number and quality. This isn't rocket science. A serious recruitment strategy should include: Teacher ambassadors: Incentivize current CPS administrators and teachers to assist with recruitment, onboarding and mentoring of new hires. HBCU partnerships: Forge relationships with historically Black colleges and universities, including through the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, to recruit Black teacher candidates. Teach for Chicago: Launch a district-run version of Teach for America to recruit top minority college graduates from non-education majors. Alternative certification: Establish a CPS-led program to help professionals from other fields transition into teaching. Troops to teachers: Fully use the federal program that helps veterans, many of whom are Black, become certified teachers. Student teacher incentives: Pay student teachers as aides, integrate them into after-school and tutoring programs and allow them to substitute teach within limits. Future teachers pipeline: Partner with City Colleges and area universities to create a pathway for CPS high school students interested in teaching careers. Teacher villages: Expand supportive housing communities where new teachers can live and connect with peers during their probationary years. These are the basic elements of a comprehensive plan to significantly grow the pool of qualified teachers while also increasing the number of Black teachers, especially Black men. The shortage of Black teachers is not the result of discrimination — it's a result of far too few Black students entering the teaching profession. CPS and the city can, and should, take concrete steps to change that. Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He ran for Chicago mayor in 2023 and 2019 and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chicago Public Schools launches plan to help Black students; conservative advocacy group says it's discriminatory
CHICAGO -- The launch of the Black Student Success Plan by Chicago Public Schools in February marked another step that the district says shows its commitment to eliminating 'opportunity gaps and ensuring Black students have the support needed' to succeed. Developed with input from stakeholders such as local school council members, students, parents and teachers in the district at community roundtables, the Black Student Success Plan is a collection of recommendations to help dismantle achievement barriers for Black students and help them be successful in and out of the classroom. Despite ongoing opportunity gaps in education quality, policies and support at the individual schools and the district level, recent progress in Chicago Public Schools shows significant growth for Black students, data suggests. The 2023-24 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) results highlight a 10.5% increase in proficiency since 2021-22, with Black students' growth in English Language Arts surpassing overall district gains. Black male students in third through eighth grades saw a 10.7% increase in reading proficiency. 'Our students are enriched by learning about the history of Black people in America and around the world, a vital demographic within our school communities,' CEO Pedro Martinez said in a news release. More Black students in CPS graduated and earned early college credits and credentials in 2023 and 2024 than in previous years, according to the district. 'Ensuring our students can connect with their past and learn from it has a real-world impact. The Class of 2024 Black high school graduates have achieved significant academic success, but there is still work to be done to address opportunity gaps,' Martinez said in the release. CPS said in the news release that it remains dedicated to 'undoing all obstacles to Black student success.' Aaron 'Jitu' Brown, the District 5A member of the Chicago Board of Education and a longtime activist on the city's West Side, pointed to factors outside of schools such as limited access to grocery stores and an overabundance of liquor stores as community harms to students. 'If we're going to truly be serious about equity, we also have to…. be forward-thinking,' Brown said. 'We have to look at the fact that in the same neighborhood where we need a revitalization of our schools, we also need a revitalization of housing. We also need food production and delivery systems, and that's the burden of leadership that we have to be able to look forward to.' Sharing anecdotes of his experience growing up in the city, Brown said the Black Student Success program has to be a priority for the district to operate properly. Excited about the possibilities of the plan, he said those involved 'have to see beyond the obvious.' 'I want to work with you all on it, but we're not going to be shortsighted,' Brown said. 'We have a moment to really be leaders. Part of that is you don't run from the truth; you don't run from the smoke. You run to it.' Starting this spring, the plan will bring together goals that aim to create a more equitable and inclusive educational environment for all students, ensuring that resources are distributed fairly and increasing the recruitment and retention of Black educators and leaders. The strategic plan, which the board adopted in September, outlines the district's priorities and investments through 2029. It emphasizes creating a more equitable school system and aiming to close achievement and opportunity gaps for Black and Latino students, students with disabilities, students in temporary living situations and English-language learners. The district is committed to removing obstacles in students' paths, CPS Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said in the news release. 'Together, we can create an inclusive educational environment where all students have the opportunity to thrive,' Chkoumbova said. Rolled out at a time when the second Trump administration is aiming to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives, the Black Student Success Plan has its opponents. Also last month, a conservative education advocacy group filed a civil rights complaint against Chicago Public Schools, claiming the plan is discriminatory. Arlington, Virginia-based Parents Defending Education filed the federal complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights, claiming the Black Student Success Plan is 'racially exclusive' while the district is 'failing students of all races and ethnicities,' according to data presented in a slide deck Dec. 2023. The complaint said the slide deck shows that the reading proficiency of Hispanic boys in kindergarten through 2nd grade trails that of non-Hispanic Black boys at the same grade level, yet the new program excludes Hispanics, 'which makes this racially segregated program even more egregious.' Parents Defending Education could not immediately be reached for comment. The complaint mirrors the sentiment of the second Trump administration's promises to stamp out federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and efforts. It also references new federal guidelines issued by the Education Department advising U.S. educational institutions to eliminate DEI programs or risk losing federal funding. Since launching the Black Student Success Working Group last year, the district has worked with stakeholders to analyze data and develop recommendations for the Black Student Success Plan. CPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the civil rights complaint. In March, the district will host community roundtables following the plan's launch. 'We've been intentional about sharing the Working Group's recommendations and incorporating feedback from students, staff, and community members into the development of the plan,' CPS Black Student Success Director Eugene Robinson Jr said in the press release. 'This engagement will continue throughout the plan's rollout and early implementation.' ___
Chicago Tribune
21-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Public Schools launches ‘success plan' aimed to help Black students
The launch of the Black Student Success Plan by Chicago Public Schools on Friday marked another step that the district says shows its commitment to eliminating 'opportunity gaps and ensuring Black students have the support needed' to succeed. Developed with input from stakeholders such as local school council members, students, parents and teachers in the district at community roundtables, the Black Student Success Plan is a collection of recommendations to help dismantle achievement barriers for Black students and help them be successful in and out of the classroom. Despite ongoing opportunity gaps in education quality, policies and support at the individual schools and the district level, recent progress in Chicago Public Schools shows significant growth for Black students, data suggests. The 2023-24 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) results highlight a 10.5% increase in proficiency since 2021-22, with Black students' growth in English Language Arts surpassing overall district gains. Black male students in third through eighth grades saw a 10.7% increase in reading proficiency. 'Our students are enriched by learning about the history of Black people in America and around the world, a vital demographic within our school communities,' CEO Pedro Martinez said in a news release. More Black students in CPS graduated and earned early college credits and credentials in 2023 and 2024 than in previous years, according to the district. 'Ensuring our students can connect with their past and learn from it has a real-world impact. The Class of 2024 Black high school graduates have achieved significant academic success, but there is still work to be done to address opportunity gaps,' Martinez said in the release. CPS said in the news release that it remains dedicated to 'undoing all obstacles to Black student success.' Aaron 'Jitu' Brown, the District 5A member of the Chicago Board of Education and a longtime activist on the city's West Side, pointed to factors outside of schools such as limited access to grocery stores and an overabundance of liquor stores as community harms to students. 'If we're going to truly be serious about equity, we also have to…. be forward-thinking,' Brown said. 'We have to look at the fact that in the same neighborhood where we need a revitalization of our schools, we also need a revitalization of housing. We also need food production and delivery systems, and that's the burden of leadership that we have to be able to look forward to.' Sharing anecdotes of his experience growing up in the city, Brown said the Black Student Success program has to be a priority for the district to operate properly. Excited about the possibilities of the plan, he said those involved 'have to see beyond the obvious.' 'I want to work with you all on it, but we're not going to be shortsighted,' Brown said. 'We have a moment to really be leaders. Part of that is you don't run from the truth; you don't run from the smoke. You run to it.' Starting this spring, the plan will bring together goals that aim to create a more equitable and inclusive educational environment for all students, ensuring that resources are distributed fairly and increasing the recruitment and retention of Black educators and leaders. The strategic plan, which the board adopted in September, outlines the district's priorities and investments through 2029. It emphasizes creating a more equitable school system and aiming to close achievement and opportunity gaps for Black and Latino students, students with disabilities, students in temporary living situations and English-language learners. The district is committed to removing obstacles in students' paths, CPS Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said in the news release. 'Together, we can create an inclusive educational environment where all students have the opportunity to thrive,' Chkoumbova said. Since launching the Black Student Success Working Group last year, the district has worked with stakeholders to analyze data and develop recommendations for the Black Student Success Plan. In March, the district will host community roundtables following the plan's launch. 'We've been intentional about sharing the Working Group's recommendations and incorporating feedback from students, staff, and community members into the development of the plan,' CPS Black Student Success Director Eugene Robinson Jr said in the press release. 'This engagement will continue throughout the plan's rollout and early implementation.'
