A newly released study from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research found that English-learning school students who were more proficient in the language by the ninth grade scored higher and graduated at higher rates than late-arriving learners who continued their language studies into high school. 

Students who started school as English learners but later shed that designation by becoming proficient in the language are more likely than their classmates to graduate from high school and enroll in college, all after post superior grade point averages in school. 

Chicago students who had been English language learners and became fluent in English by ninth grade graduate and enroll in college at higher rates than their peers, according to a new study released Wednesday by the University of Chicago Consortium of School Research. 

Those findings go along with an earlier study that found similar trends in elementary school, where students who had been English language learners and later mastered English tended to do better in school than their native-English-speaking peers...

Chicagoans just selected our first 10 elected board of education members, who will take office in January alongside 11 mayoral appointees.

On the morning of Sept. 4, 2024 about a month into the new school year at Apalachee High School near Atlanta, Georgia, a 14-year-old student named Colt Gray left his algebra class at around 9:45 a.m. 

About five minutes later, the student’s mother reportedly called the high school after receiving a disturbing text message from her son. School administrators dispatched two school resource officers — armed law enforcement officers assigned to public schools — to locate the student, according to CNN...

Key Takeaways 

• Most students who were formerly English Learners graduated from high school, and they persisted in college at rates higher than the district average. 
• Students who were long-term English Learners had cumulative GPA and SAT scores that were lower than district average, and, among college enrollees, had lower four-year college persistence rates. 
• Students who were late-arriving English Learners had SAT scores that were lower than the district average, but higher cumulative GPA than the district average, and had high college persistenc

Here are three suggestions: 

1. Find anyway possible to retain prep time. 

This is incredibly tough post-pandemic but is one of the top ways that you can support your teachers. The job cannot be done within a school day as it is, and when they also do not get prep time, it further degrades their ability to stay healthy, feel successful, and be effective...

Mike Stephen discusses the crisis of Illinois state prison staff levels and working conditions with John Howard Association executive director Jennifer Vollen-Katz, learns about a new report about the educational attainment of CPS students from Alexandra Usher, the director of data and research at the To&Through Project, and discovers the Secret History of local blues rocker Nick Gravenites...

CPS reading scores have jumped over their pre-pandemic levels and graduation rates have reached record highs, according to newly released reports. 

Why it matters: The data offer a rare bit of good news amid the high-profile drama playing out among CPS leaders...