Our new

Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) mission is to provide high-quality education for every student, regardless of their zip code, that prepares them for college success. Yet it’s been difficult to determine the extent to which a CPS student’s zip code might still matter in whether they graduate from high school and college.

At one Chicago elementary school, educators were so concerned about some students’ lackluster attendance they created a hall of fame — a bulletin board in the main hallway recognizing students who made the most gains in showing up to school.

High school EL students graduate at far lower rates th

This mixed-methods study examines the experiences CPS students have in Early College (dual credit and dual enrollment) and Advanced Placement (AP) courses and investigates how they shape their post-secondary outcomes.

This study examines

Key Findings

• Most teachers customized category titles.
• Most teachers used two or three grading category families.
• In sections that used mastery-based and weekly category families, almost of all the final grade was determined by those category families.

With COVID-19 now surging, it’s not surprising that Chicago Public Schools is buying a stockpile of laptops in anticipation of switching to more remote learning classes in January.

The number of cases reported among students and teachers more than tripled before the winter break began, so the district’s decision makes sense. Even so, it’s disheartening to think some students may have to huddle again in front of electronic screens for lessons — a situation that many children struggled mightily with last year...

It was a year of unprecedented hardship for teachers and school leaders. We pored through hundreds of studies to see if we could follow the trail of exactly what happened: The research revealed a complex portrait of a grueling year during which persistent issues of burnout and mental and physical health impacted millions of educators. Meanwhile, many of the old debates continued: Does paper beat digital? Is project-based learning as effective as direct instruction? How do you define what a “good” school is? Other studies grabbed our attention, and in a few cases, made headlines.