Events
June 21 Music in The Plaza
Declining school enrollment has left 30% of Chicago public schools at least half-empty. The city’s failure to address this problem has come at a high cost to the district — and its students.
Pedro Martinez amended his lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education for firing him without cause to seek damages from the teachers union and its president Stacy Davis Gates, alleging they waged a “demonization campaign” against him.
Mayor Brandon Johnson first appointed Thomas to the board last fall after the previous board resigned en masse.
In a close vote, the board voted to appoint King, despite concerns by some members over her record.
Chalkbeat spoke with four students who entered high school in 2021 and are graduating this spring. These young people don’t know a world without smartphones and social media and experienced a pandemic during puberty.
Declining school enrollment has left 30% of Chicago public schools at least half-empty. The city’s failure to address this problem has come at a high cost to the district — and its students.
Pedro Martinez amended his lawsuit against the Chicago Board of Education for firing him without cause to seek damages from the teachers union and its president Stacy Davis Gates, alleging they waged a “demonization campaign” against him.
Mayor Brandon Johnson first appointed Thomas to the board last fall after the previous board resigned en masse.
In a close vote, the board voted to appoint King, despite concerns by some members over her record.
Chalkbeat spoke with four students who entered high school in 2021 and are graduating this spring. These young people don’t know a world without smartphones and social media and experienced a pandemic during puberty.
The program started in seven Chicago schools in 2019. Today, it’s expanded to about 400 schools.
Since an influx of migrant students began arriving in Chicago in 2022, the number of Chicago Public Schools required by state law to open a bilingual program increased by about 20%, according to records obtained by Chalkbeat and Block Club Chicago.
Illinois lawmakers finalized the fiscal year 2026 budget hours before the end of the spring legislative session. Here is what they agreed to allocate to education.
The school board also approved a resolution to impose new regulations on charter operators, and to lobby the state for changes to the law governing charters.
The school board approved the 2025-26 calendar last year, but then had to change it to comply with its new collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union.
The bill requires the Illinois State Board of Education to create guidance around establishing and expanding dual language programs across the state.
The school board is currently considering five people for the job of interim CEO, who will replace outgoing schools chief Pedro Martinez.
Schools such as Richards High School tried more flexible grading during the pandemic. They are reversing course after students were passing with little effort and weren’t coming to class.
Illinois lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday that will allow school districts to decide whether they want to use students’ test scores in teacher, principal, and assistant principal evaluations. This would end a requirement that schools must tie teachers’ performance to students’ success.
The number of CPS high school students skipping at least 35 days doubled since 2019. Yet, the district's graduation rate continues to rise.
State education officials are considering changing the state’s testing system at a time when students’ scores still lag behind pre-pandemic results.
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The district is putting together a budget for the 2025-26 school year with no cuts to schools, but the proposal may not come to fruition.
The mayor said the raises are necessary to address a teacher shortage in the early childhood education sector.
Chicago Public Schools put out to bid 20 properties, most of them closed schools from 2013. The journey to repurpose the old schools could be long and winding.
A required training for Chicago Board of Education members focused on Illinois’ school improvement and accountability system. That system could change soon, but some board members worry any labeling of schools is more harmful than helpful.
Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova told families in an email she plans to depart the district after 24 years as a teacher, principal, and district official. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez will also leave in June for a job leading Massachusetts schools after being fired without cause in December.
A federal investigation now targets Chicago schools’ long-awaited Black Student Success Plan. State law mandated the Chicago Board of Education create a plan to “bring parity between Black children and their peers.”
The Illinois legislative session is scheduled to end on May 31. Lawmakers are considering several education bills and negotiating the fiscal year 2024 budget. Here is what Chalkbeat is following.
A presentation used to brief school board members and obtained by Chalkbeat outlined potential cuts, many of which include staff and programs supported by federal COVID relief money. District officials and school board members look to lobby City Hall and Illinois lawmakers for funding.
The school board’s vote seals the contract with the teachers union. The final deal includes limits on class sizes and more preparation time for elementary school teachers.
The school board has delayed its charter renewal votes for two months, leaving many charter families and educators wondering about the future of their schools.
The committee is mandated by state law, which was amended at the same time lawmakers drew electoral districts for Chicago’s first school board elections.
More privately-run, public charter schools in Chicago have closed in recent years. In a first, Chicago Public Schools is poised to convert five back to district-run campuses.
U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, a lawmaker from Illinois, along with other Democratic lawmakers, want the U.S. Department of Education to reverse track on firings in office that serve English learners.
Martinez was one of three finalists for the job as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The board’s choice must now be confirmed by the state’s secretary of education.
Chalkbeat sat down with Elizabeth Todd-Breland, the coauthor of a new memoir chronicling the life of former CTU President Karen Lewis.
Illinois' switch back to the ACT has been a bumpy ride. On April 8, a technical glitch prevented 11,000 students from finishing the exam on the same day.
Victor Hurtado came to Chicago as a teenager from Mexico and graduated from Schurz High School in the 1990s. Today, he’s the math department chair at Schurz and teaches bilingual teens advanced algebra and calculus.
Illinois child care providers worry what will happen to children and families if the Trump administration cuts funding to Head Start, a federal program that provides services to low-income families.
This is at least the second public education job Martinez has sought and become a finalist for since his firing in December.
The union said Monday that 85% of members voted on the deal over the course of last Thursday and Friday. Of the ballots cast, 97% ratified the agreement.