By Carol Felsenthal
In part two of my conversation with the Chicago Teachers Union president, she shares about her time at Dartmouth College, why she left the classroom for the CTU job, her thoughts on the poverty gap, and more... Read more
Tag: Education
By Carol Felsenthal
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has had some ugly squabbles with Rahm Emanuel—the longer school day battles, for starters, including his recent charge that the union is “cheating children out of an education”—and, in my opinion, she has often emerged the loser. Here’s part one of an edited transcript of our conversation—about Rahm, Jean-Claude Brizard, Arne Duncan, and the longer school day... Read more
By Whet Moser
Illinois's school report cards are out, so everyone's searching for patterns in the data. One bright spot: Chopin Elementary's use of "looping," an uncommon if storied practice that's getting a new look. Read more
By Whet Moser
Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together are stirring up debate on political policies that could help the 99 Percent. One that keeps coming up is debt forgiveness, particularly student debt forgiveness. Read more
By Carol Felsenthal
Jean-Claude Brizard, 48, a big man at six feet five—“I’m too fat,” he tells me—was standing outside his office at Clark, just north of Adams, waiting for me as I arrived last Thursday for a sit-down interview. His musical accent reveals his Haiti origins, although he has been in the U.S. since 1976, when he arrived in New York as a 12-year-old. He has been a... Read more
By Whet Moser
The battle between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public Schools has culminated in a lawsuit over teacher hours and pay. Here's a long look at the difficulties of getting good information, and a look at the Japanese and KIPP approaches to the school day and year. Read more
By Bryan Smith
LOSS OF INNOCENCE: The star professor dedicated his 29-year career at Northwestern’s journalism school to overturning wrongful convictions and, in doing so, almost single-handedly prompted the end of the death penalty in Illinois. How did he and Medill come to such a bitter and rancorous end—in which no party escaped untarnished? Read more
By David Bernstein
SHADOWS OF DOUBT: Nearly two years after Michael Scott turned up dead in the Chicago River, we reveal exclusive new details about his final hours—clues that only deepen the mystery of what really happened on that sad November day. Read more
By Dennis Rodkin
U-TURN: For decades, undergraduates at the University of Chicago seemed to live by the ancient notion that scholars must “suffer into learning,” and over time applications and enrollment declined. As a result, school officials have worked to reinvent the place, and today Hyde Park has become a hot destination among students applying to the country’s top-tier colleges Read more
By Beth Wilson
THE MOM BRIGADE: Nettelhorst was a failing educational backwater in Lake View when some determined moms got involved—and sparked a tremendous improvement Read more