Top Education Stories You Don’t Want to Miss: June 12 – June 17, 2021

Noble’s Anti-racism Journey, A Conversation with Aidé Acosta and Estée Kelly

By The Noble Network of Charter Schools

“At the outset of the 2020 school year, Noble set a bold and ambitious goal of becoming a more antiracist organization. Since then, Noble announced our anti-racism commitment (ARC), we engaged thousands of families in surveys and feedback to guide a reexamination of policies and practice. Since February, grounded in that feedback from parents, students, and alumni, ARC design teams have been meeting to guide the way forward on Noble policy and practice as it relates to our student code of conduct, uniform, promotion and graduation requirements, curriculum design and more. Those design teams then shared draft proposals with groups of Noble stakeholders for intensive feedback – hundreds of Noble family members, staff, students, and alumni engaged in these refine team spaces. This post is part of a series of updates on that work in progress. Aidé Acosta and Estée Kelly led the academic operations design team which was tasked with re-examining the promotion and graduation requirements at Noble through an antiracist lens.  Aidé is the Chief College Officer at Noble where she oversees all college access programming and alumni and career supports. Estée is the Chief Schools Officer wherein she manages and coaches six Noble principals. We sat down with both Aidé and Estée to discuss this ARC design and refine work.”

 

Anti-racism Commitment Diálogo: Designing and Refining Noble

By The Noble Network of Charter Schools

“As the 2020-2021 school year comes to a close, we sat down with Noble’s Chief Equity Officer, Jennifer Davis, and Director of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, D. Nigel Green to discuss Noble’s Anti-racism Commitment (ARC) design and refine processes.  The ARC design and refine process has aimed to re-image what Noble could be for the students, families, and staff that we serve. Ms. Davis reminds us that in this process, “there were no sacred cows.” Everything from our student code of conduct – including uniforms and demerits – to Noble’s mission, vision, and values were up for review and possible redesign.  Hear more of the in-depth conversation and check out the timeline of Noble’s DEI work over-time at nobleschools.org/deitimeline.  This month, Noble’s CEO will announce updates from this process and how Noble will return to in-person learning with a new approach through our antiracist commitment.”

 

Noble’s Anti-racism Journey, A Conversation with The Noble Academy Parent, Frances Grey

By The Noble Network of Charter Schools

“At the outset of the 2020 school year, Noble set a bold and ambitious goal of becoming a more antiracist organization. Since then, Noble announced our antiracism commitment (ARC),we engaged thousands of families in surveys and feedback to guide a reexamination of policies and practice. Since February, grounded in that feedback from parents, students, and alumni, ARC design teams have been meeting to guide the way forward on Noble policy and practice as it relates to our student code of conduct, uniform, promotion and graduation requirements, curriculum design and more. Those design teams then shared draft proposals with groups of Noble stakeholders for intensive feedback – hundreds of Noble family members, staff, students, and alumni engaged in these refine team spaces. This post is part of a series of updates on that work in progress. Frances Grey is a parent at The Noble Academy. This spring she engaged in all five ARC refine spaces to inform and then provide feedback on proposals. We sat down with Frances to learn more about her experience.”

 

Lightfoot Picks Dr. José M. Torres as Interim Chicago Public Schools CEO

By NBC Chicago

“Dr. José M. Torres has been selected to serve as interim Chief Executive Officer at Chicago Public Schools, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Board of Education President Miguel del Valle announced Monday. Lightfoot made the announcement alongside outgoing CEO Dr. Janice Jackson, as well as del Valle. “From the East Coast to the West Coast, to right here in the Midwest, Dr. Torres has a proven track record of improving the lives of public school students and staff,” said Mayor Lightfoot in a statement. “His decades of experience, as well as his past leadership roles, make him a great candidate for the role of interim CPS CEO and I am confident that he will lead us well through this critically important transition.”

Chicago elected school board bill clears another big hurdle, despite lingering questions

By Cassie Walker Burke for Chalkbeat

“A compromise measure that would establish school board elections in Chicago for the first time in the city’s history has cleared another key hurdle, increasing the likelihood that it will go to the Illinois governor to decide. Despite some legislators’ concerns that the bill is unfinished and lacks clarity on some critical details, the amended bill passed the House elections committee Wednesday with a 10-7 vote. It now goes to the House floor for a vote; a Democratic majority there means it will likely pass. The bill would phase in elections for a 21-person school board beginning in 2024, with some members elected and some appointed by the mayor. The board would be fully elected by 2027. Chicago’s current school board has seven members appointed by the mayor. The final step would be the signature of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who has said he supports an elected board but has not specifically addressed the 21-person bill. If Pritzker signs the bill, he would do so over the objection of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who had sharp criticism of the bill earlier this week and called it “deeply flawed.”

 

How best to assess COVID-19 learning loss? Illinois faces conundrum over standardized test switch

By Samantha Smylie for The Chalkbeat Chicago

“Concerned that the state’s existing standardized test won’t adequately capture pandemic losses and eager to streamline the number of tests that students take, Illinois wants to sign a new contract for a state test before the previous assessment contract is up. Now a vote to make that change has been delayed, putting the state school board’s plans on pause and raising questions about how to catch pandemic-related learning loss. The Illinois Board of Education was set to vote next Wednesday on a request for proposals for a $277 million contract for a new state assessment system. The initial plan for a new system would gradually replace the Illinois Assessment of Readiness exam in some districts with an interim exam that will test third to eighth graders three times a year. The board planned to award the contract in late summer or early fall for an initial five years.”