High School Report Card
This year Catalyst Chicago analyzed reams of data on high school demographics and performance. Our findings fill out this year's annual school report card. College readiness Predicting college success...
View ArticleSchool autonomy all over the map
Download the complete report [PDF] Schools CEO Arne Duncan has presided over a surge of new school models and academic programs. Families eyeing public schools for their children today can choose among...
View ArticleWhat's better and what's not
Download the complete report [PDF] In 1995, Catalyst Chicago reported that Mayor Richard M. Daley and his takeover team had used their new power over the city’s public schools to fix budget deficits,...
View ArticleLost and left out
Frida Williams,* a petite girl with a pale complexion and high cheekbones, silently reads the first page assigned in a math workbook. Frustrated, she puts her head down on the desk and pulls her...
View ArticleGetting into trouble
It’s about 11 a.m. on a cold, gray December day and Derrick Green’s* incessant talking has gotten him in trouble once more. He’s been suspended three times already this school year, and now risks being...
View ArticleBig dreams, long odds
Freshman Tamoura Hayes speaks with conviction about her dream of going “to Harvard or Spellman to become a pediatrician.” But she’s a realist. “Come on,” says the round-faced 14-year-old. “I go to...
View ArticleTransforming Marshall High School
On this 90-degree cloudless September day, hundreds of teenagers are swarming Marshall Metropolitan High School’s mammoth orange-hued auditorium. It’s sweltering, despite an industrial-size fan that...
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