Interim Chicago schools chief executive Terry Mazany has appointed Charles Payne, a University of Chicago sociology professor and author of So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools to the position of chief education officer. Payne is a long-time social-justice advocate who also authored one of the best histories of the civil rights movement, I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle.
The post has been vacant since the departure of Barbara Eason-Watkins in June. There has been a strong community demand, especially in the midst of the mayoral campaign, for the appointment of educators to leading positions within CPS.
Both Mazany and Payne have education backgrounds and are local foundation favorites as well. They are both critical of the over emphasis on standardized testing, by the previous administration