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Monday, September 10, 2012

Why are Chicago teachers on strike? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Why are Chicago teachers on strike? - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:


Why are Chicago teachers on strike?

They couldn’t make a deal in Chicago so more than 350,000 public school kids won’t have class on Monday.
Why are teachers in the third largest school district in the country going on strike for the first time since 1987, when a walkout lasted 19 days?

(Sitthixay Ditthavong/AP)
Because Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave up some, but not enough, of his questionable plans to reform schools with initiatives that haven’t been shown to be effective (but are popular anyway, such as teacher evaluation systems that are linked to standardized test scores).
Because Chicago Teachers Union leader Karen Lewis refused to extend the strike deadline to see if they could get more from Emanuel while 

The achievement gap: By the numbers

There are few things education researchers say they know with certainty. But virtually nobody disputes that socioeconomic status and the educational level of parents, especially mothers, are linked to the stubborn achievement gap between students of different races and ethnicities.
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