Schooled by experts
This morning I attended an excellent symposium on a variety of education issues presented by CReATE (Chicagoland Researchers and Advocates for Transformative Education), the nearly two-year-old group of 100 Chicago-area academic experts who have already created some excellent resources to help parents, community groups, students and others to better understand the truth about corporate school reform.
CReATE’s first effort was a paper called “Chicago School Reform: Myths, Realities, and New Visions”, which clarified some of the education issues discussed during the 2011 mayoral election.
Despite the outcome of that election — or maybe because of it — CReATE continued its work with a position paper opposing tying Chicago teacher evaluation to student test scores. I spoke at CReATE’s press conferenceannouncing the letter the professors sent to Mayor Emanuel on the subject.
Today, CReATE gave a small but avid audience of educators, parents and community organizers an overview of
Blast from CPS past: Carlos Azcoitia on the Board
It was something of a surprise to hear that Mayor Emanuel has appointed Dr. Carlos Azcoitia to the Board of Education to replace Rodrigo Sierra, who moves to the CHA Board.Not mentioned specifically in his official City Hall bio was Dr. Azcoitia’s stint in the mid-1990s as the head of the Office of School Reform, the department which served local school councils, back when CPS served LSCs and back when reform really meant something. Also not mentioned was the time Paul Vallas, then CPS CEO, fired Carlos and then, after getting heat from PURE and others, rehired him to run the newly-named Office of School-Community Relations.