The Chicago training beat in 2022: What we’re watching
COVID security. Efforts to restore lost literacy and numeracy skills. Return the students to their laps. Another unusual school year – and another unpredictable variant of COVID – continues to force district leaders, educators, and families to adapt.
Here are some of the stories we’ll be watching closely in 2022. As always, your questions, observations and on-site experiences are crucial for this work. Let us know on social media or via chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org.
The fight to keep schools open in yet another COVID surge.
The COVID-19 battle front has made educators tired as new variations bring new challenges. The beginning of December, As the number of quarantined students increased, the Chicago Public Schools launched a small test-to-stay pilot that offered more regulated tests to help curb the number of students quarantined. During the winter break, the pilot was limited to one school and the majority of campuses indicated that less than 10% of students had opted for surveillance testing – a problem as the Omicron variant causes a winter spike.
We’ll watch how vigilantly district officials are trying to increase test enrollment rates – especially in the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID – and whether the test-to-stay program is effectively keeping more children safe in school.
We’ll also be closely following the reopening in January – and whether schools in Chicago can stay open or return to distance learning under pressure from the county teachers. Some Illinois counties, like Peoria Public Schools, have already postponed their return dates by a week, and several universities in the area, including DePaul and Northwestern, have chosen to start January remotely. Chicago Public Schools said they are sticking to a personal reopening, but a possible week-week vote by the teachers’ union to stay in classrooms or switch to remote control could force the hand of the district.
New approaches to chronic absenteeism and the search for missing children.
Chronic absenteeism in Illinois rose from 16.5% in 2019 to 21.2% in 2021 – and counties across the state say the problem persists this fall. The state wants to invest more in truancy. School districts, meanwhile, are experimenting with approaches such as “attendance teams,” which monitor attendance reports and try to spot problems early on. What can districts learn from such efforts, and will they pay off?
Compensation for learning losses and accounting for COVID expenses.
In Chicago, school district leaders are counting on a two-year Moving Forward Together plan of $ 525 million to address what they call “incomplete learning.” With federal COVID aid funds, schools are introducing a range of academic and mental health interventions as part of this initiative, from math tutoring to additional support for readers with problems. The school board requested a way to measure whether these interventions are working. Pedro Martinez, who assumed the position of district CEO in late September, promised to report back with baseline data and recent progress reports.
In the meantime, some parents and insiders are calling for more transparent accounting for COVID stimulus money – and want more flexible dollars for schools. (Click here for a breakdown by school.)
Rapid delays in special education services.
Data received from Chalkbeat last summer showed that students with disabilities have faced disruptions in services throughout the coronavirus pandemic. In December, during a monthly meeting with parents of students with disabilities, Martinez said he would prioritize staff, transportation and access to services.
Since bus delays are still a reality for more than 1,000 students and staff shortages at some universities are acutely affecting special education programs, the question remains which problems it will address first and when.
Protection of students from armed violence.
2021 ended with more than 800 homicides in Chicago – the number is higher than any other year since 1996 – and the violence landed on the doorstep of some city schools, adding to the strain on an already severe pandemic recovery. In response, Chicago Public Schools are using some federal grant funds to improve student mental health services.
One promising approach is to develop school “support teams” who are at the forefront of responding to trauma in every school. Students like Kaitlyn Stewart, a sophomore at Englewood STEM, speak insistently about the need – and the number of gun violence among the city’s youth. “We want to be in a world of fun, not a world where we have to watch our backs everywhere,” Stewart said at a CTU press event outside her school in the fall. “We don’t want to be in a world in which we live in fear everywhere.”
Connect more children under 5 to quality childcare and preschool.
There is an active discussion in Illinois about how to rebuild the state’s early childhood education system and make accessibility affordable for young children without ruining their parents. Recent developments include a Finance Commission roadmap, a new central body to monitor services for children under 5, and a legislative dynamic to address chronic workforce problems. What is holding back Illinois, proponents say, is the fraction of the funds it spends on early education compared to K-12.
2021 seemed like the year that could change with the advent of the Build Back Better plan, which would pour an estimated $ 6 billion into Illinois’ early system. This bill is now in jeopardy, but could be presented to the US Senate in January.
Long-term stabilization of schools in Illinois.
Schools in Illinois have received more than $ 7 billion from the federal government in emergency relief for COVID – and the third round of funding is very flexible about how it is used. But that money isn’t a long-term solution for school districts looking to hire or keep programs when it runs out.
It’s budget season, and it remains to be seen how much Illinois will spend on its school funding formula in the coming months. The state education board has recommended a $ 350 million increase (that’s the minimum recommended by a 2017 bipartisan agreement), but many policymakers and district leaders argue that the state needs to do more to keep the long-running Fill gaps in property poor districts.
The student experience.
This school year, Chalkbeat is running a Student Voices Writing Fellowship in three of our offices: Chicago, Newark, and Philadelphia. High school students in these communities will write first-person essays about their lives and their way through public school. Chicago’s first episode of Ajibola Elizabeth Junaid, a graduate of Wendell Phillips High School, aptly describes the life of a newcomer to Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, Nigeria, and the dangers and promises of the American Dream. Look out for more from Junaid and our other Fellows in 2022, as well as other stories that put the student experience first.
