Tribune highlights YCCS student's triumphs

Youth Connection Charter School, who was featured as our first case study recently, has an inspiring article on their website right now about Nasia Smith, a student who just graduated:

Youth Connection Charter School 2009 graduate Nasia Smith was featured in a Chicago Tribune article on August 7, 2009. The article entitled, “In The Fight of Their Lives”, recent graduates of CPS schools discuss overcoming a growing problem in Chicago, homelessness. Nasia was one of the 236 homeless youth population enrolled in YCCS campuses this past school year. Her situation is classified as an “unaccompanied youth” - those who are homeless and not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian. The article written by Lauren B. Harrison, focused on the many struggles Nasia went through to graduate from high school. Despite having a baby and meeting his needs, being homeless and working several jobs to make ends meet, Nasia still persevered to graduation as salutatorian of her class this past June...

Read the rest on YCCS's website!

SB 612 Passes! Charter Schools Double in Illinois!

Monumental news for the charter school movement! Last night, SB 612, also known as the Charter School Reform Act of 2009, passed the Illinois Legislative Assembly in a 45-10 vote. This means that we will now have 40 new charter schools available in Chicago and 15 in downstate Illinois, with 5 new schools allocated for drop-out recovery!

This remarkable feat could not have been accomplished without the exemplary efforts of everyone in the charter school family.

“We owe a great debt of gratitude to the charter school parents who wrote letters to their legislators, who traveled down to Springfield for Charter School Lobby Days, who spoke at events and rallies and who spread the word about charter schools to other parents and friends,” said Carlos Perez, INCS’ Director of Public Policy.

We are indebted also to all the teachers, administrators, students and community members who make charter schools the best schools they can be – innovative, high-quality, community-focused schools that are tailored to meet the needs of all students and to prepare them to succeed not just locally, but globally.

There is much celebration ahead, but with great success also comes hard work. We must continue to strive, and to provide ALL students the opportunity to attend a great school, despite where they live or what challenges they face. Each and all of you who are a part of the charter school movement deserve credit for the long, hard slog that led to the historic vote in the Illinois General Assembly yesterday and I am so proud to say that Illinois is the first state in the nation to respond to President Obama's call for more charter schools as part of his vision for a strong national economy and his goal that the United States return to the world's top spot for college enrollment.

This is wonderful news, but it has been a long and bumpy ride. As a result of this work literally tens of thousands of families in Illinois will have opportunities they could not have otherwise obtained. And teachers will have real choices for the kind of public school environment they want to work in.

~Elizabeth Evans, Executive Director

2009 Charter Up program descriptions

Here are brief descriptions of the 2009 Charter Up! Honorees. Charter Up! gives Illinois charter schools an opportunity to celebrate their innovation, passion, and successes with each other, as well as bring public awareness to the experience of charter schools and the positive outcomes they create for children.

In addition, Charter Up! honorees will have the opportunity to serve as a model for other in-district schools through our Roadmaps to Innovation initiative, a school-to-school mentoring program between charters and other public schools that gives each school a chance to collaborate and innovate.

To learn more about these programs, come to our award ceremony on June 2nd at the Garfield Conservatory. Contact INCS' Mireya Vaca at mvaca@incschools.org or for details.

Chicago Math & Science Academy
College Path Program
The CMSA College Path Program was created to support CMSA’s mission for all students to attend college. Goals of the program are two-fold. First, tracking student academic progress, and second giving all students exposure to the college experience. Program provides student one-on-one time with a College advisor, a college readiness class and SAT preparation retreats. One hundred of CMSA’s first graduating class in on track to graduate and attend college.

Civitas Schools (CICS Ralph Ellison, CICS Northtown, CICS Wrightwood)
Civitas Community Leadership Program
The Community Leadership Program is an initiative that effectively and strategically guides students in the development of their leadership and diligence skills. Various facets of this program address all members of the school community: students, staff and parents. All three parties are involved in the process. Parents participate in interactive workshops, staff teaches the importance of community service and students evaluate their strengths and areas of growth.

Namaste Charter School
Peaceful People Tools
As part of its holistic approach, Namaste considers the socio-emotional development of its students crucial to their overall success in school and in life. Peaceful People Tools teaches students about space awareness, self-control and stress management, managing anger, building empathy, proactive interventions and conflict resolution. It is evident through internal and external evaluation that Namaste’s Peaceful People Program leads to students being on task for greater periods of the day during academic instruction.

Noble Network
Curriculum and Assessment Program
The Curriculum and Assessment Program provides a structure for designing and measuring the teaching and learning that occurs at all Noble campuses. The gathering of this information encourages the sharing of best practices. Assessment data is the basis for quarterly network-wide and frequent campus-based professional development, conversation and collaboration among and between teachers, principals’ work with teachers and the superintendent’s monitoring of consistent academic growth throughout the Noble Network.

Youth Connection Charter School
Grow Your Own Teachers & Peer Advocates
Grow-Your-Own Teachers & Peer Advocates was established as a community-based answer to the challenge of finding and retaining a qualified teaching pool for high-need schools. YCCS’ initiative offers parents, volunteers and supporters with the opportunity to become certified instructors in their preferred school. Through a partnership with Chicago State University and a peer advocates program this program is a proven success.

Charter schools in the news

(students from the Noble Network participate in Earth Hour)

If you're tired of reading about the dreaded swine flu, then look no further. Take a peek at this week's charter school news stories, from Illinois and beyond:

Parents, schools must work together Chicago Tribune
Parents of more than 15,000 students are signed up on the waiting list for charter public schools, which produce higher graduation rates, higher achievement levels and higher attendance than comparison schools. Yet the cap on charters remains in place. These startling statistics declare loudly that we are failing terribly at educating our students in Illinois, which Duncan knows all too well.

Teacher earns award with recycling project Chi-Town Daily News
Other Kohl McCormick award winners in Chicago were Elizabeth Goss, a second-grade teacher at Legacy Charter School; Camia Hoard, first-grade teacher at Frazier Preparatory Academy; and Lourdes Molina, a bilingual-preschool teacher at Belmont Cragin Early Childhood Center.

Charter school cap, safety measures top lawmaker’s talk Rockford Register Star
Rockford recently had three charter proposals approved by the Illinois State Board of Education, and two more are pending. Only five more charter licenses remain for the state. School Board member David Kelley said he would like to see the state raise the cap, if not remove it…

State Should Meet Demand For Charter Schools Worcester Business Journal
Having appointed Chicago's top educator and charter school champion Arne Duncan as his Secretary of Education, the president is putting his money where his ...