Board accomplishments

The following are Board accomplishments for the 2007-2008 school year.

Continued to strengthen finances – received rating upgrades from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, boosting school system’s bond ratings and lauding strong financial management; received GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) awards for FY 2008 Budget publication and 2007 CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report); monitored and provided technical assistance to all schools resulting in minimal audit findings from the State and Federal Auditors.
Approved the continued implementation of the Capital Improvement Program valued at more than $4 billion to reduce overcrowding, make needed capital repairs, and improve learning through technology enhancements. The 2007-08 Program encompassed a $405 million school-construction plan that covered maintenance and upkeep of CPS schools, along with a $150 million investment in new-school construction through Mayor Daley’s Modern Schools Across Chicago plan.
Approved 21 new Renaissance 2010 schools to open in Fall 2008 to expand the number of innovative and high quality school options for students in communities across the City of Chicago. These Renaissance 2010 schools include charter school campuses, contract schools, performance schools, and turnaround schools. This brings the total number of Renaissance 2010 schools to 76 schools serving more than 25,000 students.
Announced plans for six new neighborhood elementary school options – Disney II Magnet, LaSalle II Magnet, Sir Miles Davis Magnet, Kershaw Magnet, Oscar Mayer Magnet, and Coonley Regional Gifted Center.
Proposed five new magnet cluster schools with technology focus, the first time a technology magnet program has been put into neighborhood schools – Dumas Elementary, Dvorak Math and Science Tech Academy, Dunne Elementary, Nicholson Math and Science Elementary, and Spencer Math and Science Academy.
Unveiled a series of proposals to address under-enrollment in 11 elementary schools and low performance in eight other schools, utilizing five different major strategies – school turnarounds, relocations, phase-outs, consolidations, and closings.
Realized significant gains by eighth grade students on writing portion of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), outgaining nation as a whole. Compared to previous 2002 test, students scoring at or above “basic” level rose 11 percentage points from 72 to 83 percent and percentage of students rated at or above “proficient” rose from 15 percent to 23 percent in 2007. (Note: 2007-08 ISAT, ACT results and other such student achievement information will be published as they become available.)
Increased the percentage of CPS graduates enrolling in college or university for 2007. National Student Clearinghouse showed increase of 6.5 percentage points for college enrollment and increase of 7.8 percentage points for university enrollment from 2004 to 2007. CPS has considerably outgained the nation in every category since 2004: CPS overall college enrollment has gone up 6.5 percentage points, versus the nation’s 0.5; male student enrollment has increased 8.2 points, versus the nation’s 4.7; female student enrollment has increased 5.1 points, versus nation’s decrease of 3.2; African-American student enrollment has increased 7.4 points, versus the nation’s decrease of 5.9; and, Latino student enrollment increased 5.5 points, versus the nation’s 2.0.
Increased first day attendance for the 2007-08 school year to an all-time high of approximately 93 percent.

Realized record-number of new “master teachers” for district and second-highest number of any school district nation-wide; 208 CPS teachers awarded National Board Certification – the highest credential an educator can earn.
Received the most Golden Apple Awards since 1996 – six CPS teachers received the 2008 Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence and eight other teachers were named Teachers of Distinction.
Introduced CPS Graduation Pathways, the new drop-out prevention strategy, comprised of the YES (Youth Engaged in School) Initiative, Freshman Connection, and Freshmen On-Track Labs.

Convened BEWL (Bilingual Education and World Languages) Commission to examine current CPS bilingual education and world language programs and policies, and develop recommendations to increase academic achievement among English Language Learners and expand opportunities for more CPS students to learn a second language.
Expanded CPS critical-need language programs by re-allocating $1 million for Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
Officially launched CPS Office of Arts Education with “Arts on the Agenda” symposium; continued to develop Chicago “Guide for Teaching and Learning in the Arts”, a guide for professional development and curriculum implementation based on national, state and local arts standards.
Continued to increase the capacity of principals, teachers, students, parents and staff to use technology and information via Information & Technology Services (ITS) initiatives such as launching IMPACT, CPS@Work, FirstClass, Performance Dashboards, and the new CPS Website.
Launched new CPS website (www.CPS.edu), premised on user-friendly platform for parents, students, staff, partners and community, with new CPS tagline – “Educate - Inspire - Transform”.
Launched website (www.CPSalumni.org ) to connect an estimated three million living alumni, becoming the first large urban public school district in the U.S. to organize its alumni in this way.
Hosted the “Shout-Out for Schools” Rally, attended by over 30,000 students, parents, educators, politicians and civic leaders at Soldier Field to highlight the need for greater state funding for education and anti-violence programs.
Expanded the Real Men Read (RMR) Program which has enrolled over 500 mentors who volunteer their time for one hour, once a month by reading to over 16,000 students in grades 2, 5and 7 .The program started in 39 schools during the 2007 school year and due to high demand, it has expanded to 84 schools. RMR has provided over 150,000 books to students for their personal home libraries and opportunities to interact with positive role models on a monthly basis.
Continued the Ballroom Dance Initiative, which involved 25 schools and provided 1,300 fifth grade students more exposure to dance, music and character education.