I’ve studied how schools can boost student achievement for more than two decades and I’ve found that smaller classes are better for students. This is especially the case in the early grades and for students from low-income families.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is bringing a holistic approach to bargaining to benefit both their members and students. This means bringing common good demands such as affordable housing and sanctuary schools into the contract negotiations...
By raising an issue that affects not only teachers, but the communities they live and work in, CTU is deploying a strategy known as “bargaining for the common good.”
The picketing GM workers and impending Chicago Teachers Union action suggest a dramatic revival of striking as a tactic.
If Lightfoot wanted to plug the budget hole without cutting services and freezing hiring, the money is there. But don’t count on it—not without a fight.
In a charter network where 90 percent of the students are Latino, strikers won an agreement to designate all its schools as “sanctuary schools,” off-limits to immigration police.
Union leaders hope that by organizing teachers and staff at charter schools, and giving them a voice to advocate for more resources through collective bargaining, the charter model will become less attractive to investors and public officials.
After striking for a day April 1 and coming to the brink of a long strike this fall, Chicago teachers are mulling a tentative agreement that won something unprecedented. They pressured the mayor into pulling money out of Chicago's treasure chest of diverted property taxes, the Tax Increment Finance program.
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