As we go through our exciting new RYH changes, we plan to send an email newsletter every other week. Please sign up to receive these newsletters here. You can read the one sent Friday, February 8, 2019, below. 

On Wednesday, we delivered a report entitled, “High School Application and Placement for Chicago Public Schools Students with Disabilities” to the unelected CPS BOE. This 18 page report shows major barriers to CPS HS access for the most vulnerable students. For example, 31% of high schools have a minimum NWEA score requirement to apply.

See the Key Findings & Recommendations and find a link to the full report here.

Read our statements to the BOE when delivering this report here.

At the January 2019 monthly meeting of the unelected CPS Board of Education, Raise Your Hand presented a report entitled, "High School Application and Placement for Chicago Public School Students with Disabilities." You can find a summary of the report here as well as a link to the full 18 page report.

Below are the three prepared RYH testimonies given to the BOE to present the report and to explain its findings, including recommendations for the CPS district, CPS Elementary and High Schools, and CPS Parents of Students with Disabilities. 

An education consultant, Lara Pruitt, whose children recently graduated from CPS, noticed the tremendous amount of concern, frustration and anger expressed by CPS parents about the lack of information and support provided to parents of students with disabilities on the critical transition to high school. She reached out to RYH in September 2018 to ask if we might form a volunteer group to research the issue and unearth current problems as well as potential solutions.  

RYH assembled a task force including a number of CPS parents with children who have disabilities and education researcher Dr. Federico Waitoller, associate professor of special education at UIC.

This report was delivered to CPS at the January 2019 monthly meeting of the CPS Board of Education. 

Over the last nine years Raise Your Hand has grown into a mighty force of empowered parents fighting to protect and strengthen public education!

❄️ Happy Winter Break! ❄️

People who believe in public education as a public good must remain ever ready, present, and active to defend and promote policies that protect classrooms across our city and state. Thank you for being part of building power around a variety of public education issues in 2018

(Spanish below. Español abajo. Chinese below & linked here: 芝加哥公立学校 （CPS）护理服务调查问卷 )

We are passing on this important message from Access Living:

Please join us tonight: Parent Training: Know Your Rights on 504 Plans vs. IEP Plans! Details and RSVP here.

UPDATE: Now translated into Spanish: En Español (jpg 1, jpg 2); En Español(pdf).

On Friday, November 9, the IL State Board of Ed (ISBE) finally released a letter to CPS parents and staff regarding the ISBE investigation into CPS special education practices and policies. Many schools still haven't shared the ISBE letter, and it is not that parent friendly.

RYH volunteer, Terri Smith, wrote a great fact sheet explaining why the ISBE Inquiry happened and containing many relevant links. It is an improved version of the CPS letter that went out so that parents can actually understand what happened.