Standardized Testing at Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education

Parent Statements - ISBE Meeting, 11.16.18

On Friday, November 16, 2018, the IL State Board of Education (ISBE) held a meeting in Chicago. You can find a thread of live tweets here and many more tweets on our Twitter page here.

Below are two statements from parents: one is a Chicago parent speaking about the ISBE inquiry into CPS special education and the other is a Downers Grove mom speaking about the new ISBE school ratings system.

10/24 & 10/25: Ask ISBE about new school ratings, punitive opt out policy

Important news for people concerned about the impact of high-stakes standardized testing on Illinois schools. There's not only a new state test this coming spring to replace PARCC, the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), but there's also a new state rating system for IL being rolled out later this month, and opt out rate may play a big role in your school’s rating.

This Week in Ed 10.19.18: CPSuccess! And more!

#cpsuccess! We are still retweeting away at @CPSuccessChi. Please tag us in your #cpsuccess tweets and use that hashtag! (Note the clever spelling.) Some recent & amazing #cpsuccess stories chosen randomly from our Twitter feed:

This Week in Ed 10.12.18: Ongoing Nursing disaster at CPS; LSC workshop tomorrow; New state test for IL and more!

Raise Your Hand had a second meeting with a group of parents, the head of Special Ed and the Chief Operating Officer to discuss major nursing compliance issues at the district. Many students are put in unsafe situations due to lack of coverage, untrained nurses from temp agencies, and lack of continuity of care.

Rahm’s not running—What does that mean for the public schools?

We all got the stunning news yesterday that Rahm Emanuel isn’t running for re-election, and that means there’s going to be a new boss of the Chicago Public Schools in May 2019. If you’ve read our newsletters over the past eight years, you know that in Chicago, the Mayor oversees the schools, appoints the school board, and selects the CEO of CPS. The primary election is in February 2019 but the next mayoral term doesn’t start until May 2019.

This Week in Ed 8.30.18: We hope you & yours have the best school year ever!

With students back to CPS Tuesday, we wish you & your family a happy first day and an excellent school year where your children have the opportunity to learn and thrive. We hope you have a fun, yet relaxing, Labor Day weekend planned- enjoy!

It’s been a busy, productive summer for RYH and we are looking forward to another school year of advocating with you. There is so much to do to ensure that all students are getting what they need to be their best selves, and we hope you’ll join us this year to work on many of our campaigns! Stay in touch with us: Email sign up, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.