News

Professor Norma Lopez-Reyna records the story of a woman at the Maria Shelter in Chicago.  The woman telling her story is sitting at a table and holding her baby in her lap.

Family Literacy Promoted Through "Love Notes"

Alumna Cheryl Watkins' community engagement project encouraged women who had experienced trauma to write memory stories - positive or negative - to aid fellow women in similar situations.

Recipients of Phoenix Pact funding stand to be recognized at a reception honoring their college acceptances.

Phoenix Pact Endowment Fosters College Choice

Alumna Nicole Howard believes college costs are limiting choices for low-income students. At North Lawndale College Prep, she launched the the Phoenix Pact endowment to end these limits

Samantha Richardson reads a book to a group of three children who are seated on the floor in a circle around her.

ESL Students and Literacy Support

In the diverse Evanston/Skokie school district, where more than 50 languages are represented, alumna Samantha Richardson works to ensure all parents are equipped to teach literacy in the home.

Rachel Harper sits in an easy chair in front of a large work of art, an abstract painting, in an art gallery.

"Seen and Heard" Features Children's Works

Doctoral student Rachel Harper poses a fascinating question in her new exhibit "Seen and Heard": when we talk about knowledge, why do we never consider the knowledge generated by children?

The Crawford Generating Station, a now-retired coal plant in Chicago.  A rusted orange smokestack rises above a series of boarded up window panes on a large red brick building.

Environmental Justice is Chicago Teens' Mission

Alumnus Daniel Morales-Doyle facilitated a Dean's Community Engagement project providing forums for Little Village teens to investigate issues of environmental justice.

A teacher is looking at examples of student art on a bulletin board in a school hallway, surrounded by young Black male students.

Teaching Profession Under Attack, Says Alumnus

Alumnus Dave Stieber, MEd Policy Studies '12, responds to Governor Bruce Rauner's allegation that the Chicago Teachers Union's 40,000 teachers comprises a dictatorship.

Teacher Amani Ghusein stands behind two students who are running a science experiment, in which one student throws a cotton ball at the face of the second student, to test the second student's blinking reflexes.  The second student is wearing safety goggles.

Science Identity for Urban Students

When alumna Amani Ghusein asks her students to draw a picture of a scientist, most draw a mad scientist. Few draw self-images. Check out Amani's strategies to strengthen science identity.

Janice Jackson poses for a photo in a school hallway, with a number of teachers and students walking in the hallway in the background.

School Budget Debate Features Alumna CPS CEO

Alumna Janice Jackson, new Chief Education Officer for Chicago Public Schools and former CPS principal and network chief, was featured on Chicago Tonight discussing CPS' school budget crunch.

The cover of Jessie Ann Foley's new book,

Story Workshops for Teaching Creative Writing

At CPS Taft High School, Jessie Ann Foley teaches creative writing using story workshops, the same techniques she employed in publishing her award-winning young adult fiction novel, "The Carnival at Bray."

A kindergartner uses her finger to spell out the word

Digital Literacy in the Urban Classroom

Alumnus Michael Manderino thinks providing students with an iPad is not enough to achieve digital literacy. The literacy part needs to come first.