Chicago Transition 2011 includes Parent and Community Engagement Plan
This week, the Chicago Tribune’s “Clout Street” blog reported, Mayor-elect Rahm Emmanuel released a “Chicago 2011 Transition Plan” listing his administration’s objectives and strategies for achieving them.
The 72-page document, available here, outlines 55 initiatives falling within four categories: government, communities, children, and growth.
Initiative 34 of the plan, in particular, caught our eye: “Give parents and families the tools they need to demand high-quality schools for their child’s education.” The City says that CPS schools will be graded based on various measures of quality, and report cards will be sent to all CPS students’ parents. In turn, parents will asked pledge their support for better education by signing a “parent-teacher” agreement.
This strategy mirrors many of Chicago Appleseed’s and Appleseed’s efforts over the past several years. Like the Chicago Transition Plan, we have urged Illinois Public Schools to provide parents with school report cards, allowing them to take a more active role in evaluating and advocating for changes within their children’s schools.
Learn more about our work in the area of parental involvement in education here.
The document claims to be the beginning of the citizen’s “toolkit” for evaluating the City’s success in accomplishing these objectives. Chicago Appleseed will be keeping a close eye on the initiatives closest our core program areas: criminal justice, court reform & judicial accountability, and community justice (including public education).