March 19, 2021

An Update on COVID-19 from the Education Program

In these extraordinary times, each of these organizations has made extraordinary shifts to support principals, teachers and students. Below are how descriptions of how the Chicago Public Education Fund, High Jump, the New Teacher Center, continue to respond to the impact of COVID-19 in CPS:

• · At the beginning of the pandemic, The Chicago Public Education Fund reached out to CPS principals and asked the fundamental question – What do you need? Principals told the Fund that they needed help organizing their schools and school schedules to respond to the rapidly shifting and uncertain conditions in schools. The Fund identified experts to help principals engage in the learning and planning they needed to respond to the crisis. The Fund will support well over half of CPS principals over these next two critical years as CPS continues to respond to and recover from the pandemic.
• · The New Teacher Center is helping CPS develop a robust system for training and supporting teacher leaders. We are learning how critical teacher leaders are to improving academic outcomes for students. Research tells us that that one of the most important things principals do to improve the climate for learning is to develop and support teacher leaders who can help their colleagues become better teachers. The New Teacher Center has expanded its training to help train teacher leaders in how to support and coach their colleagues in remote learning environments.
• · High Jump continues to provide students with academic supports which are even more critical given the ongoing uncertainty in schools. It has shifted to online instruction; it has doubled down on ensuring that students are prepared to tackle college prep math courses when they start high school; and it continues to provide meals to the families of students who are food insecure.