Chicago Public Schools to Deliver 100,000 Computers to Students, Illinois Schools Closed Through 4/30

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced remote learning plans on Monday, March 30th, which will begin on April 13th after CPS’s scheduled spring break. As a part of their plans, CPS will deliver approximately 100,000 laptops, Chromebooks, and iPads to students most in need. Schools plan to continue with remote learning through at least April 30th after Governor Pritzker announced yesterday, March 31st, that stay-at-home orders as well as school closures throughout the state (both public and private) were extended through the entire month of April. 

Families of CPS should expect more detailed information from their individual schools by April 6th which will entail what their school’s remote learning plan will look like. CPS also intends to provide non-digital learning materials to help further enrich students’ learning outside of the classroom. All remote learning material is included in the state’s $75 million Board of Education coronavirus budget approved last week.

CPS’s new remote learning plans are more detailed than their previous enrichment packets with which they were provided before schools shut their doors on March 17th. The new plans outline remote office hours for teachers to provide for students as well as daily lessons. According to CPS, the district will release two weeks of activities at a time. Schools are also welcomed to add to these. In addition, though the district and schools certainly expect students to participate in the planned activities and classwork, remote learning cannot be counted against them in their final grades.

Furthermore, even though the NWEA MAP tests are canceled, Test Prep Chicago will continue to run its classes online for further enrichment for students and families who are interested. The classes are being streamed live through an educational platform, Vedamo, which allows students to interact with their instructors in real-time as well as use a digital whiteboard to help further grasp the material.

While CPS still hasn’t released more information about the NWEA MAP and Selective Enrollment testing, Test Prep Chicago will continue to keep families updated as the situation progresses. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our homepage, testprepchicago.com, to receive the most current information.

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266

CPS Extends School Closures Through 4/20, Cancels Standardized Testing

In a public address to the city, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced on Thursday, 3/19 that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) would extend their closures through 4/20 in light of Covid-19. Lightfoot stated, “We need to give parents and guardians plenty of advance notice about this reality and the ability to plan.” This decision came to light after consulting with the city health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwardy and schools chief Janice Jackson who contend that they expect an “upward trajectory of the virus spread.”

Previously, the state had intended schools to be closed through 3/30 after Governor Pritzker mandated that all schools (both public and private) in the state of Illinois close from 3/17-3/30. It’s still unclear if another state-wide mandate will follow CPS’s lead in extending their closures.

While the safety of students and their families is the city’s top priority, this makes for an extremely unusual school year for the country’s third largest school district. Just last fall, CPS students missed 12 days of schooling during the Chicago Teacher Strike.

Furthermore, after Mayor Lightfoot made her announcement, Janice Jackson made a second announcement on behalf of CPS in an email to families on Thursday evening: all standardized tests, including the NWEA MAP test, would be canceled this spring.

The NWEA MAP test, in addition to serving as a helpful benchmark of progress in student learning, is also used for Selective Enrollment into Chicago’s top public high schools and academic centers. Jackson stated, “We are fully committed to ensuring students can access assessments tied to college entry, selective enrollment admission, and grade promotion, and we will keep families informed regarding any adjustments to the assessment calendar.”

CPS had not announced if they will reschedule the NWEA MAP exam to this fall or if they will even use the NWEA MAP exam in the admission's process for Selective Enrollment High Schools and Academic Centers for current 5th and 7th graders. That said, Test Prep Chicago will keep all families updated on any and all CPS announcements regarding testing.

Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266