Photo by Al Podgorski
Rahm Emanuel announced a new partnership with DePaul and Loyola Universities to improve Chicago area high schools. DePaul is working with Lake View High School and Loyola with Senn. This was reported in the Chicago Sun Times.
Emanuel’s administration is moving many high schools to the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and IB (International Baccalaureate) programs in an effort to persuade families not to flee the city for the suburbs as their children approach high school age.
STEM is a public, private partnership with five companies – Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Motorola Solutions and Verizon Wireless. These are six year programs from which students will graduate with an associates degree from a Chicago city college.
The IB program is a rigorous program meant to produce globally-minded students. It’s been offered at Lincoln Elementary and High Schools for several years and was more recently incorporated into Ogden Elementary as well as several other Chicago schools in an effort to produce better equipped graduating classes.
Lately, I’ve heard more good things about Lake View and north side parents who want it to be a viable option for their children. Parents do make the difference in improving schools and there’s no reason the resolve we seen by parents at Nettelhorst, Blaine, Oscar Mayer (to name a few) shouldn’t be translated to high schools. Senn High School has a lovely campus and it’s worth checking out.
Photo by Mark D. Drapeau
One of the more exciting aspects of the announcement is: “When Lake View juniors and seniors become eligible for college-level courses, they’ll take those classes at DePaul, earn transferable college credits there and become ‘first in line’ for admission to DePaul. The university will also help develop the new Lake View curriculum and train Lake View teachers.”
It is encouraging to see Chicago addressing the shortage of quality high school options in innovative ways.
