Black Student Achievement Committee Meets Thursday

Tomorrow night at 6 p.m., the long-awaited Black Student Achievement Committee will hold its first meeting. The agenda is very simple: introductory remarks, roll call, public participation, an update on the Black Student Success Plan from the CPS Office of Equity, and committee discussion.

But getting to this meeting has been a struggle. The committee was created by law to develop and track a plan intended "to bring about academic parity between Black children and their peers." With significant input from a working group launched in 2023, Chicago Public Schools created a Black Student Success Plan and preserved it in the face of federal efforts to force the school district to dismantle it.

A handful of concrete plan goals are also part of the school district's overall 5-year strategic plan:

• Double the number of Black male educators hired and improve Black teacher retention.
• Accelerate growth and attainment for Black students to close opportunity gaps from early learning through high school across all core academic areas. 
• Reduce disciplinary actions against Black students, ensuring proportionality with their representation in the student population.
• Increase the percentage of classrooms utilizing culturally responsive practices and teaching about Black history and culture.
• Foster a strong sense of belonging among Black students so they feel valued and included in their school communities.

However, as Block Club Chicago reported in August, implementing the Black Student Success Plan is going very slowly, with only two dedicated staffers and little public information about how the work is going.

The To & Through Project's latest report on the educational attainment of CPS students shows that while Black students are on par with their peers nationally in high school graduation and college enrollment, they lag their national peers in college completion.

The lottery for five speaker slots closes at 10:30 a.m. today, but there are still plenty of seats left for observers. If you'd like to sign up to watch or speak at the meeting, you can do so here.

Events

Sunday, Nov. 15: a showing of Frederick Wiseman's classic 1968 documentary, "High School," which tracks life inside a Philadelphia public high school. 5 p.m., Mouse Arts and Letters, 555 W. 31st St. Details here.

Wednesday, Nov. 18: IFT Springfield Lobby Day, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Pasfield House, 525 S Pasfield St., Springfield, IL. Register here.

Thursday, Nov. 19: Chicagoans United for Equity presents The Future We Govern: A Political Education Lab, featuring UIC historian Elizabeth Todd-Breland and an interactive workshop, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Register here.

By Nov. 26: Take the CPS Fall Survey! Topics include attendance boundaries, space use, the district's instructional vision for learning from PreK to second grade, and generative AI.