Lorraine Forte
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Lorraine Forte is deputy editor of Catalyst Chicago, which provides in-depth reporting on urban education, and is host of the education edition of City Voices, a public affairs show airing on WNUA-FM. She is a former reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Daily Southtown, has worked as a writer/producer for television and taught journalism at Columbia College Chicago.

Blog Entries by Lorraine Forte

Mend Fences, Build Better Schools for Chicago

Posted March 2, 2012 | 03/02/12 02:26 PM ET

Overshadowed by the loud controversy surrounding the Chicago Board of Education's vote to take drastic action against 17 failing schools was the quiet comment by Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, who said the district now has to heal the breach with communities.

"I have been a part of the...

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What's Next on Longer School Days?

Posted October 31, 2011 | 10/31/11 12:51 PM ET

It's ironic that Mayor Emanuel's announcement that Chicago charter schools are lining up to get cash for a longer school day was made at Chicago International Charter School in Washington Park.

That school, part of a network run by one of the city's largest charter operators, already has a...

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Marshall High School's Turnaround Saga

Posted October 14, 2011 | 10/14/11 07:50 PM ET

Tamoura Hayes started high school in Chicago with big dreams for college that she already knew would be tough to reach. "C'mon," she said. "I go to Marshall High School."

Marshall is a West Side school that for decades has been known both for its stellar girls' basketball team...

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A Conversation With Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard

Posted May 10, 2011 | 05/10/11 05:13 PM ET

From a journalist's standpoint, the most refreshing news to emerge from Catalyst Chicago's recent interview with incoming Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard was his promise to be transparent. The in-depth, shoe-leather reporting and analysis that is our hallmark can only be accomplished when administrators have a green light to...

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What to Expect From a New Schools CEO

Posted January 12, 2011 | 01/12/11 01:45 PM ET

Call it a 180-degree shift.

When former Schools CEO Ron Huberman made his debut speech at a City Club luncheon in 2009, most of his talk was about how he planned to curb school violence and push failing schools to improve. There were two new programs in the...

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Time to Write a New Chapter for Chicago Public Schools

Posted September 10, 2010 | 09/10/10 05:35 PM ET

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. In English, that's 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.'

That phrase came to mind as I reviewed the reams of headlines produced by Catalyst during the years since Mayor Richard M. Daley took the reins of the Chicago...

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Headlines I'd Like to See About Chicago Public Schools

Posted September 3, 2009 | 09/03/09 05:03 PM ET

A lot of the general public believes the media live only to dig up scandal. Untrue. (Usually we don't have to go looking too far for it anyway.)

Here are some good-news headlines I'd like to see, or write, in the coming school year:

District scraps 'principal discretion' at...

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Tougher Tests Just the First Step to Improving Chicago Schools

Posted July 10, 2009 | 07/10/09 01:57 PM ET

The release of the latest state test scores for Chicago Public Schools show another year of modest gains. Good news, although as Chief Education Officer Barbara Eason-Watkins noted, "Small gains are never enough."

What's more interesting is the news surrounding the scores. For one, Mayor Daley

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Suspensions in Chicago Schools Target Black Boys Most Often

Posted July 1, 2009 | 07/01/09 06:57 PM ET

Recently, Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman told school principals that the district plans to focus on data analysis as a first step toward improvement. There's one statistic that the district ought to immediately turn its attention to: suspensions and expulsions of African-American boys.

Our newly-released report on discipline...

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Career Education a Must in Today's Job Market

Posted February 13, 2009 | 02/13/09 11:00 AM ET

Here's a sobering scenario: Each year, about 7,000 seniors earn a diploma from Chicago Public Schools, but don't enroll in college and have no preparation for work. That is a road to disaster, given the state of the U.S. economy these days.

Today's tough job market--with unemployment claims at...

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Grassroots Sentiment Behind Huberman Flap Deserves Shoring Up

Posted February 5, 2009 | 02/05/09 04:39 PM ET

It's the straw that broke the grassroots' back: the appointment of Ron Huberman to head the Chicago Public Schools.

Tuesday night, an overflow crowd met at Operation PUSH headquarters to plot strategy aimed at forcing Mayor Daley to rescind his selection and launch a national search for a schools...

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Who Makes the Cut in Closing Schools?

Posted January 17, 2009 | 01/17/09 06:51 PM ET

When CPS officials released the final school closings list on Friday, four that were initially slated to close or undergo the turnaround process--which requires the entire staff to reapply for their jobs--weren't on the list.

A Catalyst Chicago analysis also found other schools that weren't on the list, but met...

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Arne Duncan's Task: Keep Spotlight on Education

Posted December 17, 2008 | 12/17/08 04:55 PM ET

Quick, name three of the last seven secretaries of education (not including Margaret Spellings).

Outside the world of education, most people probably can't--which says something about the level of attention the general public typically pays to the job, despite poll after poll that says we rank education as one...

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Don't Believe School Funding is a Problem? Read This.

Posted September 19, 2008 | 09/19/08 09:00 PM ET

The data is shocking: If the students who enrolled in kindergarten in Chicago Public Schools in 1994 had, instead, enrolled in top-spending Lake Forest-Libertyville schools, they would have reaped the benefit of an extra $36 billion-worth of education by the time they graduated.

That statistic was just one of many...

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Tinkering Around the Edges Not Enough For Failing Schools

Posted September 4, 2008 | 09/04/08 05:30 PM ET

A kid who lives in Austin is closer to suburban Oak Park-River Forest High School than to Whitney Young, a comparable top-scoring Chicago school. And according to state Sen. James Meeks, that Austin student should be able to enroll, at no cost, in Oak Park, less than a mile-and-a-half away...

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Don't Make Kids Pawns of School Funding Mess

Posted August 17, 2008 | 08/17/08 10:39 PM ET

I've got a suggestion for pastor and state Sen. James Meeks: No need to go all the way to New Trier to see disparities in school spending--a trip across town to Walter Payton will do just as well.

Taking kids across town to one of the state's top-rated, top-spending high...

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