Chicago School Policy Luncheon

Next Wednesday, January 21, I’ll be speaking at a Chicago Schools Policy Luncheon at the Union League Club of Chicago. The web site of one of the sponsors describes the event as:

The third in a three-part series sponsored by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest and Catalyst Chicago, with the Consortium on Chicago School Research. The series title is “Is Great Teaching Enough: The impact of school-community connections on the achievement gap.” Paul Tough, author of “Whatever It Takes” on the Harlem Children’s Zone; Nancy Aardema, Logan Square Neighborhood Association; and Chris Brown, Local Initiatives Support Coalition, will talk about “What It Takes” to build community.

Chicago Public Radio

Here’s an interview I did last month with Julia McEvoy of Chicago Public Radio, broadcast today on WBEZ’s morning show, “Eight Forty-Eight.” As their web site puts it:

Many Chicago area educators are counting on the president-elect to make schools a top priority in the year ahead. One plan that Barack Obama cites as a model for the rest of the country, is the Harlem Children’s Zone. There, a man named Geoffrey Canada believes that to successfully educate students he must take a holistic approach focusing on the community where they live.

Author Paul Tough has just written a book called Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America. Tough sat down with Chicago Public Radio’s education desk editor Julia McEvoy to talk about what Chicago can learn from the Harlem experiment.

Chicago event

Signing a book for a young reader, Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy, Chicago, October 22, 2008.

More Details on the Chicago Reading

Chicago reading and book-signing

Next Wednesday, I’ll be giving a talk in Chicago:

The Renaissance Schools Fund and Perspectives Charter Schools invite you to join us for a reading and book signing with Paul Tough, New York Times Magazine editor and author of the new book, Whatever it Takes.

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Join us for an exciting conversation with Paul Tough on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 from 11:45am – 1:30pm at Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy, 3663 S. Wabash Avenue.  This event is free.  Please RSVP to Rachel Green at rgreen@rsfchicago.org