(2017-04-05) Emanuel Wants To Add A Cps Graduation Requirement Plan

Rahm Emanuel wants to add a CPS (Chicago Public Schools) High School graduation requirement: Get acceptance letter

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants Chicago public high school students to show they have a plan for what's next before they can get a diploma

A top CPS official also acknowledged, however, that every Chicago public high school graduate essentially already meets the new standard because graduation guarantees admittance to the City Colleges of Chicago community college system

The City Colleges system has continued to struggle with "softened" enrollment numbers, as the system also looks at burning cash reserves and making cuts because of the state's protracted budget impasse. At the same time, the system has said it has seen larger numbers of incoming students "without the required academic preparation," which has led to higher demand for remedial courses and support services.

CPS embarked on what it described as a comprehensive, eight-day training program for school advisers. The district said it understood that the quality of college counseling that students received marked "one of the greatest drivers of whether a student enrolls and persists in college." But by Wednesday, the district said, only about 40 percent of CPS school counselors had completed the training.

Board of Education Approves New Graduation Requirements to Foster Postsecondary Success for CPS Students

The Chicago Board of Education today unanimously approved the addition of three new high school graduation requirements that will better prepare students for college, career and the rest of their lives. The new requirements include a more rigorous sequence of science courses designed to equip students for STEM fields, a robust and consistent financial education course, and Learn.Plan.Succeed, an initiative to ensure that every CPS student graduates with a plan for postsecondary success.

Chicago won’t allow high school students to graduate without a plan for the future

“We are going to help kids have a plan, because they’re going to need it to succeed,” he said. “You cannot have kids think that 12th grade is done.”

Morgan Park has three guidance counselors and a college and career coach for about 1,300 students in grades seven through 12.

Given the new graduation requirement, seniors beginning this fall will take a year-long seminar on planning for life after high school

Would Chicago really withhold diplomas from students who meet every requirement except the new one? Jackson says it won’t come to that, because principals, counselors and teachers won’t let it.