Sun Times Notes

Brian Schultz, author of Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, with whom we spoke on Tuesday, mentioned a soft skills test which CPS has used blacklist several applicants who had actually received firm offers from CPS principals. 
According to the Chicago Sun Times, the test is called "TeacherFit."  Developed at a cost of $130,000 to the Chicago Public Schools, Of the 3,900 CPS teacher applicants who have taken TeacherFit since June, 30 percent have scored low enough to be excluded from hiring. 
In the list of poor scorers are "Graduates of the Academy for Urban School Leadership’s teacher training program touted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a winner of a prestigious Golden Apple scholarship, and a special-education major who made the dean’s list at Michigan State University and was described as a 'dream candidate' by a CPS principal who wanted to hire her."  


In other news, the Sun Times has reported that Mayor Emanuel has decided to send his kids to University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, prestigious private institutions.  The move has drawn fire in the context of the Mayor's commitment to strengthen CPS during his campaign.