Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced remote learning plans on Monday, March 30th, which will begin on April 13th after CPS’s scheduled spring break. As a part of their plans, CPS will deliver approximately 100,000 laptops, Chromebooks, and iPads to students most in need. Schools plan to continue with remote learning through at least April 30th after Governor Pritzker announced yesterday, March 31st, that stay-at-home orders as well as school closures throughout the state (both public and private) were extended through the entire month of April.
Families of CPS should expect more detailed information from their individual schools by April 6th which will entail what their school’s remote learning plan will look like. CPS also intends to provide non-digital learning materials to help further enrich students’ learning outside of the classroom. All remote learning material is included in the state’s $75 million Board of Education coronavirus budget approved last week.
CPS’s new remote learning plans are more detailed than their previous enrichment packets with which they were provided before schools shut their doors on March 17th. The new plans outline remote office hours for teachers to provide for students as well as daily lessons. According to CPS, the district will release two weeks of activities at a time. Schools are also welcomed to add to these. In addition, though the district and schools certainly expect students to participate in the planned activities and classwork, remote learning cannot be counted against them in their final grades.
Furthermore, even though the NWEA MAP tests are canceled, Test Prep Chicago will continue to run its classes online for further enrichment for students and families who are interested. The classes are being streamed live through an educational platform, Vedamo, which allows students to interact with their instructors in real-time as well as use a digital whiteboard to help further grasp the material.
While CPS still hasn’t released more information about the NWEA MAP and Selective Enrollment testing, Test Prep Chicago will continue to keep families updated as the situation progresses. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our homepage, testprepchicago.com, to receive the most current information.
Lauren Lynch, Tutoring Coordinator
lauren@testprepchicago.com
(312) 848-1266