Batter Up! Students Take Math Skills to Wrigley

The group is showing students how statistics can be practical, creating a fantasy league based on their findings.

Local High Schools Shunned as Newsweek Names Top in the Country

The magazine's 2013 rankings came out Monday; see where other Chicago high schools ranked.

Newsweek skipped Bucktown and Wicker Park when naming the best high schools in the country.  Neither Josephinum Academy nor Holy Trinity High School received a nod from the magazine, but several other North Side high schools were mentioned.  Lane Tech, North Side College Prep, Lincoln Park and Lake View High Schools were all in the top 2,000 in the nation.  For its rankings, Newsweek sent out a survey to more than 5,000 high schools in the U.S., with about 2,500 schools responding in 2013. You can see the details about the high schools' ranking, and every other ranked school by clicking on the markers in the interactive map above. The survey scores were then weighted and calculated using several criteria including on-time graduation and …

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DePaul Community Takes to the Streets to 'Get Dirty'

More than 1.700 members fo the DePaul University community are joining hands this Saturday in a special effort dedicated to the city's neighborhoods.

More than 1,700 DePaul University students and faculty members are hitting the streets this weekend to not only better the Lincoln Park neighborhood areas across the city. The effort is part of the school's 13th Annual Vincentian Service Day. On Saturday, members of the DePaul University community volunteering with nearly 100 community partners in the city including Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind, Erie Neighborhood House, Friends of the Parks, Marillac House and Willow Chicago. "Volunteers will plant flowers and vegetables, trim bushes, mulch trees, clear weeds and trash in neighborhoods across the city ... " says a DePaul University news release. "The annual event is an opportunity for members of the DePaul University family and …

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Razed Buildings Make Way for DePaul's Urban Garden

A garden now grows where three buildings on DePaul University's campus once stood. Watch the accompanying video to learn more about this remarkable, student-led initiative.

An expansive garden of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, berries and mixed greens grows on a busy DePaul University campus corner where three buildings once stood. The DePaul Urban Garden, known by students as "DUG", is nestled on Belden Avenue and Bissell Street. Its mission is to serve the university as well as provide a refuge where students, staff and faculty can learn about urban agriculture and engage with their local food system, according to the initiative's website. "We're learning about how it is that ... you need to work with degraded ecosystems like the one we're in, which was three buildings that were torn down, razed," Barbara Willard, associate professor in the school's college of communication, said in a video. "We had a gravel …

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Four CPS Schools Top U.S. News' Illinois High School Rankings

The selective enrollment high schools were named the four best schools in the state.

It was a clean sweep for Chicago Public Schools as the most prestigious selective enrollment schools in Chicago were named the four best high schools in the state, according to a ranking of public schools released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report magazine. Northside College Prep, Walter Payton College Prep, Jones College Prep and Whitney M. Young Magnet School grabbed the top spots on the list. Three of the schools also made it into the list of the top 100 high schools in the entire country. The rankings rely on a mix of criteria, including teacher-student ratio, test scores and college readiness. U.S. News said it collected data on more than 21,000 public high schools from 49 states and the District of Columbia, excluding Nebraska, …

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DePaul Powers up Chicago’s Resurgent Video Game Industry

DePaul University's staff weigh in on the city's role as a major player in video game development as well as changes in the industry.

Big changes in the video gaming landscape have given Chicago a new foothold in the industry. In the first decade of the 21st century, the city was a major player in game development. It was flush with talent, and major studios like Electronic Arts Chicago—known for creations including Madden NFL and The Sims—and Midway Games—known for Mortal Kombat—were churning out content for the then-new Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. However, the recession late in the decade saw the end of many local companies as major studios clustered in California, home to 42 percent of video game industry employees. Now, as players’ tastes migrate from big console games to smaller mobile titles, a host of independent, upstart studios have surfaced in the Windy City, …

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Language School Plans June Move to Bucktown

Multilingual Chicago—a language and culture school in Logan Square—is headed east to Bucktown.

UPDATED: Confusion, Outrage as School Closings Announced: MAP

See an unofficial map of school closings and what parents, teachers and officials have to say.

Chicago Public Schools will close 54 school programs and 61 buildings, officials announced Thursday.  The city was tossed into upheaval as parents and teachers slowly began to learn which schools will be closed at the end of this school year. Chicago Public Schools officials released a final list at 5 p.m., but principals and alderman started leaking the information as early as 6 a.m. Thursday. The announcement made history as the largest amount of school closings the city has ever seen. In total, 71 schools will be drastically changed: six schools were named as turnarounds, 11 will be co-located and 54 will be shut down.  See a full list of schools below. Editor's Note: The above map incorrectly lists George B. Armstrong Elementary in …

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DePaul Creates New Big East Conference

Officials from DePaul University announced Tuesday plans to establish a new conference that will begin play in the 2013-2014 academic year under the Big East name.

Officials at nearby DePaul shook things up for the school's athletics program Tuesday in a decision establish a new conference under the "Big East" name. University President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider and director of athletics, Jean Lenti Ponsetto, notified students and staff in a written statement. They said the decision was unanimous among seven basketball-focused institutions—DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton hall, St. John's and Villanova. DePaul's intercollegiate athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, Big East Conference. The change will go into effect for the 2013-2014 academic year. “The seven presidents and athletics directors are committed to the highest level of success …

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Amidst Closures, CPS to Offer Full-Day Kindergarten

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS officials said a full-day kindergarten program will be in each CPS school in the fall.

After announcing that more than 120 schools could be closed in the fall, Chicago Public Schools officials are mandating every school offer full-day kindergarten.  The program will go into effect for the 2013-2014 school year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said in a release. Illinois law does not mandate kindergarten, but since 2011, CPS has increased its access to the full-day program by 50 percent. Now, about 26,500 out of 30,700 students attend a full day of kindergarten. “I made universal full-day kindergarten a priority for our schools because frankly our children cannot afford to wait. We must invest our resources in smart ways that provide every student in every school with a full education …

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