CPS says agreement possible Friday, union less optimistic

Original article in the Chicago Sun-Times by Rosalind Rossi, Stefano Esposito, Kim Janssen, and Lauren Fitzpatrick. 

The two sides trying to end the first Chicago teachers strike in 25 years emerged from marathon contract talks early Friday, with school officials holding out the possibility that a package might be ready for a union sign off in the afternoon.

...Tim Daly of The New Teacher Project, a teacher advocacy and policy group, said the previous CPS rating system wasn’t working because it placed 93 percent of teachers in the top two categories and only three out of 1000 in “unsatisfactory,’’ or the bottom category, which gives teachers 90 days to improve or face dismissal.

The results were so skewed, Daly said, they did a poor job of identifying poor as well as outstanding teachers.

...“It’s perfectly normal to be apprehensive, but it hasn’t been implanted yet,’’ Daly said. “They should at least give this a chance to work before saying it needs to be something else.’’

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