School of Education Partners with Local Chicago Public Schools

Loyola’s School of Education announced a partnership with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Jan. 8 to support McCutcheon Elementary School in Uptown and Gale Community School, a K-8 institution in Rogers Park. 

The collaboration is part of the Sustainable Community Schools program, a framework developed by CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union to transform public schools into neighborhood support centers. The partnership aims to enhance student well-being, advance educational equity and strengthen neighborhood vitality.

Director of School and Community Partnerships for the School of Education Mitch Hendrickson said Loyola has a long history with Gale and McCutcheon. 

Hendrickson said Loyola began working with them under community schools grants, which match public schools with a lead partner agency like a university. The program was terminated after losing funding in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Loyola stayed involved with the two schools. McCutcheon principal Kahinde Longmire said Loyola continued to send student teachers and conduct school visits at McCutcheon.

“That relationship from years ago was never severed, even though the money wasn’t there,” Longmire said.

McCutcheon’s association with Loyola under Sustainable Community Schools program will largely resemble the previous grant-funded partnership, although the Sustainable Community Schools program will operate under different academic guidelines and include participation from the Chicago Teachers Union, according to Longmire.

The grant provides a larger investment in both Gale and McCutcheon than under the previous funding, according to Hendrickson. It will pay for three full time roles at both schools, including resource, parent and restorative justice coordinators.

Hendrickson said the schools are already seeing the academic and social benefits of the partnership, especially through the student activities which couldn’t be offered previously due to lack of funding.

Considering the varying demographics of students attending McCutcheon, Longmire said these activities are especially important.

“It’s very important to us to engage our students before and after school to try and give them opportunities to experience things that they would normally not be able to,” Longmire said.

First-year elementary education major Kate Bole said she’s had a positive experience with the School of Education so far and appreciated the opportunity to observe three different CPS schools in her first undergraduate semester.

Bole said she’s enthusiastic about Loyola’s January partnership with CPS because of the importance of involvement with local schools like Gale and McCutcheon which reflect the demographics of Loyola’s neighborhood community.

Out of the 50,548 people recorded in the 2020 census residing in zip code 60626 — which Loyola’s Lakeshore campus is primarily located in — 22,668 people identified as white alone, 12,232 identified as black alone, 3,904 identified as Asian alone, and 559 as American Indian and Alaska Indian alone, while 5,640 identified as another race alone and 5,545 people identified as two or more races, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 18.1% live in poverty.

Third-year secondary education and English major Margot Nalli expressed similar excitement about Loyola’s collaboration with Gale and McCutcheon.

“I obviously think it’s so great to have more structured partnerships between Loyola students and staff in the School of Ed with the surrounding schools,” Nalli said. “We talk so much about how important it is to really know the community that you’re working with.” 

Nalli, who has been placed at two CPS institutions — Swift Elementary and Mather High School —, said she felt both experiences were facilitated smoothly by the partner school and Loyola and helped her learn about working with students from different backgrounds.

“I’ve had nothing but great experiences working with the surrounding public schools,” Nalli said.

Alex Dakessian, assistant principal at McCutcheon, said she believes the relationship between Loyola and McCutcheon is meaningful for all the parties involved. She said she hopes the partnership formed through the Sustainable Community Schools grant will help address obstacles faced by students who may be socioeconomically disadvantaged. 

“Selective enrollment schools and private schools have so many different opportunities because their community comes from a different social and economic background,” Dakessian said. “We’re making sure that, through our partnership with Loyola, that isn’t a barrier to our families.”

Loyola and CPS hope that this partnership, which was implemented in late January, can become a framework for university-K-12 collaboration across the city to benefit Chicago communities. 

Editor’s Note: Kate Bole is a contributor to The Loyola Phoenix.