Esther J. Cepeda biography

Born and raised on the North Side of Chicago, Esther J. Cepeda started writing before her scribbles adequately conveyed her musings. She attended Lane Technical …Read More

• Noble Charter teachers should follow rules, too

  Let me start my criticism of the Noble Street Network of Charter Schools’ discipline methods — zero tolerance that cost parents $387,000 in fees these last three years — by saying that if I ran a school I, too, would be hard-core about conduct that …Read More

• Leaders buckling under ‘the wisdom of crowds’

  So much has been made of “the wisdom of crowds” — a term coined by James Surowiecki to describe how large groups of people can be better at solving problems and coming to wise decisions than the elite few — that I fear the wisdom …Read More

• Raising school dropout age is not shown to help

  In a perfect world, raising the dropout age to 18 in Chicago and elsewhere would miraculously make kids planning a run for the schoolhouse exit stay and go on to graduate. Unfortunately, though keeping students in school as long as possible sounds like a good …Read More