THE CHICAGO PUBLIC EDUCATION FUND

TRANSFORMING SCHOOLS, ONE LEADER AT A TIME

Dear Friends,

As public education evolves to meet new college- and career-

readiness demands and the individual learning needs of

students, one constant remains: the strength and dedication

of our principals and teachers are essential to providing a

world-class education for all.

We all have a memorable educator who shaped our lives; a

teacher who unlocked our passions, a coach who encouraged

our big dreams, or a principal who invested in our future

and challenged us to reach our potential. Great educators

transform learning every day and change lives forever.

Since our inception in 2000, The Fund has invested in

thousands of transformational educators across Chicago,

collectively impacting more than 100,000 students. While

the impact of a great educator clearly goes beyond test

scores, it is worth noting that students served by a Fund-

supported educator featured in this book are more likely to

meet or exceed state standards, as compared to students in

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) overall.

To build on this past progress and capitalize on present

potential, we launched our fourth fund in late 2013. Fund 4 is

designed to more than double the number of highly-effective

principals in Chicago and grow our overall educator network

by more than 1,000 teachers and principals. To accomplish

these goals, we will invest $20M over the next four years

in organizations, programs and initiatives dedicated to

principal and school quality. We will partner with CPS, the

city, the nonprofit and charter communities, as well as other

funders to increase the number of great principals who are

placed in Chicago and the number who choose to stay.

We have a firm foundation to start. Through the Chicago

Leadership Collaborative (CLC), we have four of the strongest

principal training programs in the country – three of which

were seeded by The Fund. We have a mayor and a CPS CEO

who are committed to principal leadership as a key difference-

maker in school quality across Chicago.

What’s more, The Fund’s Innovative Educator Network and

Summer Design Program (SDP) target the best principal-

led teams to enable them to use time, technology and talent

to accelerate student learning. Through Breakthrough

Schools: Chicago – a local-national partnership between

LEAP Innovations, The Fund and Next Generation Learning

Challenges (NGLC) – we will establish examples that

innovation can transform and personalize learning

for students.

The Fund remains a champion for a simple idea – change in

education happens in schools, and our best schools are led

by great principals and their teacher teams. The result of

investing in great educators: an accelerated path to a diverse

set of transformational schools.

This book is more than a compilation of individual educator

profiles. It is the story of that simple idea as it is lived in

classrooms and schools citywide. Our teachers and principals

tell the story far better than I do. I invite you to celebrate their

triumphs and honor their legacies, as together we reflect on the

story of our past and create a vision for the high-quality public

schools of our future.

My best,

Heather Y. Anichini

President & CEO

Ginger Lumpkin is a Summer

Design Program participant

and Breakthrough Schools:

Chicago winner.

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

GINGER LUMPKINPRINCIPAL | JOHN C. HAINES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

Asian

African American

669

93.4%

84.5%

11.8%

LOCATION Haines

Ginger Lumpkin has been an urban educator

for more than 20 years. As a Chicago Public

Schools (CPS) graduate, teacher and

administrator, and the parent of a CPS student,

Ginger possesses a nuanced understanding

of the conditions needed to ensure school

success. After teaching humanities in CPS, she

joined Walter Payton College Preparatory

Academy in 2006 as an assistant principal. By

2012, Ginger was named principal of John C.

Haines Elementary.

After Ginger’s first year at Haines, she learned

of The Fund’s Summer Design Program (SDP).

She saw alignment with her own practices

of consistently using distributive leadership

and innovative methods to address issues

in schools. Sensing a great opportunity for

Haines, she assembled a team.

Under Ginger’s thoughtful leadership, the

Haines team used the SDP to design a program

to differentiate instruction for its students by

employing technology. As a result, teachers

delivered targeted instruction in small groups,

while other students were able to learn new

topics independently and engage in online

materials. After successfully implementing

this pilot in 2013, Ginger and her team saw

an opportunity to deliver a truly personalized

education for every student at Haines.

With support from The Fund, Haines

expanded the pilot created during the SDP

and submitted a winning application to

Breakthrough Schools: Chicago.

“I applied to Breakthrough Schools so

that, through shared leadership, we might

employ innovative ways to address student

achievement while making learning more

personal and individualized for our

students,” Ginger said. “We will make this

possible through the use of instructional

practices such as the rotational model, small

group work, whole-class instruction and

interdisciplinary, project-based learning.

Above all, I want students to find joy in

learning for the sake of learning.”

For Ginger, a focus on excellence, humanity

and advocacy for students has been, and

remains, at the foundation of her life’s work.

3

Salvador Perez is a National Board

Certified teacher and Fund Educator

Advisory Committee member.

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

Total Students

Low Income

Hispanic

African American

792

90.9%

44.3%

9.7%

BooneLOCATION

TEACHER

SALVADOR PEREZ| DANIEL BOONE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

undertake the certification effort together and

work to improve whole schools.

“When you enter into the process of NBC,”

Salvador said, “then you understand that you

dare to become a better teacher. You learn

about best practices. You see your peers, your

mentors, modeling them for you, and they

provide the tools, the resources; all the things

you need to grow, to be better.”

When Salvador earned his NBC in Early

Childhood Education, with a concentration in

English as a New Language (ENL) and Bilingual

Education, he joined more than 2,000 CPS

teachers who achieved NBC and witnessed its

power to accelerate student outcomes. “You’re

able to transform the educational process to

create a greater impact on students’ academic

development,” Salvador said.

For the past 17 years, Salvador has refined his

instruction, championed his students, and

touched hundreds of lives at Boone. Today,

Salvador’s pursuit of educational excellence

continues; he is working toward his Doctorate

in Early Childhood Education. “This time and

space,” he said, “is my opportunity to nourish

the future of our society.”

Born in Mexico City, Salvador Perez

immigrated to the United States in his mid-

twenties in search of the “American Dream.”

He worked in several fields – picking tomatoes

in farming fields, building at construction sites

and laboring in factories. For nearly thirty

years, he has embarked on a journey to fulfill a

fierce thirst for knowledge that drives his life.

For Salvador, education was the means to

achieve his dreams. He earned multiple

degrees to support his ambitions, including

a Master’s Degree with a concentration on

Bilingual Special Education. Encouraged by

these accomplishments, Salvador sought an

opportunity to help him lead and advocate

for his students: National Board Certification

(NBC), the teaching profession’s only

national credential.

In Funds 1 and 2, The Fund seeded the

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) NBC program

to support a large, diverse population of CPS

teachers interested in pursuing NBC. This

comprehensive program recruited, supported

and prepared teachers as applicants and

mentors. The Fund collaborated with the

program to develop its unique component: a

focus on developing cohorts of teachers who

4

D’ANDRE WEAVERPRINCIPAL | GWENDOLYN BROOKS COLLEGE PREPARATORY ACADEMY

D’Andre Weaver is a Summer

Design Program participant and

Principal Fellow.

As a product of Chicago Public Schools (CPS),

D’Andre Weaver understands the challenges his

students face and the critical role education plays in

transforming young lives. His own mother sacrificed

her higher education aspirations, instead working to

support her family. Faced with a similar decision after

graduating from Morgan Park High School, D’Andre

chose to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign, where he earned his undergraduate

degrees in Secondary Education and English.

“My mother always encouraged me to go further

and do the right things in terms of my education,”

D’Andre said. “In every step of my life, there was a

teacher who supported me and looked out for me.

And that means the world to me.”

D’Andre’s ultimate goal was to return to Chicago,

but he remained in Champaign for nine years.

During that time, he taught high school English,

developed the AVID program (Advancement Via

Individual Determination), and led various district-

level initiatives and professional development

courses. D’Andre also earned his graduate degree in

Educational Leadership and served as an assistant

principal for one year.

In 2011, D’Andre returned to Chicago. After one year

as the Assistant Principal at Walter Payton College

Preparatory Academy, he was named Principal of

Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy,

a Level 1 selective enrollment high school. At the

time, Brooks did not have access to technology and

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)

resources, resulting in the students lacking any

connection and motivation to STEM subjects.

The Fund’s 2014 Summer Design Program (SDP)

changed that. “We were really looking to solve a

problem that’s everywhere - not even just in public

education - but in the STEM-related fields, where

there is an underrepresentation of women and

minorities in those careers,” he said.

Through the SDP, D’Andre’s team developed a bold

solution – the dissolution of individual math and

science departments and the creation of a unified

STEM department, where all teachers are dually

certified in math and science. As part of this new

STEM department, D’Andre’s team created an

integrated curriculum that emphasizes the use of

math and science to build, create and solve problems.

“I’m excited because the department we created and

the teachers we were able to hire can truly be leaders

in STEM and other places,” D’Andre said. “We were

able to recruit a very talented team.”

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

African American

Hispanic

790

74.1%

83.4%

14.2%

LOCATION Brooks

5

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

White

Hispanic

428

21.0%

57.5%

19.9%

PRINCIPAL | WILDWOOD WORLD MAGNET SCHOOL

MARY BETH CUNAT

Mary Beth Cunat is a Summer

Design Program participant,

Breakthrough Schools: Chicago

winner and Principal Fellow, as well

as an alumna of the University of

Illinois at Chicago Urban Education

Leadership Program.

Mary Beth Cunat’s path to school leadership was

far from traditional. “In my wildest dreams I never

thought I would be a teacher,” she said. “But I took

my first education course and I was hooked.”

After graduating with a Bachelor of Education degree,

Mary Beth spent her first year teaching in the

Dominican Republic. She then taught in the Catholic

school system and later Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

While teaching in CPS, Mary Beth earned her first

master’s degree from Aurora University. There,

she learned about a design model that emphasized

technology-infusion planning. Once again, Mary

Beth was hooked. She joined the CPS Central Office,

where she supported technology integration in area

schools and led districtwide principal professional

development programs.

After earning her second master’s degree, Mary

Beth accepted a position as Assistant Principal at

Augustus H. Burley Elementary School, where she

served for more than three years. After starting her

doctorate coursework through the Fund-seeded

University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Urban

Education Leadership Program (UELP), Mary

Beth was ready for the principalship. In 2010, she

was named Principal of Wildwood World Magnet

School, a Level 1 school.

Wildwood had a culture of high achievement, but

Mary Beth recognized the need to move beyond

student-centered to student-led. She knew that

for students to operate in a globalized world,

they needed to drive their own learning. The

Summer Design Program (SDP) offered a unique

opportunity to explore this challenge.

After the SDP, Mary Beth and her team instituted

a strong, student-designed curricular vision at

Wildwood. With flexible space and innovative

technology, students design self-led projects and

are responsible for articulating how their world

aligns with national standards and the demands of

a 21st century international citizenship.

Mary Beth’s unconventional approach and

successful implementation soon led to more

opportunities. In April 2014, Wildwood submitted

a winning application to Breakthrough Schools:

Chicago, a pilot program in which educators

develop and launch next-generation schools that

provide personalized learning. “I have so much

gratitude for The Fund and this program,” Mary

Beth said. “The Summer Design Program created

opportunities and connections for me and my

school that would never have existed.”

WildwoodLOCATION

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

6

Scott Frauenheim is a Summer

Design Program participant

and Breakthrough Schools:

Chicago winner.

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

Hispanic

African American

496

95.6%

91.1%

7.3%

Scott Frauenheim began his education career

in 2006 as a Physical Education teacher. After

teaching in both elementary and secondary

school settings, Scott wanted to extend his

impact beyond a single classroom. He gained

leadership experience, serving as Director of

Student Services and Dean of Students with

Distinctive Schools.

By 2012, Scott was named Director of CICS

West Belden. CICS West Belden is part of

the Chicago International Charter School

network and is one of the top-rated charter

schools in Chicago. Scott’s experience

working within schools around fundraising,

development and facilities highlighted the

value of partners, and he enthusiastically

led CICS West Belden through The Fund’s

Summer Design Program (SDP) in 2013.

Scott’s team used the SDP to rethink

professional development within the school to

include virtual instruction and collaboration

for teachers. The professional development

addressed teachers’ ability to use technology

to more effectively differentiate instruction

for students. It started as a small program, but

soon produced much more.

“The SDP has had a major impact on me and

the entire CICS West Belden community,”

Scott said. “My team has adopted the design-

thinking model and we put it into action for

every idea we have in our building. Our first

question for everything we do is this: Why are

we doing this, is there a problem, and how will

it affect students, teachers and families?”

Scott leveraged his experience with the SDP

to propose the adoption of a whole-school

blended model at CICS West Belden, and

his team submitted a winning application

to Breakthrough Schools: Chicago. Notably,

students will participate in three-hour

rotational labs, where they will learn through

digital and adaptive programs, collaborate

with peers, receive one-on-one tutoring from

teachers, and participate in small-group

instruction.

Thanks to the SDP, Scott is confident as he

undertakes this work. “I personally learned so

much about transformational leadership and

how to implement a schoolwide initiative with

a full-team approach,” he said. “I learned how

to think through the design process, which has

helped me focus my leadership on our school

needs for overall success.”

SCOTT FRAUENHEIMPRINCIPAL | CICS WEST BELDEN

West BeldenLOCATION

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

7

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

Hispanic

African American

1,082

93.3%

96.5%

1.6%

GERARDO ARRIAGAPRINCIPAL | ENRICO TONTI ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Gerardo Arriaga has been an educator for more

than 25 years. His passion for teaching began

in his native country, Mexico, where he worked

as a teacher before immigrating to the United

States. When he came to Chicago, he worked in

an elementary school as a teaching assistant. It

was a first step in his journey.

“I was lucky to find someone who supported

me,” Gerardo said. “The principal helped me get

my certification as a teacher here. And through

a process of effort, work and study, I became a

teacher in Chicago Public Schools.”

After earning his teaching degree from National-

Louis University, Gerardo taught reading,

math and technology to fourth, fifth and eighth

graders. Gerardo earned his master’s degree and

Type 75 certification from Northern Illinois

University and secured an Assistant Principal

position. In 2009, he was named Principal of

Tonti, a Level 1 district public school.

When Gerardo joined The Fund’s Educator

Advisory Committee (EAC) in 2013, he was

committed to bringing parents, educators,

community organizations and businesses

together to benefit the children of Chicago.

Through the EAC, Gerardo learned about The

Fund’s commitment to educator-led innovation.

He brought his teachers to The Fund’s Discover

Series workshops, and they joined the 2014

Summer Design Program (SDP) cohort.

Seeking to increase the percentage of students

at the “exceeding” level on the NWEA, Gerardo’s

team used the SDP to look for ways to challenge

high-achieving students while simultaneously

meeting the needs of struggling students.

“Teachers definitely need support from the

administration,” Gerardo said. “By bringing

them here, I believe they will open up to those

types of innovative ideas and start implementing

instruction that is out of the box.”

As a result of the SDP experience, Tonti will

pilot an “enrichment center” with fourth and

fifth grade students. The enrichment center will

provide an independent work space for students

to select activities that are geared toward

the next grade level standards. Gerardo sees

potential in the new approach.

“It’s an eye opener to see the possibilities and to

understand that we don’t have to continue doing

the same things – teaching students the same

way and expecting the results to be different,”

Gerardo said. “We have to change.”

Enrico TontiLOCATION

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

Gerardo Arriaga is a Fund Educator

Advisory Committee member and

Summer Design Program participant.

8

HEATHER DUNCAN-WHITTTEACHER | SOUTH SHORE FINE ARTS ACADEMY

Heather Duncan is a Summer

Design Program participant

and Fund Educator Advisory

Committee member.

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

African American

Hispanic

469

87.4%

97.4%

1.1%

As a teacher, Heather Duncan works hard to

create a classroom culture that works. She

teaches preschool at South Shore Fine Arts

Academy (SSFAA), where she has worked

since it opened in 2009. “Ms. Heather”

fights tirelessly to preserve an appropriate

classroom environment for young children.

“I try to make myself as accessible as

professionally possible,” Heather said. “Most

important, I reinforce to my students that we

are in all this together, and that our team can

accomplish all of our goals if we cooperate.”

Heather models this commitment to

collaboration with her colleagues at SSFAA

and beyond. For her – and most teachers –

the best ideas are “borrowed” from other

teachers, and she seeks opportunities to put

this strategy in action. When she learned of

The Fund’s Summer Design Program (SDP),

she quickly assembled a team from SSFAA.

“When we saw the opportunity to get some

assistance - both technical AND financial

- with our plan to reduce wasted time and

paper by using adaptive software, we knew

we had to apply!” Heather said. Through the

SDP, Heather’s team used education software

to integrate individualized instruction and

assessment for students at SSFAA. This

software compiled student data, allowing

SSFAA teachers to personalize instruction

without sacrificing time or resources.

Inspired by the educator-led approach of

the SDP, Heather applied to serve on The

Fund’s Educator Advisory Committee (EAC).

Launched in 2013, The EAC is comprised

of principals and teachers from traditional,

turnaround, alternative and charter schools

across the city of Chicago. All members

share a commitment to accelerating student

learning in their classrooms and schools,

and a willingness to gather regularly to share

common challenges and solutions.

“I hope to see my best ideas in the classrooms

of many, many colleagues,” Heather said. “I

know that the EAC is a step in that direction.”

LOCATION SSFAA

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

9

Barton Dassinger is a Teach For

America alumnus, LAUNCH graduate,

Additional Learning Opportunities

pilot participant and Fund Educator

Advisory Committee member, as well

as a Summer Design Program

participant and Breakthrough

Schools: Chicago winner.

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

Hispanic

African American

936

96.9%

94.4%

4.1%

BARTON DASSINGERPRINCIPAL | CESAR E. CHÁVEZ MULTICULTURAL ACADEMIC CENTER

Barton Dassinger began his teaching career

in 1998 as a Teach For America (TFA) teacher

in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. In 2000, he

moved to Chicago and joined Cesar E. Chávez

Multicultural Academic Center’s faculty. A

Level 2 school at the time, Chávez was already

a solid neighborhood school serving a high-

need population. Barton saw the potential

for greatness.

Inspired by his vision for Chávez, Barton

earned his master’s degree and administrative

certification from University of Illinois at

Chicago (UIC), and graduated from LAUNCH,

a Fund-seeded principal preparation program

designed to develop aspiring principals for

Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Barton was

named the principal at Chávez in 2010.

In 2011, Chávez was one of 15 schools in the

Additional Learning Opportunities (ALO)

pilot, which extended the school day by 90

minutes. With this extra time, students used

technology to further advance math and

reading skills. Fund staff worked closely with

CPS officials to select schools, train program

coordinators at each site and provide program

management. Even in this small pilot, the

results were encouraging; students’ math and

reading gains exceeded those of comparable

schools.

Since then, Chávez has slowly and deliberately

increased the use of technology in its

classrooms, with the constant input of its

teachers and students. “We transitioned from

just being an after school use of computers to

in-school use mainly because the teachers saw

how effective it was, and teachers wanted to

learn how to begin using this to improve their

instruction,” Barton said. “More than coming

from me, it came from the teachers themselves

who saw the power of these programs and what

technology can do to advance these students.”

Today, Chávez is a Level 1 school, among the

best neighborhood schools in the city, and

every one of its teachers uses technology to

personalize learning.

Under Barton’s leadership, Chávez submitted a

winning application to Breakthrough Schools:

Chicago. With this investment, Chávez will

continue to grow and expand how it uses

technology as a tool to personalize learning,

ultimately serving as an example to other

schools looking to transform instruction and

accelerate learning for all students.

LOCATION Chávez

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

10

ALLISON SLADEPRINCIPAL | NAMASTE ELEMENTARY CHARTER SCHOOL

Over the past two decades, Allison Slade has

served as a teacher, professional developer,

mentor and curriculum designer in urban

and suburban settings. She is a certified

teacher and administrator, and has worked as

a literacy specialist, providing professional

development workshops and in-classroom

coaching and mentoring for Chicago Public

Schools (CPS) teachers.

Allison began her career in inner city Houston

as a Teach For America (TFA) Kindergarten

teacher. It was a challenging and rewarding

experience, and one that set her on the path to

founding Namaste Charter

School in 2004. Namaste centers its

educational philosophy on the belief that

children who are healthy and active perform

better in the classroom. Namaste innovates

through differentiated instruction, physical

education, healthy food programs and dual-

language immersion.

Allison recognizes that school connectedness

is a key indicator of student success, and she

enthusiastically led a team through The

Fund’s Summer Design Program (SDP). To

support collaboration at Namaste, Allison’s

team used the SDP to create the Partners

Achieving Lasting Support (PALS) program,

wherein every student and staff member

participates in one-on-one mentoring

sessions. As a result, teachers and staff

witnessed increased self-confidence and

self-advocacy from their students, as well

as a greater sense of school connectedness.

“The SDP was an amazing opportunity to

really work collaboratively with staff to

develop a program intended to impact the

whole school,” Allison said. “It was truly

exciting to hear the ideas of staff from

various departments (teachers, social worker,

support teachers); how they thought we could

move our idea of mentoring and connecting

with students forward. As we’ve moved

through the year, watching our project leader

really become a true leader in our school, and

champion for this project, has been refreshing

and impacted our school in a very positive way.”

Allison Slade is a Teach For

America alumna and Summer

Design Program participant.

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

Total Students

Low Income

Hispanic

African American

479

84.6%

85.6%

4.2%

LOCATION Namaste

CONNECTION TO THE FUND

11

The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund) is a nonprofit

organization dedicated to world-class public schools for all of

Chicago’s children. We invest in talented principals and enable

effective educator teams to reinvent classroom learning. The

Fund is a longstanding catalyst for identifying what works and for

accelerating positive learning and life outcomes for students in all

of Chicago’s charter and district public schools.

For more than a decade, our investments have introduced us to the

dedicated individuals and organizations growing great public schools

across our city. We invite you to learn more by visiting our partner

schools, deepening your understanding of our model and investing in

Fund 4. Please visit our website at www.thefundchicago.org or email

us at info@thefundchicago.org.

On behalf of The Chicago Public Education Fund, thank you for your

interest, support and commitment to Chicago’s children.

ABOUT THE FUND

LEARN MORE

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