Maureen Kelleher
@maureenkelleher.bsky.social
Freelance education writer. Previously Editorial Director, Future Ed at Georgetown. Selected priors: EdPost, The Chicago Reporter. Former high school teacher. Mom.
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
I had fun reading to some Burke Elementary students at the Chicago Public Library today. When the Obama Presidential Center opens next year, we’ll have a new branch of the library for the community to enjoy.
December 10, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I had fun reading to some Burke Elementary students at the Chicago Public Library today. When the Obama Presidential Center opens next year, we’ll have a new branch of the library for the community to enjoy.
In this week's Board Rule: UChicago Consortiums's Elaine Allenswort talks about data that matters for school improvement (hint: don't start with test scores), and Jenny Nagaoka discusses 20 years of effort to increase college enrollment. board-rule.ghost.io/the-data-iss...
The Data Issue: School Improvement, College Success
The UChicago Consortium on School Research has been helping Chicago Public Schools use data to improve for decades. Director Elaine Allensworth's new book shows schools how to pick metrics that matter...
board-rule.ghost.io
December 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
In this week's Board Rule: UChicago Consortiums's Elaine Allenswort talks about data that matters for school improvement (hint: don't start with test scores), and Jenny Nagaoka discusses 20 years of effort to increase college enrollment. board-rule.ghost.io/the-data-iss...
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Every legal story now is either
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
October 3, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Every legal story now is either
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Ancient Circuit Judge Delivers Crystal Clear 100 Page Rebuke To Trumpist Overreach
or
In Unsigned Shadow Docket Decision, 6-3 Majority Declares Trump Can Hunt People For Sport
Fact-checking DHS activity in Chicago. Good work Axios: www.axios.com/local/chicag...
12 disputed DHS claims overturned by video or federal courts
DHS officials' statements about Operation Midway Blitz often fell apart under scrutiny.
www.axios.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Fact-checking DHS activity in Chicago. Good work Axios: www.axios.com/local/chicag...
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Arizona education standards could lose DEI language after a state board vote prompted by Superintendent Tom Horne, who says federal funding is at risk. Here’s what happened ➡️ azluminaria.org/2025/12/08/a...
Arizona State Board of Education moves to strip DEI language from teaching standards - AZ Luminaria
The Arizona State Board of Education voted Monday to review the state’s teaching standards, potentially removing diversity, equity and inclusion language. Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne proposed the...
azluminaria.org
December 8, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Arizona education standards could lose DEI language after a state board vote prompted by Superintendent Tom Horne, who says federal funding is at risk. Here’s what happened ➡️ azluminaria.org/2025/12/08/a...
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
"This constant fundraising diverts enormous time and energy away from the actual work of governing. But the damage is deeper. It filters for a specific personality type: not necessarily the most thoughtful public servant but the one most comfortable with relentless solicitation."
Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:
Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse.
Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:27 AM
"This constant fundraising diverts enormous time and energy away from the actual work of governing. But the damage is deeper. It filters for a specific personality type: not necessarily the most thoughtful public servant but the one most comfortable with relentless solicitation."
Chicago, here's your new winter hobby--just admiring this...
My enhanced plow tracker is almost done, but there are some improvements i want to add (mostly filtering by street, time since last update, vehicle information, etc...but also just making everything look a bit nicer) Check it out! plows.pgm.sh
Chicago Snowplows
plows.pgm.sh
December 2, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Chicago, here's your new winter hobby--just admiring this...
Best five minutes of your day!
Thanks to Sesame Street, we have a Knives Out puppet mystery.
Benoit Blanc Gets Puppety in KNIVES OUT x SESAME STREET Short
nerdist.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Best five minutes of your day!
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Northwestern University's law school is named after the Pritzkers. @jbpritzker.bsky.social you going to do anything about this?
Among the provisions are ones agreeing to the Trump administration's definition of sex as "biological sex" and agreeing "not perform hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries ... on any individual under the age of 18 years old, effective immediately."
November 29, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Northwestern University's law school is named after the Pritzkers. @jbpritzker.bsky.social you going to do anything about this?
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
The legal, media, and academic institutions capitulating to an authoritarian ordering payments for favorable treatment are damning themselves to irrelevance. They are destroying their institutions. They will be — and should be — shunned for failing in their most basic purposes for existing.
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 1:37 AM
The legal, media, and academic institutions capitulating to an authoritarian ordering payments for favorable treatment are damning themselves to irrelevance. They are destroying their institutions. They will be — and should be — shunned for failing in their most basic purposes for existing.
This is an excellent question...
How the fuck does NU let a half-mummified interim president make deals with the federal government that people are going to have to live with for years, if not decades
December 2, 2025 at 6:27 AM
This is an excellent question...
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
the batshit American government is forcing children’s book publishers to put out the absolute wildest statements
December 2, 2025 at 4:45 AM
the batshit American government is forcing children’s book publishers to put out the absolute wildest statements
Lots of interesting food for thought here, Chicago ed-nerds!
i am looking at chicago public schools student enrollment data, something that strikes me with a dataset that is 24 years worth of data is you can really see the rise of charter schools and selective enrollment high schools
the neighborhood high schools really became churn factories
for example
the neighborhood high schools really became churn factories
for example
my favorite data files in Chicago is called the tarantula file 🕷️
it's a file that chicago public schools made to understand how many kids live inside a school attendance boundary, how many attend that school + how many come from outside a boundary
form follows function, buildings follow kids
it's a file that chicago public schools made to understand how many kids live inside a school attendance boundary, how many attend that school + how many come from outside a boundary
form follows function, buildings follow kids
December 2, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Lots of interesting food for thought here, Chicago ed-nerds!
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
For some reason Democratic leaders seem to prefer telling voters what they won’t be able to do, rather than what they’d like to do.
If Hegseth ordered a war crime and lied about it, shouldn’t Ds try for impeachment? Put Rs on the spot. They might get a few defections.
www.axios.com/2025/12/01/j...
If Hegseth ordered a war crime and lied about it, shouldn’t Ds try for impeachment? Put Rs on the spot. They might get a few defections.
www.axios.com/2025/12/01/j...
Jeffries says not to expect Democrats to pursue Hegseth impeachment over boat strikes
"Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor," he said.
www.axios.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:30 AM
For some reason Democratic leaders seem to prefer telling voters what they won’t be able to do, rather than what they’d like to do.
If Hegseth ordered a war crime and lied about it, shouldn’t Ds try for impeachment? Put Rs on the spot. They might get a few defections.
www.axios.com/2025/12/01/j...
If Hegseth ordered a war crime and lied about it, shouldn’t Ds try for impeachment? Put Rs on the spot. They might get a few defections.
www.axios.com/2025/12/01/j...
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
They’re going to take anyone they can get their hands on. They’re evil, folks!
"They had submitted extensive paperwork and paid fees. The foreign spouses had been fingerprinted and passed medical exams. None had criminal records. None had entered the country illegally. They had already been granted employment authorization." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:55 AM
They’re going to take anyone they can get their hands on. They’re evil, folks!
I'm of roughly the same vintage. Just here to say, yes to all this, and the word was out about profs who harassed young men, too.
In honor of Larry Summers, I asked the female members of my college class (1987) to say if they had any experiences with sexual harassment by teachers/professors, back when this was tolerated as, I dunno, the cost of attending college, and OH MY GOD.
November 22, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I'm of roughly the same vintage. Just here to say, yes to all this, and the word was out about profs who harassed young men, too.
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
BREAKING: Judge Cobb rules that the Pentagon's National Guard deployment into D.C. was illegal.
However, she has stayed the effect of her order until Dec. 11 to prevent disorder while the matter is under appeal.
ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
However, she has stayed the effect of her order until Dec. 11 to prevent disorder while the matter is under appeal.
ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
November 20, 2025 at 7:50 PM
BREAKING: Judge Cobb rules that the Pentagon's National Guard deployment into D.C. was illegal.
However, she has stayed the effect of her order until Dec. 11 to prevent disorder while the matter is under appeal.
ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
However, she has stayed the effect of her order until Dec. 11 to prevent disorder while the matter is under appeal.
ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
School co-locations haven't gotten a ton of traction in Chicago, but more may be on the way as Chicago Public Schools faces declining enrollment. The latest proposal on the table is not beloved by either school community involved: board-rule.ghost.io/cps-proposes...
CPS Proposes Cisneros Relocate to Shields Elementary
Chicago Public Schools has proposed to colocate Acero Schools Cisneros with Shields Elementary. Neither school community appeard to welcome this idea.
board-rule.ghost.io
November 19, 2025 at 4:14 PM
School co-locations haven't gotten a ton of traction in Chicago, but more may be on the way as Chicago Public Schools faces declining enrollment. The latest proposal on the table is not beloved by either school community involved: board-rule.ghost.io/cps-proposes...
My only quibble with @bethhawkins.bsky.social excellent summary is that not only did the mom unwittingly shoot herself in the foot, the system has quite wittingly not given a care about families who have the misfortune to arrive in Chicago in the second half or summer of every school year.
Here is your lunchtime read, courtesy of @maureenkelleher.bsky.social Board Rule. It made me smarter X2. Seems perhaps Chicago's hybrid elected/appointed board might be torpedoing its own super search? 🤯
Also, how the mother of a 2E 8th grader unwittingly shot herself in the foot re enrollment.
Also, how the mother of a 2E 8th grader unwittingly shot herself in the foot re enrollment.
Super Search in Shambles
After a carefully-crafted, months-long search process, last-minute leaks and unresolved legal questions about hiring authority may have derailed the search for Chicago's next school district leader.
board-rule.ghost.io
November 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
My only quibble with @bethhawkins.bsky.social excellent summary is that not only did the mom unwittingly shoot herself in the foot, the system has quite wittingly not given a care about families who have the misfortune to arrive in Chicago in the second half or summer of every school year.
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Anyway a great way to radicalize people is for them to realize that you just abandoned their chance at being able to access and afford health care because you didn’t like waiting in line at the airport.
November 10, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Anyway a great way to radicalize people is for them to realize that you just abandoned their chance at being able to access and afford health care because you didn’t like waiting in line at the airport.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
November 10, 2025 at 5:11 AM
I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
Reposted by Maureen Kelleher
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
The valiant never taste of death but once.
November 10, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
The valiant never taste of death but once.