- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Janice Jackson
Janice Jackson
Former Chief Executive Officer for Chicago Public Schools, the Third-Largest School District in the U.S.
As the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Dr. Janice K. Jackson leads the nation’s third-largest school district with a budget of $7B serving over 340,000 students. With over 16 years of executive experience, Dr. Jackson is a transformational and strategic leader with a track record of improving academic outcomes in urban school systems, new school design, operational execution and leadership and organizational change. Dr. Jackson has extensive skills and expertise in change management, communications, crisis management, labor management and negotiations and risk management and mitigation. Adept in leading and managing through crisis and dynamic change, in 2018 Dr. Jackson led the first of its kind Enterprise Risk Management assessment for CPS leading to dramatic improvements in daily operations, audit reviews, public relations and overall performance. In addition, Dr. Jackson has expertise in talent acquisition, development, and retention and is recognized as a local and national policy influencer.
Dr. Jackson is a 2007 Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago. She serves on multiple non-profit boards, including the Council of Great City Schools, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), Junior Achievement and Thrive Chicago. In these roles, Dr. Jackson has served on numerous Audit, Recruitment and Selection Committees, and a Volunteer Committee.
Dr. Jackson directly oversees a $7 billion budget and manages the entire operations for an organization with over 45,000 employees. Jackson has negotiated several contracts with multi-labor unions totaling ~$2B during her tenure. Dr. Jackson is a leader in innovation and possesses a gift for vision and strategy. She created a progressive five-year strategic plan with ambitious organizational goals. As CEO, she has led several major enterprise information system overhauls to ensure efficiency, increase productivity and accountability while also protecting the organization by implementing the leading best practices in cybersecurity.
Most recently, Dr. Jackson worked in partnership with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union, local elected officials, Chicago Department of Public Health and a host of city agencies in response to the global pandemic. Dr. Jackson launched a comprehensive reopening framework that included health and safety protocols, remote learning guidelines, and support resources. Her collaborative efforts and forward-thinking has positioned the school district to navigate smartly through the human and educational challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Jackson is a highly regarded public speaker and thought leader in the field of education policy and leadership. In addition to a wide array of authentic and long-term relationships with local and national lawmakers, she has delivered passionate testimony regarding the negative impact of gun violence and poverty on children’s ability to learn on Capitol Hill. She has delivered testimony at the local and federal level to influence policy on a variety of educational policy issues. As district leader she has been hugely instrumental in advocating for evidence-based funding for CPS and worked closely with elected officials to sign into law the landmark Evidence-Based Funding for the Student Success Act. Dr. Jackson’s leadership and track record have been leveraged in building a national multi-media marketing strategy.
Although Dr. Jackson has spent her entire professional career in CPS, she has been able to be entrepreneurial and bring about drastic change in a complex system. Prior to her recent executive roles, she founded and led two successful Chicago public high schools. Both institutions exceeded district averages across multiple performance indicators.
She holds two degrees from Chicago State University and advanced degrees from University of Illinois Chicago which include a Master's in Leadership and Administration and a Doctorate in Education in Policy Studies in Urban School Leadership. Dr. Jackson resides on the south side of Chicago with her husband, Torrence and two children.
Seminars
“The Chicago Story: Lessons from the Field”
In these seminars, we will examine the most topical and sometimes controversial policy and operational issues facing urban public education systems today. In addition to examining trends and policies nationally, we will focus on Chicago Public Schools as an exemplar and case study as we examine the intersection of race and class within the context of policy formulation and implementation, reform and advocacy.
In 2017, Professor Sean Reardon of Stanford University's Center for Education Policy Analysis noted that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students scored in the 96th percentile for academic growth after conducting a meta-analysis of every public school system in the nation. This study found that students in CPS grew a total of six years in five years from grades 3rd-8th. Similarly, CPS has been recognized by the National Center for Education Statistics for marked improvement in English Language Arts and Math on the National Educational Attainment Progress (NAEP). This, coupled with record-breaking graduation rates and improvements in a myriad of other metrics, has positioned CPS as one of the fastest-improving large urban school systems. This data is in the public domain, yet many people are simply unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the progress. This begs the questions, "Why is it so hard to believe? Does the demographic make-up of CPS make it difficult to buy into the story of progress? Does CPS's history and reputation make it difficult? How do we explain the progress that CPS has made? What does the future hold?” In this session, we will review the district's 5-year vision and explore the initiatives and efforts that have led to these improvements.
On March 16, 2020 we closed CPS schools for two weeks that eventually led to closures for over 14 months due to the pandemic. Many school systems were unprepared for this seismic shift. Luckily, the entire world experienced a similar shift. In turn, school districts shifted to support students and families to provide education and many of the social safety nets that schools offer to families. In this session, we will examine the operational best practices that were deployed to provide nutrition, technological support and continue to innovate during a crisis. We will examine the role of crisis management and effective communication. To best understand what we gained and what we lost, we will spend time understanding the exceptionally challenging political climate that many superintendents managed that led to widespread resignations immediately following the first full year of the pandemic. Finally, we will examine the role that federal, state and local leadership played in the way schooling occurred during the pandemic and identify ways that we can do better if faced with a similar situation in the future.
As America grapples with the reckoning that occurred after the murder of George Floyd, we have witnessed an exponential increase in the number of organizations publishing equity statements and committing to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) reform initiatives. School systems have experienced similar trends. The truth is equity is easier discussed than implemented. In this session, we examine a few concrete examples of ways that Chicago Public Schools have operationalized equity in large urban school systems. We will examine the effectiveness of initiatives such as equity offices, policy reform, anti-bias training, Skyline, critical race theory and more.
Special Guest: Maurice Swinney, Chief Equity Officer of Chicago Public Schools
On June 1, 2021 the Illinois Senate approved an amendment to HB2908 authorizing a 21-member elected school board for Chicago Public Schools. HB2908 enjoyed high levels of support from the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) who openly lobbied for this change in legislation. Many proponents of an ESB believe this will result in more transparency and even greater democracy in decision-making in CPS. Proponents of mayoral control will cite the progress that has been made in large districts like CPS as evidence of the efficacy of this model. During the pandemic, the debate over the role of parents in public education was heightened. Many districts saw protracted debates and standoffs between the boards, district managers, parents, and the public. As we reflect on the debate to reopen schools during the pandemic, whose voice should have guided the decision to reopen schools? What role did race and socioeconomic status play in who was educated in-person or remotely? In this session, we examine the history of school governance in Chicago with a focus on the current advocacy for an elected school board. We will also discuss the governance models in other large cities in an effort to identify pitfalls to avoid and best practices to implement. Finally, who should really govern schools? Does an elected school board give too much power to unions and special interest groups?
In August 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law Public Act 100-0465 or the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act. This law enacted evidence-based funding (EBF) where the State sends more resources to Illinois’ most under-resourced students. Despite this effort, Illinois schools are amongst the worst-funded schools in the country based on Ed Trust's data, which ranks Illinois 49th for overall funding for public education and 47th for funding to support the most economically disadvantaged schools. If this is the case, why is the debate more focused on how limited funds are allocated in one district when the focus should be on why students in Illinois, especially Chicago, are funded at such a disproportionately rate? This session will be a workshop that allows participants to conduct a deep dive into school funding models and create proposals for ways in which we can increase funding for public schools.
Special Guest: Robin Steans, CEO of Advanced Illinois
Suggested Reading:
On March 16, 2020 we closed CPS schools for two weeks that eventually led to closures for over 14 months due to the pandemic. During that period, the state of public education and the operations of the system were under a microscope. As we emerge from the pandemic, there are a few key factors that should shape public education in a post-pandemic environment. In this session, we will examine those factors and discuss how school systems and cities might redesign learning in a post-pandemic environment. We will look at the role of technology and education tech solutions in education, as well as explore the myriad learning options that now exist for schooling. How many students will return? How does what we teach change as a result? When will we have universal access to broadband, high-speed internet?
Special Guest: Pedro Martinez, CEO of Chicago Public Schools
CPS has enacted a flurry of reforms that have led to a reduced number of students suspended, expelled and arrested. Yet disparities still exist between race and gender. In recent years, there has been a clarion call to dismantle the policies, systems and positions in schools that sustain the pipeline. If we know that zero-tolerance policies and the presence of school resource officers could potentially have adverse effects on students, why is it so difficult to move beyond these practices and structures? What efforts have been employed to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and where can we do more?
Special Guests: Shantel Meek, Professor of Practice and Founding Director of the Children's Equity Project at Arizona State University; Kayla Patrick, Senior P-12 Policy Analyst at The Education Trust; and Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Associate Professor of History at the University of Illinois Chicago
In this session, I will examine the history of school choice in Chicago by highlighting the successes and unintended outcomes that have occurred as a result. We will also examine the national debate on initiatives such as vouchers, charters and selective enrollment programs. We will discuss the issues associated with these programs but also why there is a discrepancy in who gets to have a choice in the schooling. Finally, we will examine this through the lens of racial integration in schools. The question is whether choice programs increase ethical and racial diversity in schools? If it does, at what cost?
Special Guests: Brenda Cassellius, Superintendent of Boston Public Schools; Tony Howard, Executive Director of Policy at Chicago Public Schools; and Stefan Lallinger, Senior Fellow and Director of The Century Foundation's Bridges Collaborative