Proposed requirement beforehanding graduates in chicago their high school diplomas. Introductions under way. Welcome to the National Press club. The place where news happens. My name is andrea. Im part of the breaking newsdesk at Bloomberg News and im Vice President of the National Press club. Before we get started, id like to remind everyone again please in our audience to please silence your telephones. Our viewing and listening audience, feel free to also follow along on twitter using the hash tag press club. For our cspan and public radio audiences, please be aware in our audience today are members of the general public. So any applause or reaction that you may hear is not necessarily a reaction of the working press. Now id like to introduce our head table. Please hold your applause until each head table member has been introduced. Head table participants stand up when i say your name. We have jamal abdul alim, senior staff writer of diverse issues and Higher Education. We have jerry weller, former u. S. Representative from illinois 11th district and president of the Illinois State society in washington. We have mike henpin supervisor for a. T. Radio here in washington, d. C. We have tony tran, star scholar, graduate of the harry s. Truman college in chicago and an incoming northwestern student who is planning to study neuro science. We have katherine skiba, washington correspondent for the chicago tribune. We have amannedo rodriguez, president of the sarae good Stem Academy High School in chicago. We have lisa mathews, Vice President media relations, hager sharp and coleader of the npc head liners team. Were going to skip over our uest speaker for a moment. We have lynn suite, Washington Bureau chief of the chicago suntimes. We have dr. Gregory jones, principal at kenwood Academy High School . Chicago. We have bob weiner, president of weiner public news, oped columnist, and the n. P. C. Headliners team member who helped organize todays luncheon. We have Michael Smith c. E. O. Of green smith Public Affairs and contributor to campaigns and elections magazine. We have caroline hendry, executive director of the education writers association. Thank you for joining us today. [applause] id also like to acknowledge additional members of the Headliners Team responsible for organizing todays events. Betsy fisher martin, lawrie russo, kristen trinski, eleanor herman, and press club staff liaison, lindsay underwood. Thank youall. [applause] long before todays guest became a politician, he attended Sara Lawrence college. He spent his first two years there studying to become a preschool teacher. At college, before politics, and long before he was president Barack Obamas chief of staff, chicago mayor rahm emanuel taught preschool. Mayor emanuels will have of education followed him throughout his love of education followed him throughout his career. In his tenure at chicagos mayor or he oversees the Third LargestSchool System in the United States. Hes credited with adding more than 200 hours to the school year, taking chicago from having the least educational time of any Large School District in the country to being on par with its peers. E implemented full day kindergarten for every chicago child and fought for and won new accountability measures. During his tenure, the district wide Chicago PublicSchool SystemGraduation Rate has grown by 16 percentage points, more than three times the National Average for growth. And mayor emanuel made chicago the first city in the country to offer Free Community college for all High School Graduates who earn a b average or better. Chicago, change hasnt been easy for this big city mayor. Early in his first term chicago endured an historic teacher strike and the state budget impasse now entering its third year has had a devastating Financial Impact on chicagos schools. He has also had to confront his citys persistent gun violence and grapple with how to run a Police Department facing questions about its treatment of africanamericans. Even with these challenges, the mayor, or rahmbo, which hes known in some circles because of his tenacity and intensity, the mayor has kept a steady eye on education. This year mayor emanuel introduced a plan called moving forward in chicago. Youth graduation is not an end point but pathway to further education and employment. Mayor emanuels initiative will require High School Seniors to provide proof of college or trade school acceptance, a job offer, for military service in order to graduate. This starts in 2020. The atlantic calls plans like the mayors a Seismic Shift in american education. Rahm emanuel served as a Senior Advisor to president bill clinton in 1993. In two he was elected to illinois in 2002 he was elected to illinois fifth congressional district. He served as president obamas chief of staff from 2008 to 2010. A year later he became chicagos mayor and was reelected to that post in 2015. Of course education is not the only issue that mayor emanuel has faced while overseeing the nations Third Largest city. We look forward to hearing him address other matters as well as he works to move the windy city forward. Please join me in welcoming chicago mayor rahm emanuel to the National Press club. [applause] mayor emanuel i just want to know i started this job 62, 250 pounds, now im 58, and 148 after hearing that. Thank you for that introduction. A little over 30 years ago secretary William Bennett of education for Ronald Reagan called the Chicago PublicSchool System the worst public School System in the United States of america. Let me give you the results today. Our Graduation Rate when i first became mayor was 57 . And our freshman on track is for 87 . A growth of 52 . Second, our a. C. T. Scores after being flat are up over the last five years, 1. 2 . Third, 42 of all our students today graduate with College Credit. While 85 of our kids are at or below the Poverty Level as defined by the federal United States government, 42 of our kids go on and accept to college equal to the United States of america, trust me our demographics is not the United States of america. Another 21 go on to Community Colleges where the rate is 22 nationally. So even though the demographics for the city of chicago is different, we match the United States of kids going from high school to college and Community College. Hird, our eighth graders led the United States in math. Our fourth graders were third in overall reading gains. There were only three School Districts in the entire United States of america whose math and readings for fourth and eight graders went up, cleveland, washington, d. C. , and the city of chicago. Every measure of the city of chicagos educational gains are going in the right direction. Our Graduation Rate for the last five years, every year, was triple the National Average. So if William Bennett could get through t. S. A. , i would like him come back to the city of chicago and see whats happening. Every measure on high school, College Acceptance, college attendance, as well as in reading and math scores at fourth and eighth grade levels, chicago is exceeding the norm of the United States progress. While the demographics of the city of chicago students are not the norm for the United States of america. Now, some of the things that were noted earlier point to that direction of what was happening. When i became mayor, half our kids had a full school day half our kids had a full day of kindergarten, half did not. If you looked at the math the ones getting a full day deserved a full day and the ones getting a half day needed a full day. It was not determined upon the fact you should have a parent lobbying on your childs behalf for kindergarten. Every child in the city of chicago today has a full day of kindergarten. We have had a 60 increase in our prek, full day, for all our children. We ran the first race to the top for our Early Childhood so parents can compare educational models of Early Childhood education, and we have dramatically also increased the funding for full day prek in the city of chicago for all 4yearolds. The reason is you can see all the data, full day prek what it does for kindergarten, kindergarten what it does for first grade and on. I have a fundamental view shared by our schools that kids drop out of college this in third grade. They do not drop out freshman year. If they are not reading and doing math at third grade level in third grade, its not like fourth grade is easier. What chicago is now expanding upon is i do not believe that the kinder guardent through 12th grade model ising an anachronism from the 20th crentry. Were going from a prek to college model. I have told you a couple things we have done on the earlier side. Universal full day kindergarten, a race to the top model for prek, 60 increase for full day prek. One of the online portals that is now being praised by the United States government for its ability of transparency and parents to evaluate quality, we give quality scores on Early Childhood providers. I have and with me, so i understand, on the other side, the high school and Post High School because were in the process of a major reinvention of our High School Education and what it prepares for. I just finished graduation,dy about five or six different schools. Of chicago. Ty Crane High School, which is on the west side, medical district, rush Presbyterian Hospital and another hospital, cook county hospital. Crane high school, which is on the west side, 100 College Acceptance. All the way on the far south side in the roseland community, 100 College Acceptance. Chicago bulls noble charter, 100 chicago acceptance. We have with us armando from sara good, a ptech School Associated with i. B. M. I. B. M. To graduate they have a little over 90 of their students have graduated, seven of their students have graduated with their Associates Degree in hand. They have won over 4. 4 million in scholarships. For their students. And all of them are going on to Post High School education to college. Thats on the far south side. I have also Gregory Jones from kenwood, kenwood is also on the south side of the city of chicago. Just north of the university of chicago. 94 of their freshmen are on track to graduate. More than half the students are earning College Credit while they are in high school. He said to me, 72 . They earned this year 35 million in scholarships. At their school. They have the largest dual credit, dual enrollment in the city of chicago. Now, what were about and what were trying to do is take our high school graduation, which was at 57 , by the class of 019, were on track for 87 . 52 growth rate. Triple the National Average. We have a series of things were doing to ensure that every child is College Ready and college bound. We live in a period of time where you earn what you learn. You get a High School Degree, thats probably going to be your income. You earn a twoyear associate degree, you earn a college degree, you earn a post doctorate degree, we live in a period we earn what you learn. The question in front of me as mayor, in front of the principals that are here is what are we doing to better prepare our students for that economy. Over 60 of all future job openings will require a minimum of two years Post High School education. We all know this. Its studied ad nauseam which is a High School Degree is not ready for the 21st century economy. Yet every educational model at the urban level, i dont care where you are, is in the 20th century prism of time. K through 12. Prek through college model. First and foremost, while you are in high school we have the Largest InternationalBaccalaureate Program in the United States of america. And its fancy way of saying a liberal arts education. We have more desires now for people to get have schools become i. B. In chicago than we can keep up with. Because when you take that test you already graduate with College Credit under your belt. Your parents dont have to pay for it and you are better prepared for college. Second, dual creditdual enrollment. The chicago Community College city in our city, mayoral directed, the second largest in the United States of america. So we when i became mayor there was about 400 to 600 students in dual creditdual encontrolment, today were north of 4,000. Kids are already graduating not only high school, getting a High School Degree, they are graduating with College Credits under their belt. In fact, at kenwood, greg has more students involved in that dual creditdual enrollment than any of our high schools, over 110 of them. They are not only graduating with High School Degrees, they have College Credit under their belt. Third, advanced placements. We have one of the largest programs by data points i think its 60 increase in people passing that test. So the dual credit, dual enrollment, International Baccalaureate, as well as a. P. , advance the placement, were ensuring that the kids in the ity of chicago graduate with College Credits already under their belt, and unless your parents went to school, the College Experience under their belt. And i cant say enough about what that means for kids who with any our children are not only kids of color but kids who are at or below the Poverty Level. They are not only getting College Credit, they are getting that College Experience. So that first six months, they are familiar with it and familiar with the rigor of that effort today right now in the city of chicago, 42 of all our children not only go to college, college raduate with credit underneath their experience at high school. We set a goal by 2018 to grow that to 50 . At armandos school, which we have four of them at that level, they are not only doing high school, he has seven graduates as i mentioned that graduate not only with a High School Degree just last week, seven have graduated with an associate degree already under their belt. Done. Free. Have i mentioned free yet . Parents dont have to pay for it. In the same way that gregs class, 72 graduating with College Credit. Free. Its a big challenge, which is we all know is cost for Higher Education, chicagos got a model in which every child regardless of income, zip code, background can graduate with College Credit under their belt, free. Where cost is not the prohibitive factor. I do not believe parents should take a second job or mortgage to give their kids a shot at the american dr