HYDE PARK — The University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute has picked one of its own for its new CEO.
The institute is promoting Tanika Island Childress to run the system’s four charter schools.
Childress most recently served as director of the institute’s urban teacher education program and has spent the last 16 years working for the institute.
“I have big ambitions for UChicago charter school students, which begin and end with my belief in their ability to learn, grow and succeed,” Island Childress said in an announcement of the move. “I hope to change the lives of many Chicago students by building on the UChicago charter school’s strong culture of belief in students’ capabilities and tradition of teacher learning and accountability grounded in research and data.”
Island Childress replaces Shayne Evans, who announced earlier this year he was leaving with former institute Chairman Timothy Knowles to launch the Academy Group, an enterprise that prepares kids from poor communities to work in business.
