U of C Professor Is No. 2 at CPS

Thelma Sardin |

On Friday, Charles M. Payne, Ph.D. was named the Chicago Public Schools new interim chief education officer. He and succeeds Dr. Barbara Eason Watkins who held the post beginning in 2001 and left this past June for a superintendent post with the Michigan City, Ind., public schools.

With a new mayor and CPS chief executive officer (CEO) imminent in the next few months, Payne is on loan from the University of Chicago (U of C) where he is a professor.

CPS Interim CEO Terry Mazany said the announcement comes at a critical time when the districts top priority is to continue to advance the quality of instruction across all schools in the district.

Payne has more than 20 years of higher education experience and serves as the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor in the School of Social Service Administration at the U of C.

Additionally, Payne is affiliated with the U of Cs Urban Education Institute (UEI), which has a long history of doing research on Chicago Public Schools, as well as preparing teachers and developing new approaches to help improve education in urban areas. Scholars from UEI have held a number of important advisory and leadership roles for CPS, according to a recent CPS press release.

Paynes job will consist of creating a new education design for CPS. "We can begin to vet and explore some ideas that may help the next mayor or next chief executive officer get off to a faster start," Payne said. "We can do some work so they don't have to repeat that."

He is also quick to say that teaching is not a part of his mission. "My job is to facilitate writing an education plan, he said.

The announcement was made at Fiske Elementary School located 6145 S. Ingleside where Payne has worked extensively with the Woodlawn Childrens Promise Zone. According to the release, Fiske Elementary School is one of several schools in the Woodlawn community that focuses on cultivating the academic levels of a childs life.

I believe that Charles Payne will strengthen the districts commitment to teaching excellence and practices in our schools and classrooms that support parents, students, teachers and educational programs, said Mazany.

Paynes bachelors degree is in African American studies from Syracuse University and he holds a doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University.

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