Christopher House CEO Lori Baas Named Ed Tech Leadership Award Finalist
Award honors Christopher House's top executive as one of the nation's top educators in the edtech space
CHICAGO, May 19, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Christopher House, a family of schools working to close opportunity gaps and lift low-income families out of poverty through a continuum of personalized education and immersive family supports, is proud to announce that Chief Executive Officer Lori Baas has been named a finalist for the 2020 Ed Tech Leadership Awards in the CEO/Founder Category. The nationally respected Ed Tech Awards are the largest and most competitive recognition program in the industry focused on identifying the most influential actors in edtech each year.
Baas was recognized for her leadership in the creation of the Chicago Benchmarking Collaborative (CBC), an organization that brings together top nonprofits serving children and families in some of Chicago's most high-need neighborhoods. The CBC engages seven partner agencies, impacting more than 12,000 Chicago residents. Collaborating partners track a set of common outcomes in areas of early childhood, after school, youth and parent engagement to improve program effectiveness and create efficiencies for each organization. Among the partner organizations, 73% have seen an increase in results through the CBC's sharing of data and best practices. 77% of data-driven goals set by the agencies were met or exceeded. Christopher House serves as the project manager of the Collaborative.
"Every day over the last 18 years that I have served as CEO of Christopher House, I have proudly worked to develop leaders and high-impact staff who use data and technology to support classroom and home environments in which our scholars can thrive," said Lori Baas, CEO Christopher House. "I'm grateful to be recognized for our work and it is an honor to be in the company of so many incredible leaders in this space."
Under Baas' leadership, Christopher House has streamlined operations across the family of schools and led to successful impacts on scholars and their families. In the 2018-19 school year, 86% of pre-school scholars displayed the skills and knowledge that demonstrates readiness for kindergarten — 4 times the rate for low-income children in Illinois. Christopher House Elementary School was also named #1 charter school by Chicago Magazine in 2018 and ranked in the top category in all areas of the University of Chicago's 5Essentials Survey.
Baas is responsible for all of Christopher House's programs and services, including overseeing all the agency's locations on Chicago's north and west sides. Since assuming the organization's top leadership position in 2002, she has guided Christopher House through an intensive strategic planning process. By implementing a new agency-wide program evaluation process and redefining the organization's vision and purpose, she has helped to raise the bar for how non-profit organizations serve low income families.
Christopher House operates three schools - a flagship school in Belmont-Cragin, offering Christopher House's full birth through eighth grade continuum along with parent education and support services. And they also operate schools in Uptown and Logan Square offering early childhood education, after school services, and full immersive family supports. Their most recent expansion is the JoAnne L. Cicchelli Middle School - to serve 6th - 8th graders at the Belmont-Cragin campus.
About Christopher House
Christopher House is a family of schools working to close the opportunity gap for low-income children and their families from birth through high school to pursue success in school, the workplace, and life. Christopher House's renowned continuum of education engages the entire family and works to break the cycle of poverty.
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SOURCE Christopher House
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