CPS Staffing Progress: Up by Nearly 7,000 School-Based Staff Members Since 2019
Chicago Public Schools has significantly increased staffing across most District-run schools, a key strategy to ensure every child has access to high-quality public education. In fact, CPS now has more licensed educators in front of students than ever before, with nearly 7,000 more staff in schools across the District than in 2019.
The CPS staffing investments are integral to building on the momentum of the District’s academic recovery work of the past couple years in which CPS stands as a national leader, ranking #1 in literacy growth and #3 in combined literacy and math growth in 2023 among 40 large urban districts across the country, according to the research undertaken by Harvard and Stanford Universities for the Education Recovery Scorecard and analysis done through the Council on Great City Schools. Preliminary 2024 state assessment data show CPS continued to make academic gains.
The District’s strong staffing investments support the new five-year strategic plan, Success 2029: Together We Rise, approved unanimously in September 2024 by the Chicago Board of Education.
Key Stats (9/30/2019 vs 9/23/2024):
Explore at the School Level
The Dashboard on this page offers a detailed overview of the District’s staffing progress and changes since 2019. Search school by name or click on the interactive map and find the staffing updates for each school across the system. A District analysis shows that 83 percent of CPS schools have seen staffing increases since 2019. For those that did not see an increase in staff, it is likely due to two factors: a significant decline in student enrollment overall and/or a change in programming at the school that might serve a special population such as English Learners, students with disabilities, or preschoolers.
Importantly, the Dashboard also showcases the student-teacher ratio for each school which shows that even in schools that lost staff positions, the student-teacher ratio is smaller. Since 2019, the increased staffing subsequently dropped the average student-to-teacher ratio in schools from 14:1 to 12:1. 92 percent of schools improved their student-to-teacher ratio and 94 percent of schools improved their student-to-staff ratio, meaning teachers and staff can spend more time with each child.
Student-to-teacher ratios are not the same as “average class size” but refer to the total number of students divided by the number of teachers. Some teachers, such as a drama teacher, for example, may not be assigned a classroom while other teachers, such as a special education teacher, may work with a limited number of students.