End of Week Message: CPS Enrollment and Attendance Both on the Rise
27 September 2024
Dear CPS Colleagues, Families, and Supporters,
As we continue our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, I hope you’ve had the chance to follow our social media series highlighting the culture and identity of CPS leaders like Anna Vilchez, the principal of Steinmetz High School, and Disney II Magnet School principal Iliana Rzodkiewicz.
Today, it’s my turn to share my own story of the role cultural heritage has played in the trajectory of my life, and how it has shaped my approach to leading our schools.
Please continue following CPS on social media to see more of these video features throughout Hispanic Heritage Month.
Celebrating Positive Enrollment and Attendance Trends
The school year is only a few weeks old, and already we have exciting data to share!
As of the fifteenth day of classes, our District has enrolled 324,311 students. This is nearly 3,000 more children than were enrolled on our fifteenth day last year.
We are seeing the largest increase in grades K–5, which is similar to what we saw last school year. Pre-k enrollment is up as well, after a dedicated effort to expand early childhood education programs to every neighborhood in the District. Enrollment in grades 6 to 12 also remains largely stable.
What’s really encouraging is that enrollment is up among ALL of our priority groups: students with disabilities, English learners, students in temporary living situations, and economically disadvantaged students.
Attendance is also up among our priority groups when compared with this time last school year. This is important, because we know that attendance can be an indicator of how connected students feel to their school communities. That’s why reducing chronic absenteeism by 15 percent is one of the most important goals we’ve outlined in our District’s new Five-Year Strategic Plan.
We will achieve this by making sure that every student who struggles with attendance receives special intervention from their school. This could come in the form of social-emotional support, or getting students involved in after-school activities to help build their sense of belonging at school.
We are excited by our attendance and enrollment trends so far this school year, and we look forward to sharing more positive District data in the weeks ahead!
Sincerely,
Pedro Martinez
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Public Schools
Help Us Highlight Your School
We love highlighting the amazing things that are happening day-to-day in our schools, along with the people who are making them happen! Please share your stories with us using our Good News Form so that we can share them with the District!
A Look Around the District
In honor of Peace Day, Carroll Rosenwald Elementary, located in the Wrightwood neighborhood, recently held a Peace Walk at school. Students expressed what peace means to them through banners and group projects, which they showed to their community as they walked through the streets of their neighborhood. The school hopes to carry the idea that “Peace Begins with Me,” throughout the school year and beyond.
At Sabin Elementary in Wicker Park, the school community is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with various events, including a special performance by a Mariachi group that kicked off their festivities.
And at Corkery Elementary in Little Village, the school partnered with the non-profit organization, Alliance 98 to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with traditional Latin American food, games, and activities, like a salsa competition, Loteria, and crafts!
GoCPS Application Window Now Open
GoCPS applications are now being accepted for the 2025-26 school year. GoCPS is the District’s platform for helping students and families explore all available academic programs throughout the city. These include neighborhood schools, Magnet programs, Career and Technical Education (CTE) opportunities, and selective enrollment schools.
There are two changes that families should be aware of this year:
- We have moved to a more user-friendly platform, which means that all CPS students/families who previously had a GoCPS account will need to create a new account this school year.
- Similar to our system for high school applications, CPS is now moving to a “single offer” system for our choice elementary schools.
Submit your GoCPS application here by the deadline of Friday, November 15 at 5 p.m.
Hawthorne Scholastic Academy Named a National Blue Ribbon School
Congratulations to Hawthorne Scholastic Academy on being one of just 356 schools in the country to be named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education in 2024. This is a well-deserved honor for the educators, families, and especially the students of Hawthorne, who have achieved an exemplary level of academic excellence in their classrooms.
CPS’ Executive Director of Social-Emotional Learning Honored for Leadership
Dr. Cynthia Treadwell, the District’s Executive Director of Social-Emotional Learning, was honored as a national leader at the 2024 Black SEL Summit. Under her leadership, CPS has maintained its steadfast focus on a healing-centered approach to meeting every student’s social-emotional needs. This includes our commitments to restorative practices, comprehensive social-emotional curricula and resources, and supportive and collaborative school cultures.
Celebrating Peace Day Chicago
Schools across the District are celebrating International Peace Day with community walks, school-wide reflections, and peace promises as a way to unite around the promise of a better future. At Daley Plaza, CEO Pedro Martinez joined CPS schools at the 46th-annual Peace Day Chicago celebration where students enjoyed live world music, cultural performances, and a call and response for world peace.
Celebrating Our Stellar CPS Custodians
The hundreds of custodians currently working in our schools make sure that our students have learning environments that are clean, comfortable, and safe, which we know goes a long way toward helping them succeed! Please be sure to thank your school’s custodians for all they do on Custodian Appreciation Day—Wednesday, October 2!
Help Develop the New CPS Arts Education Plan
We're developing a new plan to advance accessible, equitable, and high-quality arts education — and we need your input. Join us for an in-person roundtable discussion to share your experiences and aspirations for the future of arts education at CPS. Learn more here.
Below are the dates, times, and locations for our upcoming roundtables:
- Wednesday, October 2
5:30–7:30 p.m. | In-person
Kelvyn Park High School
4343 W. Wrightwood Ave. - Monday, October 7
5:30–7:30 p.m. | In-person
Truman College
1145 W. Wilson Ave. - Tuesday, October 8
5:30–7:30 p.m. | In-person
Schurz High School
3601 N. Milwaukee Ave - Wednesday, October 9
12–2 p.m. | Virtual (Link to be sent after registration)
Your participation and insights will help us create a vibrant and inclusive arts education environment for all students in Chicago. If you are interested, please RSVP to secure your spot. We look forward to seeing you at one of the sessions!
CPS Staff: New Process for Requesting Technical Assistance from the Office of Student Health and Wellness
Effective Monday, September 23, the CPS Office of Student Health and Wellness (OSHW) will be transitioning its technical assistance process to ServiceNow. OSHW has worked with ITS to build request forms into the ServiceNow platform, and school leaders and staff will use this system as the main point of contact for OSHW workstreams.
We are confident that this new process will be more efficient, ultimately leading to a response time of less than 48 hours from the team. All OSHW delegated inboxes will have bounceback messaging in them letting the requestor know to use ServiceNow for technical assistance requests.
Please find the Standard Operating Procedure below with a step-by-step guide on how to request services from our office.
- OSHW Technical Assistance Standard Operating Procedure: This resource will give you a list of OSHW workstreams in which you can request Technical Assistance from within ServiceNow. It also gives you a step by step guide on how to make requests via ServiceNow.
- ServiceNow Portal: This is the link to access ServiceNow.
We encourage everyone to use these resources as a tool when making requests via ServiceNow, and thank you for your partnership in helping ensure our CPS communities remain healthy and safe this school year.
Seeking Feedback on Possible Changes to CPS’ Enrollment and Transfer Policy
The CPS Department of Policy is considering some proposed changes to the District’s Enrollment and Transfer Policy. This policy governs how students are enrolled and transferred within CPS schools. You can share your thoughts on the proposed changes by completing this brief survey by Wednesday, October 2. For any questions, please email policy@cps.edu.
Important Dates
For more upcoming events around the District, visit cps.edu/calendar.
- Monday, October 14: CPS schools and offices are closed in observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day; no classes for CPS students.
- Wednesday, October 16: Board of Education Agenda Review Committee Meeting. Learn more at cpsboe.org.
- Thursday, October 24: Board of Education meeting. Learn more at cpsboe.org.
- Friday, October 25: End of quarter 1.