Latest Chicago Public Schools Data Show Increases in Enrollment and School Staffing

CHICAGO – Chicago Public Schools (CPS) today released its enrollment figures for the 20th day of the 2024-25 school year. The data shows another year of increased enrollment in the District along with climbing attendance rates across all grades. Student enrollment data is now available on the District's website as well as a new dashboard that shows exponential progress in staffing across CPS to best serve growing student needs and enrollment.

"The increase in school-based staff across the District reflects our commitment to providing Chicago's young people with a world-class learning environment,” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. "This data reflects our District’s success over the past couple years to transform our approach to education and ensure our students have the support they need as our enrollment and attendance rates rise."

20TH DAY ENROLLMENT DATA

The 20th day enrollment figures, found on the District’s Demographics website page, show that there are 325,305 students enrolled, which is a 0.64 percent increase compared to the previous year, with 2,054 more students. The majority of the increase comes from the 1st through 5th grade population. Enrollment has increased for almost all racial and ethnic groups except for Black students. The largest increase was seen among Latine/x students. This positive trend follows the 2023-24 school year when enrollment numbers began to rise.

In another positive development for the District's academic recovery, attendance rates for the first four weeks of school have increased across almost all grade levels and among all racial and ethnic groups. The rates have slightly increased among priority groups, including economically disadvantaged students, English learners, students with disabilities, and students in temporary living situations, with an average 20th day PreK-12 student attendance rate of 92.3 percent, up from 92 percent last year and 91.7 percent the year before.

NEW STAFFING DASHBOARD

At the same time, in a dashboard unveiled today, CPS staffing numbers reveal that there are now more licensed educators in front of students than ever before. Between 2019 and 2024, CPS hired more than 2,600 teachers and more than 4,000 paraprofessionals, as well as staff members, resulting in nearly 7,000 additional school-based staff. Over the same five-year period, the increased staffing led to a decrease in the average student-to-teacher ratio in schools from 14:1 to 12:1, allowing teachers to better support learning by giving more time and attention to fewer students.

Analysis of the staff data shows that 83 percent of CPS schools have experienced increases in staffing since 2019. For schools with steady or decreasing staff numbers, this is likely due to a significant decline in overall student enrollment and/or changes in programming that cater to special student populations such as English Learners, students with disabilities, or preschoolers. Notably, the dashboard indicates that even in schools that lost staff positions, the student-teacher ratio decreased.

INVESTMENTS IN RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

The significant progress in staffing is due to CPS’ recent, unprecedented investment in talent and recruitment, including innovative programs that offer unique career opportunities and professional pipelines. The District supports both career changers as well as CPS students who are interested in returning to the District as teachers.

• The CPS Teacher Residency, launched in 2017, is a full-time, paid, teacher training program that offers a pathway to teaching for professionals who wish to pursue a new career in education as well as paraprofessionals who work in classroom support roles and want to become full-time teachers leading a classroom. To date, the program has led to more than 1,000 new teachers, 70 percent of whom are Black or Latine/x.
• Teach Chicago Tomorrow, established in 2020, provides a student-to-teacher pathway that connects CPS students with academic and financial support to achieve their dreams of becoming educators. In 2024, the program successfully welcomed more than 100 recent CPS graduates into teacher preparation programs across Chicago and Illinois.

“We are constantly working to find new and innovative ways to increase the pipeline of talented and qualified educators and staff,” said Chief Talent Officer Ben Felton. “The latest school staffing numbers tell us that our investments are paying off and we are headed in the right direction.”

Recruitment and retention efforts are taking place with a sharp focus on ensuring staff diversity. District officials recognize the importance of having teachers who look like the students they serve, that understand and represent CPS students. The percentage of new teachers who are either Black or Latine/x has jumped from 33 percent in 2017 to 49 percent in 2024.

There also has been a concerted effort to bolster the District’s bilingual educators. In recent years, CPS has partnered with local universities and colleges to offer reduced tuition rates to teachers earning their English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual endorsements. As a result, the number of CPS educators who have ESL or bilingual endorsements has climbed, jumping from 5,700 in 2019 to 7,700 in 2024.

“Our recruitment, hiring and retention efforts have been remarkable to date, “ said Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova. “That said, we know we have areas that need improvement and this data dashboard aims to showcase our staffing progress to date and our commitment to continue serving our students with talented teachers and staff.”

MOMENTUM OF RECOVERY WORK

The CPS staffing investments are vital 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. The State’s 2024 assessment data show CPS continued to make academic gains and the CPS Class of 2024 graduated with more early college credits than their predecessors as well as a record-breaking $2.1 billion in college scholarships.

The District’s strong staffing investments also support the new five-year strategic plan, Success 2029: Together We Rise, approved unanimously in September 2024 by the Chicago Board of Education. The plan builds on current practices and strategies over the past three years with a concerted effort to double down on core instruction and interventions to help struggling students. It emphasizes a vision for strengthening neighborhood schools and improving the daily learning experience for all students, especially those who have been historically furthest from opportunity.

The 20th day enrollment data establishes the official count for the school year, though actual enrollment remains fluid throughout the year. The data provides information to help District and school leaders plan for the coming school year. More information can be found on the District’s Stats and Facts website page.