Check Out This Record-Breaking Progress

Welcome to the 2018-19 school year! We are excited to continue helping your children reach their potential by building on their incredible academic gains. We are beginning another year of exploration and discovery.

We are excited to provide you with an update on the incredible progress our students are making in the classroom. The CPS Academic Report Card (English pdf) (Spanish pdf) shows that students from across Chicago are making record-breaking progress, and we continue to lead the country in urban education. We’re proud of the hard work that our students, families, and teachers have put in to make this record setting progress happen. This is a team effort.

Our students, across every demographic subgroup, continue to show growth and progress by every measure. From improved graduation rates to record high elementary math and reading scores to our latest announcement of a record $1.33 billion in scholarships, Chicago students and educators have earned their national reputation – and this report card demonstrates how far they’ve come since 2011.

“Chicago’s record-breaking gains shows that our students, educators, principals and parents have made huge strides and are working together to build on this momentous academic success for students across the city,” said CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson. “As a district, we are committed to building upon this progress by continuing to invest in strong academic programs and increasing equity and access to ensure every student in every neighborhood has the high-quality education they deserve.”

Here are our Progress Report Highlights:

Record-High Graduation Rate: Students have earned a diploma at an all-time record high of 78.2 percent this year. The biggest improvements have come from African American and Hispanic males. We’ve seen our graduation rate rise steadily over the past seven years, growing more than 37 percent since 2011.

Freshman OnTrack: More freshmen are on-track to graduate than previous school years. In 2018, the percentage considered on their way to earning their diploma is a record high of 89.4 percent. This is a nearly 30 percent improvement since 2011. The research-based measurement tracker is the single best indicator of whether or not a student will graduate.

Record High Math Scores and Strong Reading Gains: More of our elementary students than ever before are meeting or exceeding national standards for math and reading scores.

Record High College and Career Credentials Earned: This year, more of our graduates earned college and career credentials than ever before. The credential attainment jumped by 3.2 percentage points this year, with 46.6 percent of 2018 graduates earning at least one early college and career credential.

Scholarship Dollars Earned: We’re so proud of our students. The class of 2018 earned more than $1.3 billion in scholarship offers, and that’s $90 million more than in 2016. They’ve been earning more each year. We credit this increase to the district’s expansion of postsecondary initiatives and college-level programming such as IB, STEM, AP and dual credit and dual enrollment in schools across the city.

Keeping Students Safe: The expansion of our Safe Passage program is a part of our commitment to make student safety a priority. It’s the city’s collaborative effort that has proven to reduce crime and keep students safe during their daily commutes to and from school. We’re serving more students, 76,000, this year at more schools, 160 total.

Meeting Students’ Social and Emotional Needs: We believe in investing in social-emotional learning programming, and training and initiatives which is why we created the supportive schools certification. This recognizes schools who have prioritized having supportive school environments. In 2018, 447 schools earned the supportive school certification – an increase of more than 112 schools.

Our detailed plan to build on this record-breaking progress can be found in the district’s vision statement at http://cps.edu/vision.