Largest One-Time Academic Program Expansion in CPS History

At Chicago Public Schools (CPS), our collective goal is to provide every student in every neighborhood with a rigorous, well-rounded education that prepares them for success in college, career, and life. To accomplish this, we must have thriving neighborhood schools rich with high-quality academic programming.

For the first time in 2018, we launched a new process that allows your principal and their LSC to apply for academic programs that best suit your community’s needs. To help inform their application, we also released our first Annual Regional Analysis (ARA), the most comprehensive set of data ever made publicly available by our district.

Today, we are pleased to announce that as a result of this process, CPS is investing $32 million over the next six years to boost access to high-quality academic programming at 32 schools. This represents the largest one-time academic program expansion and investment in CPS history.

This investment would not be possible without the remarkable financial turnaround the district has made in the last two years, which is in large part due to your effort to join us in the fight for education funding reform. Through this historic investment, nearly 17,000 students will have access to programs such as International Baccalaureate, STEM, STEAM, Dual Language, World Language, and Fine & Performing Arts.

Going forward, the district will request applications for programmatic investments on an annual basis, and applications for SY2020-2021 will be released in the fall using data from the 2018-2019 ARA — which is now available at cps.edu/schooldata. Similar to last year, our updated ARA shows the number of available seats in your region, including those in Level 1/1+ schools, and a breakdown of the types of schools and programs that are most sought after by students. Based on your feedback, the 2018-2019 ARA also includes a deeper analysis of pre-k enrollment and available seats, student commute time, and GoCPS application data by region.

We have made this data publicly available because we want you to work with your school’s leadership and community leaders to consider opportunities to strengthen your schools and improve opportunities for your children. And as district leaders, we commit to using this information to make informed, equitable decisions about where resources are most needed.

We are all working to provide a high-quality education for all students, and we are happy to provide you with the information you need to make the best decisions possible for your school. To learn more about the ARA, we created an explainer video and encourage you to share it on Twitter and Facebook.

Please review the 2018-2019 ARA and consider using this data as a springboard for conversations with your school’s leadership about how CPS can serve you better.

Sincerely,

Janice K. Jackson, EdD LaTanya D. McDade
Chief Executive Officer Chief Education Officer
Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools