CPS reading scores have jumped over their pre-pandemic levels and graduation rates have reached record highs, according to newly released reports. 

Why it matters: The data offer a rare bit of good news amid the high-profile drama playing out among CPS leaders...

Chicago Public Schools students are graduating high school at unprecedented rates, a new report finds, but researchers predict that less than a third of current ninth graders will complete a college credential in the next decade. 

The analysis is the tenth annual report about the educational attainment of CPS students from The To&Through Project, an education-focused research group based at the University of Chicago...

Chicago Public Schools’ class of 2023 had a high school graduation rate of 85%, an all-time high for the district, a new report found. In addition, college enrollment rates for Chicago students are rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic and college completion rates remain steady. 

Those findings are from a joint report from the To&Through Project and the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research. The report looked at “educational milestones” for Chicago’s high school graduates, including graduation rates, college enrollment, and college completion...

Key Findings

• The high school graduation rate increased to an all-time high of 85%. 
• The college enrollment rate increased to 63% after seeing pandemic dips, approaching the prior high of 64% from 2017. 
  • The four-year college enrollment rate increased 2.5 percentage points to an all-time high of 47.5%, while the two-year college enrollment rate declined slightly to 15.7%. 
• College completion rates are holding relatively steady for four-year and two-year college enrollees—at 54% and 31%, respectivel

As commentators have warned, a perfect storm of financial trouble — declining enrollment, outdated buildings and the end of federal pandemic-relief funds — is descending on many school districts. In response, education leaders from Boston to Seattle are eyeing school closures. 

Professional development is foundational to educational success, but our current model is in desperate need of an upgrade. Well-designed curricula are rendered ineffective without a parallel commitment to equipping teachers with the skills they need to bring those plans to life. 

Over the last 20 years, education experts have increasingly questioned whether standardized tests are the best way to measure how students perform. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of institutions let high school students decide whether to submit their standardized test scores with their admission applications, and many colleges and universities continue to have “test-optional policies” today...

This Learning & Development Group pilot study is a validation of the Catalyze Survey, which measures the school conditions that support educators to engage in equitable and supportive practice, such as Collective Vision, Inclusive Leadership, Effective Systems, and Trust Community. The study assesses the survey's predictive validity for teacher practices and retention.

This Learning & Development Group study is a multidistrict revalidation of the Cultivate Survey Instrument that 1) assesses the causal impacts of schools on students’ learning conditions, learning beliefs, and trajectories, and 2) examines the relationship between school climate (5Essentials Survey) and classroom learning condition measures (Cultivate Survey).