CHICAGO’S PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT
“Supportive data affecting the lives of children in Chicago”

OVERVIEW

The Chicago Public Schools enroll more than 425,000 students. These students are diverse in many ways, including where they live within the 289 square miles of the City of Chicago. This diversity of community of residence, race and ethnicity, language background, exposure to poverty, and home conditions are important factors to consider in studying and planning schools and how to improve them. In this spirit, the Consortium on Chicago School Research has identified a number of descriptors about Chicago’s children and their environments, primarily from the United States Census. Here we present a demographic overview of Chicago’s children, where they live, and under what circumstances.

We have selected a number of key variables about children’s lives from the Census to help us understand factors that may influence schooling. Among them are racial and ethnic background, educational attainment of adults, income indicators, family structures, and language background. In addition, we analyze Chicago Public Schools enrollment data to show whether students attend their neighborhood school, a magnet school, or another non-neighborhood school.

All of these variables are assessed for each of Chicago’s 77 community areas as well as the city as a whole. The purpose is to display “how many” of a particular variable in each community area both in 1990 and 2000. We also calculated the difference between 1990 and 2000 in order to show the amount of change between the two time points. When relevant, we also calculated percentages to show the proportion of the variable in question within the community area. Percentages are also provided for 1990, 2000, and for the change.

This is primarily a graphical presentation, though there are also supportive data tables. Each of the variables listed below is mapped by community area and in most cases there are six maps per variable (1990 count, 2000 count, change in count, 1990 percent, 2000 percent, and change in percent). The tabled data may be accessed in two ways. First, there are tables for each community area that list the values for all the selected variables within that area. Second are tables for each of the selected variables. These contain values of the specified variable for each community area.

CONTENTS

POPULATION AND RACIAL COMPOSITION
Total population
Racial composition
School Age children
Preschool Age children

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OF ADULTS
Number of Adults who are College Graduates
Number of adults that did not graduate from High School

ECONOMIC STATUS OF POPULATION
Population Living Above Two Times the Federally Defined the Poverty Level
Population Living Below One Half of the Federally Defined Poverty Level
School Age Children Living Above Federally Defined Poverty Level
School Age Children Below Federally Defined Poverty Level
Pre-School Age Children Living Above Federally Defined Poverty Level
Pre-School Age Children Living Below Federally Defined Poverty Level

LANGUAGE BACKGROUND
Households in Linguistic Isolation
School Age Children (5 - 17) Speaking Little or No English

With Whom Children Live
School Age Children Living with TWO Parents
School Age Children Living with ONE Parent
School Age Children Living with Neither Parent
Preschool Age Children Living with Two Parents
Preschool Age Children Living with ONE Parent
Pre-School Age Children Living with Neither Parent

WHERE CPS STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOL
Elementary Students Attending Their Neighborhood School
Elementary Students Attending a Magnet School
Elementary Students Attending Another School
High School Students Attending Their Neighborhood School
High School Students Attending a Magnet School
High School Students Attending Another School