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Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, is the third-largest
school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. For the 2020–21 school year, CPS reported overseeing 638 schools, including 476 elementary schools and 162
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
s; of which 513 were district-run, 115 were
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
s, 9 were contract schools and 1 was a SAFE school. The district serves 340,658 students. Chicago Public School students attend a particular school based on their area of residence, except for charter, magnet, and selective enrollment schools. The school system reported a graduation rate of 82.5% for the 2019–20 school year. Unlike most school systems, CPS calls the position of
superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
the "
Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
", but there is no material difference in responsibilities or reporting from what is traditionally considered a superintendent. CPS reported a
student–teacher ratio Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...
of 15.84 for the 2019–20 school year. For the 2020–21 school year, 46.7% of CPS students were
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
and 35.8% were
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
. 63.8% of the student body came from economically-disadvantaged households, and 18.6% of students were reported as
English-language learner English-Language Learner (often abbreviated as ELL) is a term used in some English-speaking countries such as the US and Canada to describe a person who is learning the English language and has a native language that is not English. Some educatio ...
s. Average salaries for the 2019-20 year were $74,225 for teachers and $114,199 for administrators. For the 2020–21 school year, CPS reported 39,323 staff positions, including 21,974 teachers and 516 principals. In 2021, CPS reported a budget of $6.92 billion with $3.75 billion from local sources, $1.85 billion from the
State of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockford ...
and $1.3 billion from the
U.S. Federal Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
. Per student spending was reported at $13,694 in 2020. In recent years, Chicago Public Schools has led the nation in test score improvement, learned at a faster rate compared to 96% of all school districts in the country, and as of 2020, has an all-time high graduation rate.


History

As Chicago was started as a trading outpost in the 1800s, it took several years for a citywide school system with adequate funding and instructional personnel to emerge. As early as 1848, during the first term of the 12th
Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...
,
James Hutchinson Woodworth James Hutchinson Woodworth (December 4, 1804 – March 26, 1869), was a member of the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois State House of Representatives, served as a Chicago Alderman, was elected to consecutive terms as Mayor of C ...
, the city's need for a public school system was recognized by the city council. A higher educational standard for the system was stated by the mayor, both to reflect his philosophy as a former teacher, and to add an attribute to Chicago that would continue to attract productive citizens. In 1922, the school board voted unanimously to change policy that allocated library access based on color, " xtendingthe same privileges to Race children to enter all the libraries as the white children enjoy", but maintaining segregated schools and specifying that "in each branch library all employees should belong to the race which attended the particular school". In 1937, the city was hit by a
polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
outbreak which resulted in the
Chicago Board of Health The Chicago Board of Health is the local board of health for the city of Chicago. Two previous iterations existed before the modern board was formed in 1932. The modern board is a policy-making body for health related matters and advises the Chicago ...
ordering schools to be closed during what was supposed to be the start of the school year. The school closure wound up lasting three weeks. Superintendent William Johnson and assistant superintendent Minnie Fallon managed to provide the instruction to the city's elementary school students by providing at-home distance education through radio broadcasts. This was the first large-scale implementation of
radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
for
distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
.


Funding

By the 1960s, schools across Chicago—and most of Illinois—were struggling to support themselves. Illinois school funding, according to scholar Tracy Steffes, was heavily reliant upon “funding by property taxes assessed in and bounded within districts of highly unequal wealth.” Wealthy districts paid less and got better schools, while poor districts got worse schools but paid even more. The problem was compounded by “soft” segregation measures such as
redlining In the United States, redlining is a discriminatory practice in which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as "hazardous" to investment; these neighborhoods have signif ...
and “
white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...
,” which further delineated Chicago communities upon lines of both wealth and race. The introduction of the Illinois Resource Equalizer Formula in 1973 was intended to address this crisis by restructuring school financing to more evenly distribute property tax money, but many affluent white families protested the use of their taxes to pay for other (predominantly Black) communities’ education, rather than only their own district's schools. The formula was abolished in the late 1980s, and acute funding issues continue both in Chicago and across Illinois.


School closures

From 2001 to 2009, CPS, under
Arne Duncan Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator who served as United States Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Du ...
's leadership, closed dozens of elementary and high schools due to classrooms being at low capacity or underperforming. Despite claims that the closures would help underperforming students,
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
researchers found that most of the students who transferred as a result of the closures did not improve their performance. This is what led to the Renaissance 2010 initiative, which focused on closing public schools and opening more charter schools that were focused on one of the government structures: charter, performance, or contract. During this program's time, it has closed over 80 schools and plans to open 100 charter schools. This also include five
military schools A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...
, three of which have
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military ...
programs. In response to CPS's announcements in 2013 that it was considering closing nearly 200 schools, many Chicago parents, students, teachers and community activists voiced their opposition through the media and at hearings around the city. In addition, several Illinois lawmakers, including chairman of the Senate education committee
William Delgado William "Willie" Delgado (born October 31, 1956) is a former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 2nd district from 2006 until June 2016. He was first elected in 2006, replacing Miguel del Valle, who was elected Chicago C ...
(D-Chicago), pushed for a moratorium on school closings in CPS, citing "the disproportion teeffect on minority communities, the possibility of overcrowding and safety concerns for students who will have to travel further to class." On May 22, 2013, the school board voted to close 50 public schools. However, the majority of the closed schools have been in poor neighborhoods with a black population, such as Bronzeville. These areas are not only sites of demolished public housing, but now to closed-down schools. For every four schools that have been closed, three have been in these neighborhoods. Over 88% of the students affected by these closings have been African American.


Student and teacher protests

In 2013, Mayor
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...
of Chicago initiated the closing of 54 public schools. Of the 54 public schools to be closed were 53 elementary schools and one high school. Mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed the school closings were a direct result from the nearly $1 billion deficit the city was facing due to under-enrollment at the schools. The schools to be closed were located on Chicago's South and West sides which provided education to mainly African-American Students. The Mayors decision to close the schools was met with rage and feelings of injustice by the communities affected and the Chicago Teachers Union. As a result, the CTU and other education activities responded by protesting. In May 2013, the
Chicago Teachers Union The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has consistently fought for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, an ...
were joined by students and other education activities to march against the closings of 54 public schools that year. The activists planned three days of nonviolent demonstrations across the city of Chicago. The CTU gathered an upwards of 900 protesters to participate in rally's, marches, and sit-ins against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to close the schools. Over 150 protesters participated in a sit-in in the middle of LaSalle Street, blocking traffic, and forcing the response of the
Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...
. Many protesters peacefully left the scene when asked to by the CPD, but many held their ground. Protesters that did not agree to leave the scene were issued tickets. Over 50 people were arrested throughout the entire protests, but no acts of violence were reported.


CPS teacher strikes

The
teachers union The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...
first strike occurred in May 1969, which lasted two days. The second strike occurred in January 1971, lasting four days from January 12 through January 15. The strike resulted in an 8% teacher's salary increase and a 7% increase for school staff workers. Another strike by the union occurred in January 1973, which lasted twelve days. The union was requesting that their salaries be increased and their class sizes be smaller. On September 3, 1975, The union went on strike for eleven days as a result to restore the loss of teaching and clerical jobs, overcrowding of classrooms.


1980s strikes

In February 1980, the union went on strike again for a total of ten days; asking for paydays worked during financial crisis, changes to school board's spending cuts and job cuts. In 1983, CPS teachers went on a fifteen-day strike from October 3 to October 18 demanding a 10% salary increase. Superintendent
Ruth B. Love Ruth Burnett Love (April 22, 1932 – June 6, 2022), also known as Ruth B. Love-Holloway was an American educator, education administrator, author and former schools superintendent. Love was formerly a professor of education at her college alma m ...
offered raises between 1.6% and 4.8%, but the teachers' union rejected the proposal. The strike ended with the teachers receiving a 5% raise, 2.5% bonus and a one-year pact. Chicago Public School teachers went on a ten-day strike from November 23 to December 3, 1984, which resulted in a 4.5% raise. In 1985, the teachers had a two-day walkout. CPS teachers went on a nineteen-day strike from September 8, to October 3, 1987.


Recent strikes

In September 2012, CPS teachers went on a nine-day strike, walking off the job for the first time in 25 years. The work stoppage, which began during the second week of the 2012 school year, culminated with a march on City Hall. Striking teachers voiced complaints about pay, teacher evaluations, and benefits, as well as general concerns about the neglect of the city's public school system. Soon after the strike, CEO
Jean-Claude Brizard Jean-Claude Brizard (born January 12, 1963) is an American former school superintendent. He served as chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2011 to 2012. Directly before coming to Chicago, Brizard served as the superintendent of th ...
stepped down from his position. On October 17, 2019, The Chicago Teachers Union began another strike that lasted 11 days. The contract negotiated by the CTU and Mayor Lori Lightfoot resulted in the teachers winning smaller class sizes as well as more support staff. Furthermore, the students will have five of the eleven days added to their school year.


Demographics

For the 2018–2019 school year, CPS reports having 361,314 students including 17,668 in preschool, 24,128 in kindergarten, 213,651 in grades 1–8, and 105,867 in grades 9-12. The racial makeup of the student body is 46.7% Hispanics, 36.6% African-Americans, 10.5% white, 4.1% Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.2% Multi-Racial, 0.3% Native American, 0.2% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and 0.3% unknown. Chicago Public Schools were the most racial-ethnically separated among large city school systems, according to research by ''The New York Times'' in 2012, as a result of most students' attending schools close to their homes. In the 1970s the Mexican origin student population grew in CPS, although it never exceeded 10% of the total CPS student population. From 1971 to 1977 and then to 1979, the Mexican student population in the Near West Side's CPS district 19 increased from 34% to 43% and then over 47%, respectively.Alvarez, René Luis. "A Community that Would Not Take 'No' for an Answer: Mexican Americans, the Chicago Public Schools, and the Founding of Benito Juarez High School," '' Journal of Illinois History'' (2014) 17:1 pp 78-98. CITED: p. 87. In the 1980s, among the total CPS student population, the numbers of non-Hispanic Whites declined while Hispanics and Latinos, African-Americans, and other minorities increased. In 1982 16.3% of the CPS students were non-Hispanic white, while over 19% were of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and/or Cuban origin; that year the Hispanic and Latino population had overtaken the non-Hispanic White population.


Schools

CPS is a system of primary, secondary, and disability schools confined to Chicago's city limits. This system is the second largest employer in Chicago. Most schools in the district, whether prekindergarten-8th grade, elementary, middle, or secondary, have attendance boundaries restricting student enrollment to within a given area. A school may elect to enroll students outside its attendance boundaries if there is space or if it has a magnet cluster program. Full
magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
s are open to citywide student enrollment, provided that applicants meet a level of high academic standards. Magnets offer a variety of academic programs with various focuses, such as agriculture, fine arts, international baccalaureate, Montessori, math, literature, Paideia programs, and
STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
(science, technology, engineering and math). STEM Magnet Academy is the first elementary school in the state of Illinois, and among the first in the nation, to offer a STEM-focused curriculum. The
Chicago High School for the Arts Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) is a public four–year college preparatory visual and performing arts high school located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools ...
(ChiArts) is the system's only audition based performing and visual arts high school. Chicago was the largest city in the country without a public high school for the arts until the establishment of ChiArts in 2009.


Selective Enrollment


Elementary schools

The school system contains two levels of elementary-middle school programs which make selective admission only. Regional gifted centers have an area of focus (such as math and science) and require one type of assessment, akin to an IQ test. Classical schools, in contrast to regional gifted centers, take a liberal arts approach focusing on all areas. Classical school applications thus require a different type of assessment.


Secondary schools

At the secondary level, CPS operates ten selective enrollment high schools, the top five include, Walter Payton College Prep, Northside College Prep, William Jones College Prep, Whitney M Young Magnet High School and Albert G Lane Technical College Prep. Selective Enrollment high schools work on a point system out of 900 points:, * 450 points for the entrance exam (tested in vocabulary, literature, grammer, and math) * 450 points for 7th grade grades (A=75, B=50, C=25; D and below=0) Competition is fierce, and many factors decide whether students are admitted or not: * Ranking: Students are asked to rank their top 5 high schools—the higher a school is on the list, the higher the chance a high school will choose to admit a student * Points from the point system mentioned above


Other high school options

In addition to the selective enrollment high schools, a number of other possibilities exist for high school students. These include military academies, career academies, and charter schools. Lincoln Park High School and
Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center Von Steuben Metropolitan High School (also known as Von Steuben Metropolitan Science High School) is a public 4–year magnet high school located on the border of the North Park and Albany Park neighborhoods on the north side of Chicago, Illinois ...
are neighborhood "magnet" high schools, which also offer various honors programs to students citywide. More specialized options, such as the
Chicago High School for the Arts Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) is a public four–year college preparatory visual and performing arts high school located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by the Chicago Public Schools ...
and the
Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
are also available.


Military academies

In partnership with various
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military ...
programs, six high schools are operated as public military academies: *
Air Force Academy High School The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
* Carver Military Academy * Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville *
Marine Leadership Academy at Ames Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Militar ...
* Phoenix Military Academy * Rickover Naval Academy (selective enrollment)


Career academies

Some high schools have been designated as "Career Academies." According to CPS, these schools have "intensified resources to prepare students for careers in business/finance, communications, construction, health, hospitality/food service, manufacturing, performing arts, and transportation. Vocational shops, science labs, broadcast journalism labs and media/computer centers help students gain 'hands on' experience." * Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy * Chicago Vocational Career Academy * Dunbar Vocational Career Academy *
Prosser Career Academy Charles A. Prosser Career Academy (formerly known as Charles A. Prosser Vocational High School) is a public 4–year vocational high school located in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Pro ...
*
Simeon Career Academy Neal F. Simeon Career Academy (formerly known as Westcott Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Career Technical Academy), locally known simply as Simeon, is a public four-year vocational high school locate ...


Charter schools

The Chicago district is responsible for 122 charter schools during the 2017–2018 school year. A variety of organizations run these schools. Frazier Preparatory Academy, for example, is sponsored by an independent board of directors and run by
education management organization An education management organization (EMO) is a term of art describing a for-profit entity that manages schools. It provides a distinction from charter management organization which is a ''non-profit'' manager of charter schools. The terms are oft ...
Pansophic Learning Pansophic Learning is a for-profit charter management organization with schools in the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Pansophic is based in McLean, Virginia. Its Accel Schools subsidiary is the largest charter school operat ...
. The
Noble Network of Charter Schools Noble Schools, (formerly known as the Noble Network of Charter Schools and as Noble Street Charter School) is an open enrollment, public charter network of high schools and middle schools serving students throughout Chicago. Noble was co-founded ...
runs eighteen high schools. These schools receive the majority of their operating budgets from the same tax sources as CPS. Charters in Chicago receive 10-25% less public funding than traditional schools, although some studies show their student achievement and performance metrics to be the same as traditional CPS results. However, in October 2014, the University of Minnesota released a study that shows that Chicago charter schools perform worse than traditional schools in producing students that meet or exceed standards in reading and math. The study also showed that charter schools have lower graduation rates and "are much less likely to be racially or ethnically diverse." In 2015, the Noble Network of Charter Schools was named the best performing large public charter school system in America by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and was awarded $250,000 by the foundation.


Operations

The structure of Chicago Public Schools was redefined after
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...
convinced the
Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...
to place CPS under the mayor's control. Illinois school districts are generally governed by locally elected school boards, where each district board hires a superintendent, who in turn hires administrators such as principals, who then must be approved by the school board. In contrast, CPS is headed by a Chief Executive Officer and school board appointed by the mayor. It is currently the only school district in Illinois where the school board is appointed by a city's mayor. The school board will transition to consist entirely of elected members by 2027. CPS is headquartered in the 42 West Madison building in the
Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...
, formerly headquartered in the 125 South Clark Street building from 1998 until November 2014. The district has offices in
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...
,
Colman Colmán or Colman is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Medieval Irish people * Colmán Bec (died ''c''. 585), Irish dynast * Colmán mac Cobthaig (died ''c''. 622), Irish king * Colmán mac Lénéni (died ''c'' ...
, and Garfield Park. The 20 story building, managed by MB Real Estate, and originally built as the Commercial National Bank, has of space.


Chief Executive Officer

CPS is headed by a chief executive officer (CEO) appointed by the mayor. The current CEO is
Pedro Martinez Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
. The position of CEO, before it was created in 1995, was preceded by a position of "superintendent". In 1995, the Government of Illinois passed the Chicago School Reform Amendatory Act, which replaced the position of superintendent with that of chief executive Officer.


Chicago Board of Education

The
school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
, known as the Chicago Board of Education, is currently appointed by the
mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...
. Between 2024 and 2027, the board is slated to transition to consist entirely of elected members. The board traces its roots back to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837, which was renamed Chicago Board of Education in 1857. The Chicago Board of Education is led by a president. The current president of the Chicago Board of Education is
Miguel del Valle Miguel del Valle (born July 24, 1951) is an American politician and the former City Clerk of Chicago. He was an Illinois State Senator for two decades, representing the 2nd District of Chicago from 1987–2006. Del Valle lost his bid for mayor ...
.


Local school councils

In 1988, the Government of Illinois passed the Chicago School Reform Act, which created Local School Councils.


Performance

The April 21, 2006 issue of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' revealed a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research that stated that 6 of every 100 CPS freshmen would earn a bachelor's degree by age 25. 3 in 100 black or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
men would earn a bachelor's degree by age 25. The study tracked Chicago high school students who graduated in 1998 and 1999. 35% of CPS students who went to college earned their bachelor's degree within six years, below the national average of 64%. Chicago has a history of high dropout rates, with around half of students failing to graduate for the past 30 years. Criticism is directed at the CPS for inflating its performance figures. Through such techniques as counting students who swap schools before dropping out as transfers but not dropouts, it publishes graduation claims as high as 71%. Nonetheless, throughout the 1990s actual rates seem to have improved slightly, as true graduation estimates rose from 48% in 1991 to 54% in 2004. In 1987, Education Secretary
William J. Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservatism, conservative politician and Political commentary, political commentator who served as United States Secretary of Education, secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under Pres ...
called the Chicago Public Schools system the worst in the nation. In September 2011, the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
's Consortium on Chicago School Research published a report on the school system's performance over the course of 30 years of reform. While the report evaluated three decades of reform, it measured the progress of such policies by "analyzing trends in elementary and high school test scores and graduation rates over the past 20 years." The authors of the report highlighted five of their central conclusions:


Pension fund

The Illinois state government required Chicago Public Schools to move money from education to worker pensions. CPS is the only district in the state that the state government has done this to. CPS filed a civil lawsuit to ask the courts to require the state to rewrite its rules on how it funds schools. The lawsuit was filed in
Cook County Circuit Court The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 24 judicial circuits in Illinois as well as one of the largest unified court systems in the United States — second only in size to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County since that court ...
on February 14, 2017, and is CPS v. Governor
Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...
, Illinois State Board of Education and its chairman Rev. James T. Meeks, Comptroller Susan Mendoza, and state school Superintendent Tony Smith.


Crime and corruption

In 2014, the Office of the Inspector General for Chicago Public schools received over 1300 complaints involving accusations of impropriety. Its subsequent 43-page report and audit noted that
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
and theft were still a major problem within CPS, detailing major theft of school funds,
kickbacks A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickback ...
to CPS employees, falsification of student transfer data,
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
ulent selective enrollment applications, and ethics violations. In one particular case involving a half-dozen employees, almost $900,000 was stolen in what Inspector General Nicholas Schuler called a "major purchasing and reimbursement scheme". The schools involved were later identified as Gage Park Academy and
Michele Clark Magnet High School Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School (commonly known as Clark Prep, Clark Academic Prep and Michele Clark Magnet High School) is a public 4–year magnet high school located in the Austin neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, Illinois ...
. A spokesman for CPS later issued a statement that "Chicago Public Schools is committed to working with the Office of the Inspector General to eliminate corruption, fraud and waste across the district." In April 2015,
Barbara Byrd-Bennett Barbara Louise Byrd–Bennett (born July 27, 1949) is an American educator, education administrator, former school superintendent and convicted felon. Byrd-Bennett is the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the ...
, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, took a leave of absence during a federal investigation of a
no-bid contract Multisourcing is the concept of working with multiple suppliers who are also competitors. Large-scale buyers, such as the U.S. federal government, may want to feel assured that there is more than one supplier for an item. It has been described as t ...
to a professional development organization that she had previously worked for as a
consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...
. She resigned from the position in June 2015. In October a
federal grand jury Grand juries in the United States are groups of citizens empowered by United States federal or state law to conduct legal proceedings, chiefly investigating potential criminal conduct and determining whether criminal charges should be brought. T ...
delivered a 23 count
indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...
against Bennett and alleged co-conspirators. Bennett would go on to plead guilty to a $23 million kickback scheme and was sentenced to 7 and a half years in prison. In March 2016, the
Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently appointed solely by the mayor ...
filed a $65 million lawsuit against Bennett and her co-conspirators. In January 2016, the Office of the Inspector General for CPS again received over 1300 fraud complaints and issued another audit for 2015 which continued to highlight issues of corruption and theft. The 2015 audit reported the
shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...
of a CPS vendor, a records falsification scheme by a principal, widespread selective enrollment fraud, illegal use of taxpayer-funded resources on political campaigns, theft from taxpayer-funded accounts intended for purchasing student materials, and numerous instances of abusing
tax-exempt status Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
to purchase personal items.


See also

* List of schools in Chicago Public Schools * Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council *
Chicago Public High School League The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admini ...
* Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline *
Communities In Schools of Chicago {{short description, Non-profit organisation in the USA Communities In Schools (CIS) of Chicago is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that connects Chicago public school students with social, emotional, health and enrichment programs that remove ...
* Middle School Cadet Corps *
Renaissance 2010 Renaissance 2010 was a program of the Chicago Public Schools school district of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Pushed by for-profit education companies, Renaissance 2010 initiative was announced in June 2004 by the Chicago Public Schools and ...


References


Further reading

* Ashby, Steven K., and Robert Bruno. ''A Fight for the Soul of Public Education: The Story of the Chicago Teachers Strike'' (Cornell University Press, 2016)
online
* Beck, John M. “The Public Schools and the Chicago Newspapers: 1890-1920.” ''School Review'' 62#5 1954, pp. 288–95
online
* Burbank, Lyman B. “Chicago Public Schools and the Depression Years of 1928-1937.” ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' 64#4 1971, pp. 365–81
online
* Carl, Jim. " '‘Good Politics Is Good Government': The Troubling History of Mayoral Control of the Public Schools in Twentieth‐Century Chicago." ''American Journal of Education'' 115#2, 2009, pp. 305–36
online
* * Herrick, Mary J. ''The Chicago schools: a social and political history'' (1971
online
a major scholarly study. * Karlin, Jewel. ''Chicago: backgrounds of education'' (1940). * McManis, John T. ''Ella Flagg Young and a half-century of the Chicago public schools'' (1916
online
* Peterson, Paul E. ''School politics Chicago style'' (U of Chicago Press, 1976
online
a major scholarly study. * Rury, John L. “Race, Space, and the Politics of Chicago’s Public Schools: Benjamin Willis and the Tragedy of Urban Education.” ''History of Education Quarterly'' 39#2 1999, pp. 117–42
online
* Shipps, Dorothy. “Updating Tradition: The Institutional Underpinnings of Modern Mayoral Control in Chicago’s Public Schools.” in ''When Mayors Take Charge: School Governance in the City,'' edited by Joseph P. Viteritti, (Brookings Institution Press, 2009), pp. 117–47
online
* Torre, Marisa de la and Julia Gwynne.
When Schools Close: Effects on Displaced Students in Chicago Public Schools
"
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
Consortium on School Research. October 2009
Information page


Online reports and studies


online
h2>

Primary sources

* Bickford, Charles W. “Visiting Chicago Schools.—(I).” ''The Journal of Education,'' vol. 55, no. 21, 1902, pp. 327–28
online
a six-part series ** “Visiting Chicago Schools.—(II).” ''The Journal of Education,'' vol. 55, no. 22, 1902, p. 344
online
* Chicago Tribune. '' Chicago schools: 'worst in America': an examination of the public schools that fail Chicago'' (1988
online
* Clark, Hannah Belle. ''The public schools of Chicago, a sociological study'' (1897
online
* Counts, George S. ''School and Society in Chicago'' (1928
online
* "Free Public Schools of Chicago" ''Eclectic Journal of Education and Literary Review'' (January 15, 1851). 2#2
online
* Havighurst, Robert J. ''The public schools of Chicago: a survey for the Board of Education of the City of Chicago'' (1964). * Henry, Nelson B. “Financial Support and Administration of the Chicago Public Schools.” ''The Elementary School Journal'' 32#7 1932, pp. 495–503
online
* Strayer, George D. et al. ''Report of the Survey of the Schools of Chicago, Illinois'' (5 vols, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1932) * Thompson, George J., et al. “Chicago Schools in the Eyes of the Committee of the Federation of Labor.” ''The Journal of Education'', vol. 55, no. 15, 1902, pp. 231–43
online
* White, Robert. “The Extra-Curriculum in the Public High Schools of Chicago.” ''The School Review'' 34#2 1937, pp. 112–22
online


In Japanese

* Nakano, Shinji (中野 真志;
Aichi University of Education is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture an ...
).
Classes at Public Schools of Chicago and at Dewey's Laboratory School

Archive
シカゴの公立諸学校とデューイ実験学校における授業). 生活科・総合的学習研究 7, 15–22, 2009-03-31. 愛知教育大学生活科教育講座
See profile at
AUE Repository
See profile at
CiNii CiNii () is a bibliographic database service for material in Japanese academic libraries, especially focusing on Japanese works and English works published in Japan. The database was founded in April 2005 and is maintained by the National Institu ...
. * Takei, Hiroshi (武井 寛).
Desegregating Public Schools in the Northern Cities: In the Case of 1960s Chicago

Archive
北部都市における公立学校の人種隔離撤廃運動 : 一九六〇年代のシカゴを事例にして). ''Hitotsubashi Bulletin of Social Sciences'' (一橋大学大学院社会学研究科),
Hitotsubashi University is a national university located in Tokyo, Japan. It has campuses in Kunitachi, Kodaira, and Chiyoda. One of the top 9 Designated National University in Japan, Hitotsubashi is a relatively small institution specialized solely in social sciences ...
. #5, 213–239, 2008–12
Abstract available in EnglishArchive

See profile at
HERMES-IR (Hitotsubashi University Repository)
See profile at
CiNii CiNii () is a bibliographic database service for material in Japanese academic libraries, especially focusing on Japanese works and English works published in Japan. The database was founded in April 2005 and is maintained by the National Institu ...
. * Yamashita, Kouichi (山下 晃一;
Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...
).
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LOCAL SCHOOL COUNCILS SYSTEM IN CHICAGO SCHOOL REFORM(II. RESEARCH REPORTS)

Archive
シカゴ学校改革における学校評議会制度の意義 : RollowとBrykの議論を手がかりとして(II 研究報告)). Bulletin of the JEAS (日本教育行政学会年報) (23), 135–146, 1997-10-17. The Japan Educational Administration Society (日本教育行政学会)
See profile at
CiNii CiNii () is a bibliographic database service for material in Japanese academic libraries, especially focusing on Japanese works and English works published in Japan. The database was founded in April 2005 and is maintained by the National Institu ...
.


External links

*
2016-2017 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Analysis
* {{Authority control 1837 establishments in Illinois School districts established in 1837