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Rahm Emanuel
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 4:36:04 PM
Dick Wolf
FINAL 2016 District Progress Report 9-6-2016.pdf
Yesterday nearly 400,000 children across Chicago started the new school year. And as we note that marker in
time, I want to highlight the latest milestones Chicago Public School students have achieved.
Record Graduation Rates
Last year's graduation rate was 73.5%, an all-time high for CPS and a significant increase from 2011 when just
56.9% of CPS high school students graduated. With this new record, CPS' graduation rate has now risen twice
as quickly as the national graduation rate since 2011. More importantly, the rising graduation rate comes from
schools in every region of the city.
Record College Acceptance Rates
A record-high 42% of CPS high school graduates enrolled in a 4-year college or university according to the
most recent available data- nearly matching the national rate of 44%. Additionally, the University of Chicago
found that 20% of CPS graduates enrolled in a two-year college, making the overall college enrollment rate
62%, compared to 68% nationally.
Record Scholarships
This year, CPS graduates earned a record-setting $1.16 billion in scholarship offers, a 20% increase from last
year and the first time ever that CPS students earned more than $1 billion in scholarships. Overall, scholarship
dollars earned have quadrupled over the past five years-up from under $300 million in 2011. And, for seven of
the last eight years, CPS has led the nation in the number of Gates Millennium Scholarship recipients.
Boosting Arts Education
According to Ingenuity's scorecards, 60% of CPS schools achieved the top ratings for arts education last year.
This is up from just 29% of schools in 2013 as a result of the District's first-ever arts education plan to improve
access to the arts.
Record Reading and Math
New test scores showed a record 6 out of 10 CPS students are reading at or above the national average at CPS,
with more than half outpacing peers nationally in math. While growth like this is particularly impressive for
large urban districts, the NWEA results prove significant gains ahead of peers in other districts across the
country. For reference, the percentage of students meeting and exceeding the national reading and math average
has increased by 13.5 percentage points and 9.5 percentage points, respectively, in just three years.