The Chicago Board of Education will vote Wednesday to finalize a five-year strategic plan to address what the district calls “long-standing issues of equity” and “opportunity gaps” in the city’s public schools.
The 47-page document outlines the district’s priorities and investments through 2029.
It includes Mayor Brandon’s Johnson’s — and the district’s — promise to put more resources into neighborhood schools and “underinvested” communities, particularly on the South and West sides.
It does not mention plans to shutter any of the district’s selective enrollment, magnet or charter schools to which students must apply and gain admittance through a competitive process.
The fate of the district’s selective enrollment schools has been murky since the school board announced its intention last year to focus on neighborhood schools as it developed the five-year plan. As a result, some parents and community leaders who support school choice have
“There was never any intent” to eliminate “selective enrollment” schools Board of Education Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland told reporters in a media briefing earlier this week.
“The lever of change in Chicago Public Schools is to invest in neighborhood schools and our communities furthest from opportunity, to make sure … that families are confident in and have high-quality education provided to them from pre-K through high school in their neighborhood,” Todd-Breland said. “We are addressing the needs of our students who are furthest from opportunity. I think that remains the north star here.”
The district said it will work to eliminate opportunity and achievement gaps primarily for Black students, Latino students, students with disabilities, students in temporary living situations, and English language learners, according to the plan, noting that those gaps are the result of “deep-rooted structural racism and socio-economic inequality” that were “unintentionally” worsened by competitive enrollment policies.
To address these issues, the district has held several community events over the past year to gather feedback and inform the strategic plan.
Among them was a string of “Black Student Success Community Roundtables,” in which board members engaged with parents and students to hear their perspectives on how to improve the experiences and outcomes of Black students—who make up 35% of the district’s enrollment and whose reading levels lagged their peers by one to two levels in previous school years.
According to the plan, Chicago public schools will no longer be ranked. The district said they realized the adverse effect this had, as parents sought to place their students in top-ranked schools rather than neighborhood schools.
The plan draft, which the seven-member board is expected to pass Wednesday, includes a goal to boost the percentage of students graduating high school with college credit or advanced certification from 49% to 70%.
Also on the district’s to-do list is reducing chronic absenteeism by at least 15%, boosting students’ proficiency in a second language and expanding access to full-day preschool programs to every neighborhood in the city.
Other key points of the plan include ensuring that all middle schools offer algebra and expanding advanced coursework in high schools.
“This five-year vision outlines how we will build on our momentum and lead bold and transformational changes to improve and expand on positive daily practices and outcomes for all students, and especially those who have been furthest from opportunity,” CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez said in a news release.
The strategic plan comes amid tense negotiations on a new four-year contract with the Chicago Teachers Union. Although the district and CTU have agreed on 4% to 5% raises for teachers over the next two years, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates and Martinez have been at odds since the district approved a $9.9 billion budget for this school year. The tension continued in CTU’s response to the final draft of the strategic plan.
While the plan recognizes the gaps across the district, Martinez will likely make matters worse, Davis Gates said in a statement. Martinez, she said is “doubling down on austerity,” and is “pushing for school closures, consolidations, furloughs, layoffs, and privatization.”
“The best parts of the district’s Strategic Plan are taken right from our contract proposals, the same proposals the district is actually fighting at the bargaining table,” Davis said. “It’s another case of CEO Martinez telling the people of Chicago one thing and actually doing another. … It’s troubling to see he’s not just out-of-step with Chicago, he’s out of step with the district’s own plan.”
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