There’s a lot to unpack in a just-released Public Agenda poll on Chicago Public Schools, but the most troubling finding — the takeaway that should be uppermost in the minds of adults — is that most Chicagoans give CPS low marks on its most vital assignment: Teaching kids.
Asked to select their top three from among a list of problems affecting the district, most respondents, including parents, put “students not learning enough academically” at the top of the list. When asked to grade the district, 54% gave CPS a “C.” The next most common grade was “D.” Parents were only slightly more likely than Chicagoans overall to give the district a “B.”
Chalk some of this up to the lingering bad reputation CPS has struggled with for decades, despite progress the district has made in recent years, as WBEZ’s Sarah Karp reports in her story on the poll. Graduation rates have increased, achievement is accelerating at a faster clip here than in other big cities, and CPS deserves kudos for emphasizing intensive “high dosage” tutoring to help students recover from pandemic learning loss.