By Rebecca Silliman and David Schleifer

2024

Chicago Public Schools (CPS)—like many school districts—faces challenges. These include declining enrollment, budgetary pressures, pandemic-associated learning losses, and the need to staff schools with educators and administrators who can meet the diverse needs of students and families. 

CPS is also grappling with a changing policy environment. In 2024, the city will begin shifting to a larger school board, whose members will be elected instead of appointed by the mayor. Federal COVID-19 relief funds are running out. And a moratorium on school closures in the city is set to expire in 2025. But the city and its public schools are rich in talent and other assets. Test scores indicate that CPS is making progress on addressing pandemic-associated learning losses and CPS’s accountability redesign process has included robust stakeholder engagement. 

Amid these challenges and opportunities, Public Agenda, with support from the Joyce Foundation, set out to take stock of Chicago residents’ priorities for their public schools. The goal is to help city and district leaders and other stakeholders make decisions that are informed by Chicagoans’ concerns and aspirations. Findings are based on a representative survey of 2,127 adult residents of Chicago.  

In brief, Public Agenda’s survey finds that Chicagoans think the biggest problem in the city’s public schools is that students are not learning enough academically. A plurality of city residents—particularly parents—think the system’s main goal should be to prepare students for college. But few Chicagoans believe that the city’s public schools provide high-quality education and most think white students have access to better public schools than students of color. The majority of Chicagoans think politicians and educational leaders are focused on petty political battles instead of what is best for students, and few are confident that the CPS budget is spent effectively. To improve schools, Chicagoans favor training teachers and principals, replacing underperforming teachers, and demanding that schools implement improvement plans. Parents want CPS to prioritize spending on tutors and classroom aides to support academically struggling students. As the city prepares to elect school board members for the first time, less than half believe that an elected school board will better serve students. This report highlights instances in which there are differences of opinion between parents and nonparents and differences of opinion by race/ethnicity or across neighborhoods in Chicago.

The survey was designed by Public Agenda and fielded December 28, 2023 to January 16, 2024 by NORC at the University of Chicago in English and Spanish. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Margins of error are greater for subgroups. To inform the development of the survey, Public Agenda conducted seven demographically diverse focus groups in English and Spanish with adult residents of Chicago. Selected questions in this survey are trended with a survey of adult residents of Chicago conducted in 2013 for the Joyce Foundation by NORC. Throughout the report, “parents” refers to Chicagoans who indicate they are parents or guardians of children currently enrolled in any K-12 school in Chicago, including CPS, charter schools, private schools, or homeschools. For more detail about the methodology and for a topline with full question wording, see the methodology. 

This Public Agenda project is supported by the Joyce Foundation. 

Download the PDF Here

Findings in Brief

Chicagoans’ top concern about the city’s public schools is that students are not learning enough. However, while parents prioritize spending on academic support, nonparents prioritize career and technical training.

  • Insufficient academic learning is the issue that the largest share of Chicagoans believe needs to be addressed in the public schools. 
  • Most parents’ primary expectation for schools is to prepare students for college. But a growing share of city residents expect schools to prepare students to get good jobs.
  • More parents prioritize spending money to support academically struggling students than on career and technical training. But Chicagoans would rather see more career and technical training in the public schools than more honors classes. 
  • Parents are divided over whether students have recovered from the impacts of the pandemic. 

Chicagoans do not believe that the city’s public schools provide high-quality, equitable education. Poverty and other challenges impacting students is the most cited reason why schools might have a lot of students who are not succeeding academically.

  • Hardly any Chicago residents grade the city’s public schools an A.
  • Most residents think white students have access to better public schools than students of color in Chicago. 
  • Poverty and other challenges impacting students is the most cited reason why schools might have a lot of students who are not succeeding academically.
  • Chicagoans’ believe that the best indicators of school quality include student and teacher attendance, high school graduation rates, and students’ mental health and well-being. 
  • To improve schools, Chicagoans favor training teachers and principals, replacing underperforming teachers, and demanding that schools implement improvement plans. They are divided over closing academically struggling schools.

Chicagoans are skeptical about how CPS spends money.

  • Few city residents are confident that the CPS budget is spent effectively. Parents are split over whether CPS needs more money or needs to spend more wisely. 
  • No approach to balancing the city budget is popular, but laying off teachers and cutting extracurriculars are especially unpopular. 
  • While over half of Chicagoans support educating migrant children, even more express concern about the cost of doing so. 

Few Chicagoans identify under-enrolled schools as a problem. When asked how to address them, support is strongest for investing in neighborhoods with declining populations. 

  • More Chicago residents are concerned about over-enrolled than under-enrolled schools. 
  • To address under-enrolled schools, support is strongest for trying to attract more students to schools and more families to neighborhoods. But about one-third of Chicagoans say they have no opinion about each of the solutions to under-enrollment provided in this survey.

Chicagoans, especially parents, are divided over school choice. 

  • Half of Chicagoans, including modest majorities of Asian, Black, and Latino residents, believe students should be able to attend any public school, even if neighborhood schools languish. 
  • Two-thirds of Chicagoans believe CPS should prioritize improving neighborhood schools over school choice, but parents are divided on this question.

Few Chicagoans think politicians are focused on students. Less than half think an elected school board will positively impact students. Chicagoans do not feel well-informed about the city’s schools. 

  • Most Chicagoans think politicians are focused on petty political battles. More city residents trust teachers and principals to look out for students than trust the teachers union, board of education, CPS central office, or mayor to do so.
  • Most Chicagoans are unaware that school board members will be elected in 2024. Four in ten think an elected board will serve students better than an appointed board. 
  • Television news and word of mouth from friends or family are Chicagoans’ main source of news about K-12 education. But most Chicagoans do not feel very informed about the city’s public schools.

Authors

Funding Partner

Joyce is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in evidence-informed public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.

Cover Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages