Mayor Emanuel, CPS CEO Byrd-Bennett Announce Increased Attendance

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Education

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett announced that attendance rates from kindergarten through 12th grade rose to 93.2 percent in School Year 2013– 2014 (SY 13-14), an increase of 0.7 percent. As part of this increase, 181,306 students improved their attendance rates over the previous year.

“Chicago Public School students continue to set new standards of excellence as they come to school each day ready to learn,” said Mayor Emanuel. “As we prepare for another successful school year, we must ensure our students are prepared for bright futures. Our teachers, parents, and principals are committed to achieve 100 percent attendance for every child in every neighborhood.”

CPS piloted a comprehensive attendance plan in 2014, designed to increase student attendance and strategically address barriers that result in chronic absence and chronic truancy. Keeping students engaged and connected to their school communities is critical in preparing them for success in college, career and life, because when students are not in school, they miss critical instruction time, impacting academic performance and ability to graduate on time.

“Strong attendance is the foundation for success, and we continue to work with parents and school communities to remove barriers to attendance,” CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said. “Students must be in the classroom to be able to graduate 100 percent college-ready and 100 percent college-bound.”
As part of the pilot, 183 schools were selected based upon need to benefit from $3 million in targeted funds to improve attendance. Targeted schools demonstrated positive shifts, with attendance rates increasing twice as much as the schools that did not receive these investments, and both chronic absenteeism and chronic truancy declining twice as much.

Comments are closed.