CPS emphasizes students' math, literacy score improvements
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Public Schools are touting big gains in students' literacy and math scores, especially since the start of the pandemic.
"Our students have demonstrated time and time again that they are able to achieve great things both in and outside our classrooms," said CPS chief executive officer Pedro Martinez said in a news release. "Our investments in classroom resources, support, and instruction have yielded the biggest year-over-year gains since 2016 and I am incredibly proud of our students and educators for the growth our students have shown over the past year."
According to the Illinois Assessment of Readiness test, CPS has seen a 5.9 percent increase in the number of students "meeting or exceeding expectations" in the English language arts.
In math, the latest numbers show a 2.9 percent increase – but that is still behind 2019 levels.
Overall, 25.9 percent of CPS students "met or exceeded" performance in English – almost back to 2019 performance, which was 27.3 percent.
But only 17.5 percent of students "met or exceeded" math performance, compared to 23.6 percent before the pandemic.