According to a Wirepoints report, not one student is proficient in math or reading skills in 55 Chicago Public Schools during the 2021-2022 school year.
The Chicago Public School system comprises 649 schools of which 22 schools had zero students that met expectations for reading comprehension and 33 schools had zero students that met grade level standards in math. The data was analyzed from the annual performance report from Illinois State Board of Education.
The authors of the report, Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner, said “defenders of the current system are sure to invoke COVID as the big reason for the low scores. But a look at the 2019 numbers show that the reading and math numbers were only slightly better than they are now.”
Throughout Illinois, 30 schools had zero students reading at grade level and 53 schools had zero students that met math expectations. Illinois has 930 schools of which only one out of ten students met math grade-level expectations and fewer than one out of ten students were proficient in reading.
Since 2019, all states have seen a drop in math and reading test scores. “The bottom line is everyone suffered in the pandemic.. because of the pandemic,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “The disruption was everywhere, and it was bad regardless of whether schools were remote or in person. We are focused now on the urgent need to help kids recover and thrive.”
Chicago Public Schools has not publicly addressed the report and has not responded to various news outlet's requests for a comment.