Chicago Public Schools is trying to make sure more students from a range of backgrounds are able to skip an entire grade or accelerate in a single subject.
Board members were briefed Wednesday on proposed changes to the acceleration policy and will vote at their July 24 meeting.
In the past, few students were allowed to jump ahead a grade or get accelerated instruction in math or reading, or both, and they were mostly from schools with few low-income students, according to data obtained by WBEZ. In a statement, CPS said most students came from North Side schools.
“Our goal with this revision is to expand access to acceleration and remove unnecessary barriers for students to be able to access this opportunity,” said Errika Baker Perkins, executive director of advanced learning & speciality programs for CPS.
CPS wants to add this statement to the front of the policy: “The district affirms that all students possess unique strengths and potential. Accelerated placement decisions will be made through a strengths-based lens that accounts for the community context and avoids reinforcing bias or deficit-based assumptions.”
The current policy for skipping a grade or moving ahead in reading and math calls for schools or parents to refer students and says they are only eligible if they exceed standards on the state standardized test. But only 4% of elementary school students exceed standards, and no students in either math or reading hit that mark in more than 100 schools.
Under the policy revisions, students scoring in the top 10% on standardized tests in their grade in their school are eligible, as well as those who exceed state standards, and the school district will automatically notify parents.
Parents will then be able to decide if they want to move forward. To skip an entire grade, students will have to take an additional test. But to jump ahead in a single subject, the school will be responsible for administering an academic assessment.
Baker Perkins, presenting the new policy at a board agenda meeting Wednesday, said she thinks that 1,500 more students will skip a grade or accelerate in a single subject under the revised policy. In 2022 and 2023 combined, only 82 elementary school students were able to do this, according to data obtained by WBEZ. And only six of those students went to schools where the majority of students were low income, and only nine attended schools with majority-Black or Latino student bodies.
Among the other changes, only students in fourth through sixth grade will be eligible to skip a grade or accelerate in reading or math. Parents will formally be notified of the decision and can appeal.
The policy also calls for high schools to make sure students are automatically placed in the “most rigorous class in math, science, reading, and social science offered in their high school the following year based on their standardized test scores.”
Board member Jennifer Custer said she thinks the policy revisions are “really awesome,” especially the single-subject acceleration policy.
“I think one thing we know about kids is that they’re all really good at different things,” she said.
Board member Debby Pope said as a parent her daughter skipped a grade, but that at the time the decisions were made by individual schools. She said it is especially important that the policy gives schools a chance to weigh in on whether students are emotionally ready for such a move.
A 2017 state law required school districts to have an acceleration policy, and CPS put its policy in place in 2019.
Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.