Educational attainment in the United States
The educational attainment of the U. S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the United States is spending more years in formal educational programs; as with income, levels differ by race, household configuration and geography. Overall, the households and demographics featuring the highest educational attainment in the United States are among those with the highest household income and wealth. Thus, while the population as a whole is proceeding further in formal educational programs and educational attainment remain correlated. In 2003, over four-fifths of all adults 25 years or older reported they had completed at least high school, or obtained a GED/high school equivalency certificate. Over one in four adults had attained at least a bachelor's degree. Both of these measures are all time highs.
In 2003, the percentage of the adult population who had completed high school or had not completed high school but obtained a GED increased for the first time since 2000, when it was 84 percent. This increase follows a general trend that the Current Population Survey has shown since educational attainment was first measured in 1947. In 2015, among adults aged 65 and older, 84 percent had either completed high school or more education, or had failed to complete high school but obtained at least a GED certification, compared to 91 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 and 89 percent of adults aged 35 to 44 years or 45 to 64 years. In addition, 27 percent of the population aged 65 and older reported a bachelor's degree or more education compared to 36 percent of adults 25 to 34 years old and 32 percent of adults aged 45 to 64 years. Since 1983 the percentage of people either graduating from high school or failing to complete high school but getting a GED certification has increased from 85% to 88%.
The greatest increases in educational attainment were documented in the 60s and 70s. In the 1950s and much of the 1960s high school graduates constituted about 50% of those considered adults. For young adults aged between 25 and 29, the percentage of either high school graduates or GED obtainers was 50% in 1950 versus 90% today. For the past fifty years, there has been a gap in the educational achievement of males and females in the United States, but which gender has been disadvantaged has fluctuated over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, data showed girls trailing behind boys in a variety of academic performance measures in test scores in math and science. Data in the last twenty years shows the general trend of girls outperforming boys in academic achievement in terms of class grades across all subjects and college graduation rates, but boys scoring higher on standardized tests and being better represented in the higher-paying and more prestigious STEM fields. Traditionally, girls have outperformed boys in writing.
Although this gap may be minimal in kindergarten, it grows. According to the 2004 National Reading Assessment measured by the US Department of Education, the gap between boys and girls, only noticeable in 4th grade, left boys 14 points behind girls during their 12th grade year. On the 2008 test, female students continued to have higher average reading scores than male students at all three ages; the gap between male and female 4th graders was 7 points in 2008. By 12th grade, there was an 11-point gap between females. On the 2002 National Writing Assessment, boys scored on average 17 points lower than girls in 4th grade; the average gap increased to 21 points by 8th grade and widened to 24 points by senior year in high school. In the more recent 2007 National Assessment of Writing Skills, female students continued to score higher than male students, though margins closed from previous assessments; the average score for female eighth-graders was 20 points higher than males, down 1 point from the 2002 score.
For twelfth-graders, females outscored males by 18 points as opposed to 24 points in 2002. All of these assessments were conducted on a 100-point scale. Overall, women have surpassed men in terms of completion of post-secondary education. In 2015/2016, women earned 61% of associate degrees, 57% of bachelor's degrees, 59% of master's degrees, 53% of doctorates. A similar pattern is seen in high school education where in 2016 7.1% of males, but only 5.1% of females dropped out of high school. In 2015/2016, 56 percent of college students were female and 44 percent were male. From 1990 until 2015, the number of males enrolled in college increased by 41 percent, the number of female students rose by 53 percent. In 2015/2016, 51% of degrees earned by males were bachelor's, higher than that of females for whom 48% of degrees earned were bachelor's degrees; as of 2006, the numbers of both men and women receiving a bachelor's degree has increased but the increasing rate of female college graduates exceeds the increasing rate for males.
In 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that 18,423,000 males over the age of 18 held a bachelor's degree, while 20,501,000 females over the age 18 held one. In addition, fewer males held master's degrees: 6,472,000 males compared to 7,283,000 females. However, more men held doctoral degrees than women. 2,033,000 males held professional degrees compared to 1,079,000, 1,678,000 males had received a doctoral degree compared to 817,000 females. In 2015, the United States Census Bureau estimated that 36.1% of individuals between the ages of 25 to 34 had a bachelor's d
President of the United States
The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. In contemporary times, the president is looked upon as one of the world's most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower; the role includes responsibility for the world's most expensive military, which has the second largest nuclear arsenal. The president leads the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP; the president possesses international hard and soft power. Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government, it vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic and judicial officers, concluding treaties with foreign powers with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The president is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, to convene and adjourn either or both houses of Congress under extraordinary circumstances. The president directs the foreign and domestic policies of the United States, takes an active role in promoting his policy priorities to members of Congress. In addition, as part of the system of checks and balances, Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation; the power of the presidency has grown since its formation, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. Through the Electoral College, registered voters indirectly elect the president and vice president to a four-year term; this is the only federal election in the United States, not decided by popular vote. Nine vice presidents became president by virtue of a president's intra-term resignation. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 sets three qualifications for holding the presidency: natural-born U. S. citizenship.
The Twenty-second Amendment precludes any person from being elected president to a third term. In all, 44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, so he is counted twice, as both the 22nd and 24th president. Donald Trump of New York is the current president of the United States, he assumed office on January 20, 2017. In July 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, the Thirteen Colonies, acting jointly through the Second Continental Congress, declared themselves to be 13 independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. Recognizing the necessity of coordinating their efforts against the British, the Continental Congress began the process of drafting a constitution that would bind the states together. There were long debates on a number of issues, including representation and voting, the exact powers to be given the central government. Congress finished work on the Articles of Confederation to establish a perpetual union between the states in November 1777 and sent it to the states for ratification.
Under the Articles, which took effect on March 1, 1781, the Congress of the Confederation was a central political authority without any legislative power. It could make its own resolutions and regulations, but not any laws, could not impose any taxes or enforce local commercial regulations upon its citizens; this institutional design reflected how Americans believed the deposed British system of Crown and Parliament ought to have functioned with respect to the royal dominion: a superintending body for matters that concerned the entire empire. The states were out from under any monarchy and assigned some royal prerogatives to Congress; the members of Congress elected a President of the United States in Congress Assembled to preside over its deliberation as a neutral discussion moderator. Unrelated to and quite dissimilar from the office of President of the United States, it was a ceremonial position without much influence. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies.
With peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. By 1786, Americans found their continental borders besieged and weak and their respective economies in crises as neighboring states agitated trade rivalries with one another, they witnessed their hard currency pouring into foreign markets to pay for imports, their Mediterranean commerce preyed upon by North African pirates, their foreign-financed Revolutionary War debts unpaid and accruing interest. Civil and political unrest loomed. Following the successful resolution of commercial and fishing disputes between Virginia and Maryland at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785, Virginia called for a trade conference between all the states, set for September 1786 in Annapolis, with an aim toward resolving further-reaching interstate commercial antagonisms; when the convention failed for lack of attendance due to suspicions among most of the other states, Alexander Hamilton led the Annapolis delegates in a call for a convention to offer revisions to the Articles, to be held the next spring in Philadelphia.
Prospects for the next convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washington's attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. When the Constitutional Convention convened in May 1787, the 12 state delegations in attendance (Rh
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most identify, indicate whether or not they are of Hispanic or Latino origin. The racial categories represent a social-political construct for the race or races that respondents consider themselves to be and, "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country." OMB defines the concept of race as outlined for the US Census as not "scientific or anthropological" and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference." The race categories include both national-origin groups. Race and ethnicity are considered separate and distinct identities, with Hispanic or Latino origin asked as a separate question. Thus, in addition to their race or races, all respondents are categorized by membership in one of two ethnic categories, which are "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino".
However, the practice of separating "race" and "ethnicity" as different categories has been criticized both by the American Anthropological Association and members of US Commission on Civil Rights. In 1997, OMB issued a Federal Register notice regarding revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. OMB developed race and ethnic standards in order to provide "consistent data on race and ethnicity throughout the Federal Government; the development of the data standards stem in large measure from new responsibilities to enforce civil rights laws." Among the changes, OMB issued the instruction to "mark one or more races" after noting evidence of increasing numbers of interracial children and wanting to capture the diversity in a measurable way and having received requests by people who wanted to be able to acknowledge their or their children's full ancestry rather than identifying with only one group. Prior to this decision, the Census and other government data collections asked people to report only one race.
The OMB states, "many federal programs are put into effect based on the race data obtained from the decennial census. Race data are critical for the basic research behind many policy decisions. States require these data to meet legislative redistricting requirements; the data are needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions". "Data on ethnic groups are important for putting into effect a number of federal statutes. Data on Ethnic Groups are needed by local governments to run programs and meet legislative requirements." The 1790 United States Census was the first census in the history of the United States. The population of the United States was recorded as 3,929,214 as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution and applicable laws."The law required that every household be visited, that completed census schedules be posted in'two of the most public places within, there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...' and that'the aggregate amount of each description of persons' for every district be transmitted to the president."
This law along with U. S. marshals were responsible for governing the census. One third of the original census data has been lost or destroyed since documentation; the data was lost in 1790–1830 time period and included data from: Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia. Census data included the name of the head of the family and categorized inhabitants as follows: free white males at least 16 years of age, free white males under 16 years of age, free white females, all other free persons, slaves. Thomas Jefferson the Secretary of State, directed marshals to collect data from all thirteen states, from the Southwest Territory; the census was not conducted in Vermont until 1791, after that state's admission to the Union as the 14th state on March 4 of that year. There was some doubt surrounding the numbers, President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson maintained the population was undercounted; the potential reasons Washington and Jefferson may have thought this could be refusal to participate, poor public transportation and roads, spread out population, restraints of current technology.
No microdata from the 1790 population census is available, but aggregate data for small areas and their compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. In 1800 and 1810, the age question regarding free white males was more detailed; the 1820
Forest Glen, Chicago
Forest Glen is one of the 77 official city community areas of Chicago, located on the city's Northwest Side. It comprises the neighborhoods of Forest Glen and Sauganash, with sub-neighborhoods of Sauganash Park, North Edgebrook and Old Edgebrook. Edgebrook borders the neighborhood of Sauganash to Forest Glen to the south. Edgebrook was once part of the Sauganash land tract known as Caldwell's Reserve, was annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889. To the north of Edgebrook sits Wildwood and North Edgebrook; the three communities together are referred to as Edgebrook. Edgebrook is bordered by I-94 and the city limits to the east, the forest preserve and Niles to the west, the North Branch of the Chicago River to the south, the Chicago city limits to the north. Edgebrook is home to the Billy Caldwell Golf Course and the Edgebrook Golf Course, both operated by the Cook County Forest Preserves, Edgebrook Elementary School, which has ranked among the many Chicago Public Schools in terms of standardized test performance.
Edgebrook School's mascot is the Eagle. The 84 Peterson and 85A North Central CTA bus routes serve the Edgebrook neighborhood; the Milwaukee District/North Line has a stop in Edgebrook. Additionally, the Edgebrook Branch of the Chicago Public Library system is located on Devon Avenue, in the heart of the Edgebrook neighborhood. Old Edgebrook is a small area located between Central and Devon Avenues and the Edgebrook Golf Course, consisting of several blocks of large, stately homes built for railroad executives; the first homes here were built in the 1890s. Today, Old Edgebrook is an historical landmark district, surrounded on all sides by Cook County Forest Preserve land. Sitting across the river and Central Avenue from Old Edgebrook, Indian Woods is defined by Central Avenue to the west, the Edgebrook Woods Forest Preserve to the north and east, Elston Avenue to the south. Indian Woods is part of the Forest Glen community area, but located in the northern portion of Jefferson Park, it shares the 60646 ZIP Code.
There are multiple unique wooden signs marking the Indian Woods community that have been in place for many decades. Part of Edgebrook, the Wildwood community is triangular in shape and is bordered by Lehigh Avenue, Caldwell Avenue, Mendota Avenue, Lightfoot Avenue. Wildwood Elementary School serves parts of Edgebrook and North Edgebrook, is rated; the Edgebrook Metra train station is located a little south of Wildwood near the intersection of Devon and Caldwell Avenues. North Edgebrook is the section of Edgebrook sitting north of Wildwood, its northern border is Touhy Avenue, except for a small area consisting of a couple of blocks that extends north of Touhy Avenue, is surrounded by the suburb of Niles. Sauganash was once part of the Sauganash land tract and was annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889; this neighborhood is named after Billy Caldwell known as Sauganash. Born to a Mohawk mother and an Irish father, William Caldwell, Sr. a Captain of the British Butler Rangers, he became a leader of the Potawotomi.
The "Treaty Elm" which stood until the 1930s was used in the first and second government surveys of the reserve. Sauganash negotiated with the United States on behalf of the United Nations of the Chippewa and Potawotomi. In return for his services, the US gave him 1600 acres on the Chicago River. Today the neighborhood is home to three churches: Sauganash Community Church, a non-denominational Protestant church; the Sauganash residential neighborhood has many distinctive homes. It had large tracts of prairie land until the mid-1950s; the Sauganash neighborhood is bordered by Devon Avenue to the north, Bryn Mawr Avenue to the south, the Edens Expressway to the west, the Valley Line bike trail to the east. Devon Avenue marks the northern boundary of the city limits of Chicago at this point; the suburb of Lincolnwood begins north of Devon Avenue. The neighborhood of Sauganash Park lies east of the Valley Line trail. LaBagh Woods forest preserve is directly south of Sauganash. A community of about 550 residences on the far Northwest side of the city of Chicago is referred to as "Chicago's Finest Community".
It is one of the oldest neighborhoods on the Northwest side, is at the southern part of the official Chicago neighborhood's area of Forest Glen, which contains Edgebrook and Sauganash. The first European American to settle Forest Glen was Civil War hero Captain William Hazelton of the 1st Cavalry Division. Captain Hazelton built a home in Forest Glen which still stands, started a Sunday School that evolved into the First Congregational Church of Forest Glen. Hazelton built the Glen's first barn at what is now Lawler and Elston; the Forest Glen neighborhood is bordered by the Chicago River to the north, Foster Avenue to the south, Cicero Avenue to the east and Metra Milwaukee District North line to the west. Forest Glen shares its ZIP Code with Jefferson Park; the area known as South Edgebrook is in the Forest Glen community area. South Edgebrook's borders are considered to be Devon Avenue to the north, Metra tracks and the Edgebrook Golf Course / Forest Preserve to the east, Elston Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue to the south and west.
It is served by the 60646 ZIP Code. Internet and atlas maps of Chicago's neighborhoods in recent years ind
Jefferson Park Transit Center
The Jefferson Park Transit Center is an intermodal passenger transport center, in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It serves as a station for rail and as a bus terminal. Jefferson Park Transit Center's railroad station is on Metra's Union Pacific/Northwest Line, with the station located at 4963 North Milwaukee Avenue. Jefferson Park is 9.1 miles away from Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, the inbound terminus of the Union Pacific/Northwest Line. Under Metra's zone-based fare system, Jefferson Park is in zone B; the station is part of a larger transit center that includes an'L' station on the Blue Line, as well as a bus station. The station for the Blue Line is a single island platform in the median of the Kennedy Expressway at 4917 North Milwaukee Avenue. Blue Line trains run at intervals of 2–7 minutes during rush hour, take 25 minutes to travel to the Loop; this was the terminal for Blue Line trains. The original Jefferson Park Station was built in the late 1850s, by the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad at ground level, became part of the Chicago and North Western Railway when the CStP&F went bankrupt in 1859.
C&NW raised it above ground in 1958. On February 1, 1970, Jefferson Park's'L' station opened as the northwestern terminus of the Kennedy Expressway extension of the CTA's Milwaukee Line, as an addition to the Jefferson Park Chicago & North Western depot; the station was designed by Skidmore and Merrill. In 1983, the branch was extended past Jefferson Park to Rosemont; the station was renovated in 2000–2001, an elevator added to aid access. In 2005, a monument to Thomas Jefferson was placed along the station's entrance along Milwaukee Avenue; the Metra station has three tracks, a side platform for the inbound local track, an island platform for the center express track and outbound local track. The side platform serves inbound trains, the southwest platform serves outbound trains as well as the center track which carries both express trains in both directions as well as trains that short-turn at Des Plaines. However, only one train stops at Jefferson Park on the center track on weekdays, as the station is bypassed by express trains.
A station house open from 5:00 A. M. to 1:00 P. M. is located on the inbound platform. There is no ticket agent at Jefferson Park, so tickets must be purchased on board the train. Jefferson Park has a ride lot operated by Imperial Parking; the Blue Line station is located in the median of the Kennedy Expressway, like all other stations on this segment, has two tracks and one island platform. A renovation project began at the Jefferson Park Transit Center on October 1, 2018, led by Walsh Construction and EXP, will be completed in summer 2019. CTA 56 Milwaukee 68 Northwest Highway 81 Lawrence 81W West Lawrence 85 Central 85A North Central 88 Higgins 91 Austin 92 Foster X98 Avon Express Pace 225 Central/Howard 226 Oakton Street 270 Milwaukee Avenue Metra – Stations – Jefferson Park Jefferson Park Transit Center Northwest Chicago Historical Society Newsletter devoted to Jefferson Park's role as a transit hub CTA - Train schedule: BlueRidership figures, 2009 Milwaukee Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View Milwaukee Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View Argyle Street entrance to Metra from Google Maps Street View
Jefferson Park, Chicago
Jefferson Park is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, located on the Northwest Side of the city. The neighborhood of Jefferson Park occupies a larger swath of territory. Jefferson Park is bordered by the community areas of Norwood Park to the northwest, Forest Glen to the northeast, Portage Park to the south, the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west. Although the official community area map draws the boundary between Jefferson Park and Portage Park at Gunnison Street and Lawrence Avenue, the Jefferson Park neighborhood extends to Montrose Avenue farther south. Settlement in the vicinity of Jefferson Park began in the 1830s with John Kinzie Clark and Elijah Wentworth, whose claim was near what is now the Jefferson Park Metra Station, where he operated a tavern and inn; the tiny settlement of traders and farmers consisted of simple one and two room log cabins until Abram Gale, for whom Gale Street is named, built the first frame house in Jefferson. Jefferson Park became the hub of an independent township, incorporated at the nearby Dickinson Tavern as Jefferson Township in 1850 until annexed by the city of Chicago in 1889.
The area was once home to a significant population of Volga Germans, one of the area's one time local landmarks was a local apartment buildings in the vicinity of the park along Higgins Avenue known by locals as "the Russian Hotel". Jefferson Park is home to the Northwest Chicago Historical Society, dedicated to preserve the area's rich history as well as most historical events and lectures. Jefferson Park is a 7-acre park operated by the Chicago Park District; the park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places is located on the site of the Esdohr Farm. Jefferson Park residents are served by Chicago Public Schools, which includes neighborhood and citywide options for students. There are a number of private parochial schools run by Roman Catholic and Lutheran congregations in the area; the Chicago Public Library operates the Jefferson Park branch for neighborhood residents. Jefferson Park is the home of the historic former Gateway Theatre Movie Palace, now only part of the Copernicus Center.
The Copernicus Center & former Gateway Theatre still serve the community today as a performing arts center, hosting numerous music concerts, theatrical performances, seminars, community meetings, cultural events throughout the year. The Copernicus Center is a voting location for Jefferson Park residents; the Copernicus Center "Annex," which includes both an event space and offices, houses the Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce office. Jefferson Park is home to the award-winning Gift Theatre Company, a professional theatre company located at 4802 N. Milwaukee co-founded by Jeff Park native Michael Patrick Thornton; the neighborhood holds two large festivals annually: Jeff Fest in June, Taste of Polonia over Labor Day weekend. Christina Madonna of "Chicago All Stars" fame is a native of Jefferson Park; the Taste of Polonia has brought some of the nation's most prominent political figures to Jefferson Park to woo the support of Chicago's Polish community. President George H. W. Bush hosted the festival in 1992 and in 2000, future Vice-President Dick Cheney as well as Tipper Gore, Hadassah Lieberman made an appearance.
Vice-President Cheney's presence was notorious with coverage in the New York Times of his lively antics which included dancing the polka, serving attendees kielbasa with stuffed cabbage and addressing a cheering crowd by shouting the Polish phrase Sto Lat. Jefferson Park has long been one of Chicago's transportation hubs, earning the neighborhood the nickname as "The Gateway to Chicago"; the neighborhood is served by a Blue Line station in the median of the Kennedy Expressway at the intersection of Milwaukee and Gale Street, less than three blocks away from the Copernicus Center and the historic Jefferson Park Congregational Church. The Union Pacific / Northwest Line provides service to Jefferson Park. In 2005, a monument to Thomas Jefferson was placed along the station's entrance along Milwaukee Avenue. Jefferson Park is a predominantly middle-class neighborhood of people coming from a variety of diverse backgrounds. Like many neighborhoods on the Northwest Side of Chicago the neighborhood has a heavy Polish-American presence, is home to the Copernicus Foundation, the Polish parish of St. Constance, as well as a host of other Polish-American organizations and businesses.
Jefferson Park is known for having a high number of resident city and county workers. The area is filled with the homes of Chicago Public School teachers and staff, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department as well as Cook County Sheriff officers and staff. Boundaries are Austin Ave, Chicago River, Elston Ave, Foster Ave, Edens Expy, Cicero Ave, Montrose Ave, Narraganset Ave, Nagle Ave, Bryn Mawr Ave, Northwest Hwy, Milwaukee Ave. Boundaries are Indian Rd, Central Ave, Ardmore Ave.http://www.indianwoods.org/ Originally part of the Forest Glen Community. Part of the South Edgebrook Neighborhood. Gladstone Park is a neighborhood in the northern section of the Jefferson Park community area of Chicago, it is centered at the large and confusing intersection of Northwest Highway and Central and Foster Avenues. The Kennedy Expressway has an entrance from Foster Avenue; the park for which the neighborhood is named is located a few blocks to the northwest between Northwest Highway and Milwaukee, on Menard Avenue.
The numerous examples of homes in the Dutch Colonial style has led to the area's nickname as "Little Rotterdam", an allusion to the Dutch city of Rotterdam Gladstone Park has its own stop on the Union Pacific / Northw
Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third largest school district in the United States. For the 2014–2015 school year, CPS reported overseeing 660 schools, including 484 elementary schools and 176 high schools; the district serves over 396,000 students. Chicago Public School students attend a particular school based on their area of residence, except for charter schools and selective enrollment schools; the school system reported a graduation rate of 77 percent for the 2016–2017 school year. Unlike most school systems, CPS calls the position of superintendent "Chief Executive Officer", but there is no material difference in responsibilities or reporting from what is traditionally a superintendent. CPS reported an average of 20 pupils per teacher in elementary schools and 24.6 pupils per teacher in high school. 85% of CPS students are Latino or African-American. The student body includes 87% from low-income homes, 12.2% of students are reported to have limited English proficiency.
Average salaries for 2008-2009 were $120,659 for administrators. For the 2013-2014 school year, CPS reported 41,579 staff positions including 22,519 teachers and 545 principals. In 2012 CPS reported a budget of $5.11 billion with $2.273 billion from local sources, $1.619 billion from the State of Illinois and $0.977 billion from the U. S. Federal Government. Per student spending was reported at $13,078 in 2010. In recent years, Chicago Public Schools has led the nation in test score improvement, learned at a faster rate compared to 96% of all school districts in the country, as of 2017 has an all-time high graduation rate; as Chicago was started as a trading outpost in thy 1800s, it took several years for a citywide school system with adequate funding and instructional personnel to emerge. As early as 1848, during the first term of the 10th Mayor of Chicago, James Hutchinson Woodworth, the city's need for a public school system was recognized by the city council. A higher educational standard for the system was stated by the mayor, both to reflect his philosophy as a former teacher, to add an attribute to Chicago that would continue to attract productive citizens.
In 1922, the school board voted unanimously to change policy that allocated library access based on color, " the same privileges to Race children to enter all the libraries as the white children enjoy", but maintaining segregated schools and specifying that "in each branch library all employees should belong to the race which attended the particular school". From 2001 to 2009, CPS, under Arne Duncan's leadership, closed dozens of elementary and high schools due to classrooms being at low capacity or underperforming. Despite claims that the closures would help underperforming students, University of Chicago researchers found that most of the students who transferred as a result of the closures did not improve their performance; this is what led to the Renaissance 2010 initiative, which focused on closing public schools and opening more charter schools that were focused on one of the government structures: charter, performance, or contract. During this program's time, it plans to open 100 charter schools.
This include five military schools, three of which have Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs. In response to CPS's announcements in 2013 that it was considering closing nearly 200 schools, many Chicago parents, students and community activists voiced their opposition through the media and at hearings around the city. In addition, several Illinois lawmakers, including chairman of the Senate education committee William Delgado, pushed for a moratorium on school closings in CPS, citing "the disproportion effect on minority communities, the possibility of overcrowding and safety concerns for students who will have to travel further to class." On May 22, 2013, the school board voted to close 50 public schools. However, the majority of the closed schools have been in poor neighborhoods with a black population, such as Bronzeville; these areas are not only sites of demolished public housing, but now to closed-down schools. For every four schools that have been closed, three have been in these neighborhoods.
Over 88% of the students affected by these closings have been African American. In a 2017 analysis, Local Government Information Services analyzed CPS’ published school occupancy data and found that CPS could save $200 million per year by closing more than 100 schools that are empty. 304 of the 566 buildings CPS operates are “underutilized,” or at least 20 percent empty. Of the underutilized schools, 116 are more than 50 percent empty. In 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago initiated the closing of 54 public schools. Of the 54 public schools to be closed were 53 elementary schools and one high school. Mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed the school closings were a direct result from the nearly $1 billion deficit the city was facing due to under-enrollment at the schools; the schools to be closed were located on Chicago's South and West sides which provided education to African-American Students. The Mayors decision to close the schools was met with rage and feelings of injustice by the communities effected and the Chicago Teachers Union.
As a result, the CTU and other education activities responded by protesting. In May 2013, the Chicago Teachers Union were joined by students and other education activities to march against the closings of 54 public schools that year; the activists planned three days of nonviolent demonstrations across the city
Jefferson Park, Chicago
