(WTTW News)

All elementary and middle school students in Chicago Public Schools will advance to the next grade level, regardless of their academic success during the current academic year, under a new resolution to be considered by the district.

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday will vote on the measure, which would allow for all students in grades 1-8 to be promoted to the next grade for the 2021-2022 academic year due to learning disruptions caused by COVID-19.

“The Board believes the disruption to learning for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years has been so substantial as to render the process of using student academic performance data to retain elementary school students untenable,” the resolution states.

This marks the second school year in a row that CPS will promote all elementary and middle schoolers due to the pandemic.

CPS students finished last school year and began the current one learning remotely due to COVID-19 concerns. The school district began phasing kids back into in-person learning across all grade levels over the past few months, but many students are still learning from home through the end of the 2020-2021 school year.

The resolution notes CPS and the Illinois State Board of Education canceled some student assessments this year, including ones that are used to make promotion decisions for elementary school students in certain grades.

While all students in grades 1-8 will be promoted should the resolution be approved Wednesday, CPS would prioritize those students who otherwise would have been held back for interventions including summer school or personal learning plans.

The board’s meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431