Education

CPS Celebrates Historic Graduation, College Enrollment Rates

Chicago Public Schools is celebrating a historic graduation rate for the class of 2026, which also earned expanded college and career credentials and nearly $3 billion in scholarship awards.

CPS officials on Wednesday announced that the most recent class of seniors achieved an 83.4% graduation rate. That’s double the district’s graduation rate from 2001, CPS CEO Macquline King said.

“Think about that for a moment,” she said during an event at Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center High School on Wednesday. “In just a quarter of a century, we have doubled students’ chances of graduating. That’s what makes this work so powerful in a long-term impact.”

That rate is up from 82.6% last school year, according to CPS data.

A record 57.2% of 2026 grads earned at least one Early College and Career Credential, which the district said marks an increase of more than 10 percentage points in four years.

From 2024 to 2026, CPS said it recorded an increase of 33% in the number of students graduating with one or more college credits, as well as an 86% rise in those graduating with at least 15 credits and a 375% increase in those earning an associate degree before high school graduation.

“That’s really important,” CPS Chief of College and Career Success Megan Hougard said at Wednesday’s event. “That’s our goal of having all students graduate with an advanced credit.”

CPS on Wednesday said its latest grads achieved a college enrollment rate of 70.7% and a college persistence rate of 78%, both of which exceed national averages, according to the district.

And the class of 2026 has thus far earned $2.97 billion in scholarship funding, with more awards still being tallied.

“The seeds we are planting today and the work that you are doing in your classroom will grow trees that will bear for generations fruit for the future,” King said.

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WTTW News education reporting is supported, in part, by Press Forward Chicago.

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