Students at Chicago Public Schools walk along a hallway in this file photo. (WTTW News)

CPS officials on Thursday announced a five-year graduation rate for its high school students, while the district simultaneously recorded its lowest-ever one-year dropout rate.

(WTTW News)

CPS CEO Janice Jackson said 82.5% of students earned a diploma within five years, an increase from 80.9% in 2019 using revised methodology, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

More Chicago Public Schools students are earning diplomas than ever before, reaching a record-high graduation rate of 78.2 percent, according to new figures from the district.

Students Tori Neealy, left, and Leah Nunez in a flight simulator at Air Force Academy High School.

The city’s military academies help some Chicago Public Schools students reach new heights. We visit Air Force Academy High School.

Despite ongoing funding issues and declining enrollment, students at Chicago Public Schools graduated last year at the district’s highest rate on record, with more students earning a diploma than in each of the past six years.

Chicago high schoolers already take three years of science, but a new policy concentrates that specifically on biology, chemistry and physics, requiring students to achieve one credit in each course in order to graduate.

(AKS.9955 / Wikimedia Commons)

Illinois students are outpacing the U.S. average, while Chicago Public Schools says its graduation rate is growing at three times the national rate.

(jeco / Flickr)

Nearly three out of four seniors within Chicago Public Schools earned their diplomas in 2016 – a district record – as graduation rates increased across neighborhood, charter and traditional high schools.

The Chicago Urban League unveiled this week its 10-year plan to fight structural racism in the city, highlighting education, employment and economic development as key areas of focus.