First-day preliminary attendance figure for CPS hits new high

Summer-long campaign to boost turnout yields positive result

First-day attendance was at 94.1 percent this year, surpassing last year’s total.

September 15, 2009

Chicago Public Schools students again turned out in record numbers for the start of the school year, racking up a new all-time first-day attendance high of 94.1 percent.

That number surpassed last year’s total of 93.7 percent and follows an aggressive campaign waged throughout the city over the past six weeks to remind students and their families of the importance of coming to school on the first day.

“We spent most of the summer months emphasizing the message that attending school from the very first day is critical to what follows throughout the year,” said CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman.

“We partnered with community groups, parents, teachers, principals, faith leaders and corporate leaders to underscore the important message of going to school on the first day and staying in school everyday. Collectively, their support in this effort was critical and we are pleased to know that our outreach efforts produced such positive results.”

Huberman also pointed to the tremendous efforts led by the Board Office in organizing volunteers and neighborhood rallies through a well-coordinated back to school campaign.

“School attendance is critical to classroom performance and long-term academic success,” said Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott. “Attendance also has a direct impact on our level of state funding and quality of programs we are able to offer, which is why our entire CPS family makes every effort to ensure that everyone understands the importance of being in school on the first day.

The 94.1 percent figure marks another year in which first-day attendance for CPS students has increased. In 2004, first-day attendance was below 92 percent district-wide.

During this period, district officials have consistently emphasized “first-day, every-day” as important to student orientation and for getting the academic year off to a fast start.

The traditional CPS school calendar began last Tuesday with a ceremonial bell-ringing by Mayor Richard M. Daley at the new George Westinghouse High School on the West Side. The District this fall also opened four other newly constructed schools as part of the Mayor’s Modern Schools Across Chicago program: Prieto on the Northwest Side, Skinner in the West Loop, Hernandez Middle School on the Southwest Side and Langston Hughes on the Far South Side.