More than 80 CPS Students Commit to Teach Chicago Tomorrow Program

CHICAGO—More than 80 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) high school seniors committed to serving the District as future educators through an innovative and collaborative initiative called the “Teach Chicago Tomorrow Program.” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and Truman College President Dr. Shawn Jackson recognized the aspiring educators at a Teach Chicago Tomorrow signing day ceremony Wednesday night at the Chicago Cultural Center.

“We are proud to welcome the largest and most diverse cohort of future educators to the Teach Chicago Tomorrow Program,” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. “Teach Chicago Tomorrow is proud to provide a pipeline for our top CPS seniors to give back to their District by serving as future educators.”

The Teach Chicago Tomorrow program is a four-year program that prepares CPS seniors to become educators. Teach Chicago Tomorrow partners with the City Colleges, Roosevelt University, Northeastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, and the University of Illinois Chicago. The program provides scholars with ongoing support and professional development and guarantees District employment for scholars.

This is the fourth year of the Teach Chicago Tomorrow Program and this year’s cohort, with a 30 percent increase over last year, is the largest in the program’s history. Nearly all the participating seniors (97 percent) are students of color and the majority of scholars hail from high schools on the city’s South and West sides.

“I chose Teach Chicago Tomorrow because of the opportunities it will provide and networking experiences,” said Edward Minor, a graduating senior from Austin College & Career Academy High School who is attending the University of Illinois Chicago and plans to teach 7th and 8th-grade math. “I want to help students understand that math is not scary, and help students tackle math.”

The program reflects the District’s priority to develop a diverse pipeline of teachers. As of the first day of school this year, the District had a record number of teachers— 21,200 – more than at any other time in history. This school year, 47 percent of new CPS teachers identify as Black or Latinx, up from 33 percent in 2017, and 58 percent of new CPS teachers identify as teachers of color, up from 38 percent in 2017.

“The District is committed to developing the next generation of educators,” said CPS Chief Talent Officer Ben Felton. “Teach Chicago Tomorrow is one of many strategies the District uses to recruit educators that look like our students.”

About Chicago Public Schools (CPS)

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is dedicated to providing a high-quality education to all students, beginning with the District’s free full-day preschool programming for four-year-old scholars and continuing through neighborhood, magnet, and selective-enrollment elementary schools that provide a rigorous K-8 education with schools that specialize in the fine arts, world language and culture, dual language, STEM, International Baccalaureate (IB), classical programs, and more. The rising District-wide freshmen-on-track and high school graduation rates reflect the hard work of the CPS community, including families, staff, and students across 635 schools. CPS celebrates the diversity of its more than 322,000 students, who cite 182 home languages. Learn more about CPS at www.cps.edu and connect with CPS on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.