More than 100 Chicago Public Schools Seniors Sign On to Become Future Educators

CHICAGO – Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is welcoming more than 100 high school seniors into the District’s innovative program that helps graduating students become educators and increase the pipeline of teacher talent. The students were celebrated Wednesday night during the Annual Signing Day ceremony for Teach Chicago Tomorrow (TCT), a four-year program that supports CPS seniors on their chosen pathways to earn bachelor’s degrees in education and, upon completion, guarantees them a teaching position within the District.

“Chicago Public Schools graduates are some of this generation’s brightest minds, so who better to teach our students than someone who comes from our own District?” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. “Teach Chicago Tomorrow is an innovative program that not only increases career opportunities for our graduates, it also brings that talent full circle back to the local community with a focus on service.”

TCT partners with colleges and universities to provide scholars with academic, financial, social, and career support after CPS graduates choose a program partner institution to attend, known as pathways. Current program partners are City Colleges of Chicago (Truman), Illinois State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Roosevelt University, and University of Illinois at Chicago.

The number of seniors who sign on has increased year over year. This is the fifth cohort of scholars, bringing the total number of scholars to more than 275 who have joined Teach Chicago Tomorrow since the first cohort in 2021. Across the board, over 90 percent of scholars identify as Black and/or Latinx, 66 percent are from low income households, and nearly two thirds are first-generation college students.

Ryan Harper, a senior at Morgan Park High School, was part of the more than 100 scholars celebrated on Wednesday. Raised in a family of educators, she had known since the age of 5 that she would likely become a teacher one day. This fall, those plans will start coming into fruition when she attends Illinois State University to pursue her bachelor’s degree in education, a pathway that will lead her back to where she started – at Chicago Public Schools.

“I want to come back and teach at CPS because I really love the learning environment that the teachers created for me and I want to give that back to future students,” Ryan said. “Teachers motivate students and inspire them to be the best. Some students don’t have the support system they need, but if they have someone who cares about them, it makes them want to do better.”

Amidst the nationwide teacher shortage, particularly among Black and Latinx populations, the District has turned its focus in recent years to invest in the Teach Chicago initiative, CPS’ comprehensive strategy to build the highest-quality and most diverse teaching force in the nation. The goal for the District’s new teacher residency programs is to prepare more than 700 new teachers in high-demand subject areas over the next five years.

“Rather than passively waiting and hoping for more teachers to hit the workforce, we are proactively building our own robust and diverse pool of talent,” said Ben Felton, CPS’ Chief Talent Officer. “By supporting and investing in our graduating students who are interested in becoming teachers, we expand their career opportunities and, at the same time, we are increasing the number of educators who better represent our student population.”

These efforts have helped reverse a 25-year trend of declining levels of black teachers, even as many are reaching retirement age. For the school year 2025, the District had more than 24,000 total teachers, which is 17% more than staffing levels in the 2018 school year. Nearly half of the new teachers this year identify as Black or Latinx, up from 32 percent in 2019 and 60 percent of new CPS teachers identify as teachers of color.

To learn more about Teach Chicago Tomorrow, visit CPS’ website.