Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency

Transforming Accountability Through Continuous Improvement

After years of planning and development, CPS has introduced a new system for understanding the daily learning experiences of our students. The Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency policy transforms the District’s accountability system by focusing on the holistic development of students. It fosters a collaborative relationship between the District, schools, and communities by providing equitable resources and supporting each school’s unique priorities.

Principles for Continuous Improvement

The District's commitment to continuous improvement is about creating better learning environments that support every student's growth, well-being, and academic success. Our approach focuses on key principles that guide how we support our students and schools every day.

Holistic Student Support

CPS is dedicated to addressing every aspect of a student's development, including academic, social, emotional, and well-being needs. This means that schools aim to create environments where students feel safe, supported, and inspired to reach their full potential.

Equity and Fairness

CPS is committed to ensuring that every student has access to the resources and support they need, especially those in historically underserved communities. This approach helps close opportunity gaps and ensures all students can succeed.

Transparent and Data-Driven Decisions

CPS believes in being open and transparent about how schools are performing. By using data to understand what's working and where improvements are needed, the District and schools can better support students and make informed changes.

Building Strong School Communities

CPS values collaboration between schools, families, and the community. By working together, schools aim to create inclusive and welcoming environments where every student, parent, and teacher feels valued and inolved.

Developing and Implementing Our New Approach

Accountability Redesign Initiative

Beginning in 2019, CPS embarked on an ambitious process to redesign the District's accountability system. In April 2023, CPS adopted a new policy for evaluating school performance, built from the ground up using stakeholder feedback, advice, and participation.

Throughout this initiative, the District engaged over 20,000 stakeholders and formed a diverse advisory group to reimagine our approach to accountability. This new approach replaces the School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP), ends school rankings from CPS, and will promote equity and excellence in our schools.

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Accountability is the idea of holding schools and districts responsible for student learning. Systems that support accountability provide information on school performance and quality.

The New Policy

The Accountability Redesign initiative resulted in the development of a new policy and system for analyzing school practices and student outcomes. This new system, known as Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency, shifts focus away from punitive measurements of school quality to a holistic understanding of student learning and wellbeing. This means focusing not only on academic success but also fostering an environment that supports students’ growth and wellbeing. It replaces the School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP) and improves on many aspects of its predecessor by being built from the ground up using stakeholder feedback, advice and participation.

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Our new approach to accountability focuses on working with schools to address challenges, not penalizing them. Watch our video to learn more about how CIDT is changing the District's system of accountability.

Continuous Improvement at Your School

As part of the implementation process for CIDT, we’ve made major updates to our school profiles to support the District's new approach to understanding student the daily learning experiences of students. As you browse, you'll notice changes to data and information captured about each school. In addition to the information you’re used to seeing, profiles will now begin to include expanded data about how the District and schools support the whole child.

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Our Process of Change

Accountability Redesign Timeline

In 2019, the District decided to redesign its school accountability system to be more equitable, stakeholder-driven, and better reflect the realities of CPS' many great schools.

Responding to a Need

CPS is committed to measuring student and school performance, and the district's previous school accountability system, School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP), was a national exemplar about how to use data to inform school communities. However, we heard feedback from our community that SQRP can be improved upon to better account for systemic inequities and optimized to support critical aspects of the district's work. In response, the district partnered with our communities to develop a new system to better serve school communities and the district.

Engaging Our Stakeholders

In accordance with CPS’ Core Values of Equity, Integrity, and Transparency, the District assembled a diverse group of stakeholders and experts into an Accountability Redesign Advisory Group. The Advisory Group was tasked with learning about accountability best practices, hearing potential solutions to key questions about accountability design, processing stakeholder feedback, and synthesizing all of this information into clear recommendations for the District.

Engaging Our Communities

The accountability redesign work that took place between 2019 and 2023 engaged tens of thousands of stakeholders, consulted with education experts, and ultimately reimagined the District’s approach to accountability.

Creating a New Approach to Accountability

The Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency policy that has replaced SQRP improves on many aspects of its predecessor by being built from the ground up using stakeholder feedback, advice, and participation.

Implementing the New Policy

As a part of passing the new CIDT policy in April of 2023, the Board of Education and the District laid out a timeline for fully implementing the new policy. This implementation process will continue to engage stakeholders’ voices, build alignment and cohesion in the district, and create learning materials to maintain transparency and guide the transition from SQRP to CIDT.