Fixing Chicago’s schools is the surest way to stop youth violence. Softening education standards will perpetuate the harm.
The recent shootings that left eight Chicago teenagers wounded and one dead make it clear: the city needs to do more to address the rise in youth violence.
During the summer, some aldermen pushed to authorize police to declare curfews with 30-minutes’ notice to tamp down chaotic scenes. They wanted to address these large, unsupervised gatherings that have turned violent on multiple occasions.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies vetoed the measure. Instead, they pushed to address many of the root problems associated with youth crime by creating more jobs and recreational opportunities as outlets for young people on the South and West sides.
Tackling youth violence does begin with addressing root causes, but losing days in the classroom, softening educational standards and ignoring proficiency rates has worsened outcomes from the vulnerable communities the mayor claims to champion. If city leaders want to curb the youth violence epidemic, Chicago needs serious education reform.
Chicago Public Schools closures during the pandemic lasted 78 consecutive weeks for many families – among the longest of any major American city and thanks to activists with the Chicago Teachers Union. Most CPS students, disproportionately Black and Latino and often from low-income backgrounds, lacked remote learning support at home.
During these closures, violent crime involving youth surged. Murders and shootings among school-aged individuals rose by roughly 50%, and historic levels of youth-involved violent crimes including homicide, non-lethal shootings and carjacking were recorded.
Between 2021 and before the recent violence events, 311 school-age youth were murdered, including 58 children under 12. There were 1,462 shot and wounded.
Rather than rallying behind proven safety initiatives, CTU leadership – backed by their former coworker, Johnson – pushed for the removal of Chicago Police Department officers from schools. They sidelined efforts to screen for weapons and deter violence.
CTU, since the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators took over leadership in 2010, has pushed farther left, treating students as political pawns to be radicalized rather than protected. Genuine educational standards have eroded: standardized testing is now racist, dismissed as a white supremacist tool rather than an objective measures of progress.
As in-person schooling returned after the pandemic, chronic absenteeism soared. Roughly 41% of CPS students were defined as chronically absent in the most recent school year, up from 26% in 2019. Many “enrolled” students are functionally disconnected from academic engagement. Just 2-in-5 CPS students read at grade level. Meanwhile, graduation rates remain high – as schools advance ill-prepared students.
Their teachers are also chronically absent. Over 2-in-5 missed 10 or more school days last year.
Reforms such as expanded social-emotional learning, increased mental health staff and restorative justice programs – while important – are often used to justify increased union hiring without addressing root issues. Transformational change demands more than new resources: it requires a reset of priorities.
Standards-based learning: Reinstating rigorous standards and accountability ensures students master core skills before progressing. Standards-based learning provides clear, measurable goals, enabling teachers and students to identify gaps and drive true mastery.
Expanded instructional time: Lengthening the school day and year is an effective safety strategy, giving young people more time in a structured environment. Increased learning time improves educational outcomes, especially for at-risk students, while providing safe, consistent child care for working families.
School resource officers: Bringing police back as specially trained school resource officers fosters trust, enhances campus safety and opens doors for mentorship and community building. Such collaboration helps deter crime and supports positive attitudes toward law enforcement.
Zero tolerance for violence and misconduct: Implementing serious consequences for students who engage with violence, weapons, drugs, as well as penalizing staff misconduct is a deterrent essential to maintaining order. These policies must prioritize safety and accountability but include measured exceptions for restorative justice in special cases.
Values and character education: Teach values – respect, honesty, responsibility – and integrate service learning in the classroom. This values-first education can cultivate civic engagement and equip students to make sound choices and contribute healthily to communities.
Universal work-study: To reengage students and stem the annual exodus of students from CPS, universal work-study would connect high school juniors and seniors with real-world learning through paid internships, early college courses and mentorships. Work-study can be scaled without imposing new financial burdens: restructuring the academic calendar, leveraging city vendor contracts and recruiting private-sector partners.
Work-study addresses some of the core challenges facing Chicago’s youth – low expectations, lack of role models, limited exposure to the work world, financial strain and perceptions of high school irrelevance. By immersing students in practical environments, work-study disrupts the pipeline from disengagement to violence and provides a pathway to economic independence.
Chicago’s schools have drifted from foundational practices proven to reduce violence and raise achievement. Rebuilding standards, reinstating resource officers, enforcing accountability and universally implementing work-study will transform lives and restore trust in public education.
It will also save young lives.
