Chicago Public Schools students struggle in reading and math as just 2-in-5 read at grade level and about 1-in-4 do math proficiently. And that’s after Illinois lowered proficiency standards to make the numbers look better.
Annual test scores are in for Chicago Public Schools, and most students are still struggling to meet grade level standards in reading and math even after the state lowered proficiency standards.
The Illinois Report Card released Oct. 30 showed just 43% of CPS students in third through eighth grade read at grade level in 2025 and just 27% could perform math proficiently. Among 11th graders, only 40% were proficient in reading and 25% in math on the ACT.
These proficiency rates come after the state board of education lowered the scores needed to be considered proficient in reading and math in 2025.
What’s more, absenteeism remains high within CPS.
While the lowered proficiency standards artificially increased proficiency rates in Chicago and across the state for this year, the continued struggle for most students to meet proficiency in core subjects ought to concern Chicago parents, especially after years of low proficiency rates in the district.
Over half of Chicago students score below grade level standards
Chicago students showed continued struggles in reading and math on the newly released 2025 Illinois Report Card.
Over half of Chicago students could not read at grade level and nearly three-quarters could not perform math proficiently on state assessments in spring 2025.
These low proficiency rates come after the Illinois State Board of Education approved the lowering of “cut scores,” or proficiency benchmarks, on state assessments in August 2025.
That means even with the lowered benchmarks, most Chicago students cannot read or do math proficiently.
2-in-5 Chicago students were chronically absent
Chronic absenteeism, missing 10% or more of the school year with or without an excuse, remained high in Chicago. In 2025, 40.1% of CPS students were chronically absent.
In 2019, the year before the pandemic, 24% of students were chronically absent. That percentage spiked in 2022 to a peak of 44.6%. While chronic absenteeism declined in 2025 by less than one percentage point since the previous school year, it remains 16 percentage points higher than it had been in 2019 – meaning CPS continues its struggle to engage students.
High absenteeism is a warning sign for students, as frequently missing school puts students at a higher risk of poor outcomes, such as dropping out of school and lower academic achievement.
Improvement needed to ensure a quality education in Chicago
The statistics are troubling in CPS: most students did not meet proficiency standards in reading or math and remain disengaged in learning. More must be done to ensure every Chicago student is prepared to succeed in school and beyond.
