Ingenuity State of the Arts Progress Report 2015-2016 | Page 20

the arts in CPS

CREATIVE SCHOOLS CERTIFICATION
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
Elementary school arts instruction is
foundational because it provides K-8 students
with opportunities to explore new disciplines,
communicate in a variety of ways, and make
meaningful connections between and among
different content areas.

69%

Percentage of
elementary schools
that qualified as
Strong or Excelling
484 schools

The data from this Survey show that, over the
past four years, the district-wide patterns of
improvement in the overall arts education
environment are reflected in CPS’ elementary
schools. As shown in the bar chart on the
following pages, 69 percent of elementary
schools were categorized as Strong or

20

Excelling in 2015-16, consistent with the
mark set during the previous school year.
While this overall number remained the
same, the percentage of elementary schools
categorized as Excelling increased from 41
percent in 2014-15 to 46 percent in 201516, and the percentage categorized as Strong
decreased from 27 percent in 2014-15 to 23
percent in 2015-16.
This latest level of achievement follows
two years of significant improvement.
Between 2013-14 and 2014-15, there was a
nine-percentage-point increase in schools
categorized as Strong or Excelling. This was
preceded by an even more dramatic increase
between the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school
years, when there was a corresponding
upsurge—from 60 percent to 95 percent—
in the number of elementary schools that
completed the survey.