2024 Survey of Chicago School Leaders Reveals Insights About CPS

While Overall Satisfaction Improved, Principals and APs Want to Preserve Local Decision-Making, Have Questions About Impact of Elected School Board

See Full Survey Findings on ChicagoPrincipals.org

The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund) has released the results of its annual Principal and Assistant Principal (AP) Engagement Surveys — the longest-running and largest surveys of school leaders in Chicago. Conducted in April and May and analyzed this summer, the surveys reveal significant findings about the satisfaction and needs of school leaders across the district. More than 900 principals and APs participated.

Overall, principal and AP satisfaction is up slightly year-over-year (from 63% to 64% for principals and from 73% to 76% for APs), but principal satisfaction rates have yet to return to pre-pandemic highs.

The survey found strong support for maintaining Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS’) system of local decision-making and principal empowerment. A staggering 95% of principals stated that the ability to allocate school resources and develop their budget, as well as hire their APs, significantly impacts their effectiveness. Sixty-one percent of principals expressed the need for increased responsiveness and support from the CPS Central Office, and 60% wanted more autonomy in allocating resources.

“These survey results show that school-level decision-making is a cornerstone of what makes Chicago’s public schools desirable for school leaders,” said Mariel Laureano, Director of Educator Supports for The Fund, and a CPS principal for more than 10 years. “CPS leadership wisely named this as a core principle guiding their budget this fall, even as they shifted to a new budgeting approach. It’s vital that we continue to lean into what makes Chicago unique for school leaders as we compete to retain and attract talented education leaders. As a school leader, I valued local control, and the vast majority of my colleagues continue to do so today.”

The Fund’s annual Principal & AP Engagement Surveys provide a valuable view through the perspective of the leaders in Chicago’s public schools. With an annual frequency, 10 years of data for principals and three for APs, a high response rate (consistently over 70% among principals in district-operated schools), and independent administration by an expert survey provider (the National Business Research Institute, or NBRI), these surveys are a unique tool for anyone interested in understanding school leadership in Chicago.

Other key survey findings include:

Principals want to spend more time on instructional leadership. Seventy-four percent of principals say they receive clear guidance on the district’s instructional vision, but principals chose instructional leadership 2 to 1 over all other answer choices when asked what would most improve their impact as a principal, including more resources, more staff, and professional development.
Principals are deeply concerned about chronic absenteeism. Sixty percent of principals named it a significant challenge.
Principals don’t yet fully understand the shift to an elected school board. While 61% of principals are aware of the upcoming elected school board governance changes, only 24% feel that communication from CPS regarding these changes is sufficient. Additionally, just 22% say they understand how the elected school board will affect their school communities.
Principals want more tailored development opportunities. Only a slight majority of principals (58%) and APs (51%) are satisfied with the current professional development offerings, indicating a need for more responsive and relevant training opportunities.
Most principals are satisfied with their managers. Eighty-four percent of principals reported receiving regular support and feedback from their network chief or deputy chief, with 81% acknowledging that this support has improved their practice.

About The Chicago Public Education Fund

The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves Chicago’s public schools by investing in the talented educators who lead them. For over 20 years, we have worked with our public, private, and philanthropic partners to redefine what it means to lead a public school.

About the Principal and AP Engagement Surveys

Each year since 2014, The Fund has invited all of Chicago’s public school principals to participate in our annual Principal Engagement Survey. The survey, which is available for eight to 11 weeks for any Chicago public school principal to complete, gauges principal experience during the previous school year to better understand principals’ needs citywide. We then use the survey results to inform our program and policy work to support Chicago’s school leaders. High-level results for 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021 are available at ChicagoPrincpals.org.

In 2022, we introduced the AP Engagement Survey. The survey similarly seeks to understand the experiences and needs of all of Chicago’s public school APs. The findings help inform our current programming and improve the support we provide to APs throughout the year. The survey results also shape our aspiring principal pipeline strategy. High-level results for 2024, 2023, and 2022 are available at ChicagoPrincpals.org.