Gery J. Chico, Chairman
Christopher A. Koch, Ed.D., State Superintendent of Education Page 4
Charter Landscape: Facts at a Glance
Charter schools are a continuously growing sector of Illinois’ public education system. There are currently 52 charter schools and 123 charter school campuses operating across the State, with a total student enrollment of just under 50,000.
Charter Schools By the Numbers (as of the 2011-2012 school year)
• 52 charter schools: 43 start-up charter schools and 9 contract to charter school conversions. Two of the 9 conversion schools—Urban Prep Bronzeville and Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy, converted from contract to charter school prior to commencing operations. This total number of charter schools does not include the Academy of Communications & Technology (“ACT”) Charter school, which voluntarily suspended operations after the 2009-2010 school year for a period not to exceed 2 years, for financial and academic reasons.
• Under the Charter Law, schools outside of Chicago have the ability to create new campuses under an existing charter (i.e, to “replicate”) if authorized under their negotiated charter contract. No charter schools outside of Chicago have replicated to date. Conversely, a 2003 amendment to the Charter School Law restricts charter schools within Chicago to one campus per charter, but this did not apply to charter schools granted replicating status prior to 2003. There are now 13 charter schools in Chicago with the ability to create multiple campuses under the same charter. Including all campuses of these multi-campus charter schools, there are 123 charter school campuses in current operation. This number does not include ACT Charter School’s one campus.
• 49,066 charter school students.
• Statewide, 2.4 percent of public school students enrolled in charter schools.
• Within Chicago, 11 percent of public school students enrolled in charter schools.
Charter School Academic Performance
• In 2009-2010, 26.3 percent of charter schools made Adequate Yearly Progress. And 13.6 percent of charter schools made AYP in 2010-2011. The decrease followed increased performance benchmarks under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
• The 2009-2010 high school graduation rate among all charter schools was 80.3 percent. The 2010-2011 high school graduation rate among all charter schools was 63.5 percent.
Charter School Landscape
• Thirteen school districts currently have at least one charter school. This number includes three school districts — Rich Township High School District 227, Woodland School District 50 and Fremont School District 79 — each served by state-authorized charter schools.
• The vast majority of charter schools are located in Chicago.
