CPS English Learners And IEPs, Fall 2016 To Fall 2026

Chicago Public Schools counted 304,687 students and 79,878 English learners on the 20th day of classes in fall 2026, which leaves 224,809 students who are not English learners: the tenth straight fall that number dropped, and 90,336 fewer than in fall 2016. English learners moved the other way for most of the decade, from 66,204 to a peak of 88,807 in fall 2024, before this fall’s 79,878. The count of students with individualized education programs, 56,124, was the highest in the eleven files this page reads, fall 2016 through fall 2026, and so was their share of enrollment, 18.4 percent; in kindergarten that share has more than doubled since fall 2016, to 17.0 percent.

CPS 20th-day English learner, IEP and low-income files, fall 2016–fall 2026 · retrieved October 1, 2026 · counts are the district’s own; differences and area totals are computed from them

What the files count

Each fall the district posts, on its demographics page, a 20th-day file separate from its enrollment file that counts, school by school, the English learners, the students with individualized education programs (IEPs) for special education, and the students from low-income families. English-learner status is a classification of a student’s English proficiency; the files record nothing about where a student was born or about immigration status. The column names have changed over the decade. The English-learner count was labeled “Bilingual” through the 2022–23 file and “State English Learners” since, and the IEP count has been labeled “SpED,” “Diverse Learners,” “Students with Disabilities” and, this fall, “Students with IEPs.” This page reads each as one series and says where a change of label coincides with a jump. The district’s September 24 release says counts of English learners and low-income students fall early in the year and “based on historical trends, these numbers are expected to rise.” Every figure here is a 20th-day count, compared only with other 20th-day counts.

Did English learners hold up the district’s enrollment?

20th-day counts, fall 2016 to fall 2026
Fall	Enrollment	English learners	Not English learners	Students with IEPs
Fall 2016	381,349	66,204	315,145	52,093
Fall 2017	371,382	67,834	303,548	50,917
Fall 2018	361,314	69,282	292,032	50,772
Fall 2019	355,156	69,012	286,144	51,691
Fall 2020	340,658	63,313	277,345	49,655
Fall 2021	330,411	69,268	261,143	48,749
Fall 2022	322,106	72,029	250,077	49,347
Fall 2023	323,251	79,833	243,418	51,910
Fall 2024	325,305	88,807	236,498	53,498
Fall 2025	316,224	86,172	230,052	54,846
Fall 2026	304,687	79,878	224,809	56,124

For two falls, yes. In fall 2023 and fall 2024, the only falls of the decade in which the district’s enrollment rose, the English-learner count rose by 7,804 and 8,974 while the count of other students fell by 6,659 and 6,920. The fall 2023 jump coincides with the change of label from “Bilingual” to “State English Learners,” so part of it may come from a change in how students were counted. Since fall 2024 both groups have fallen: English learners by 2,635 in fall 2025 and 6,294 in fall 2026, other students by 6,446 and 5,243. On the 20th-day count, English learners were 26 percent of enrollment this fall and 55 percent of the one-year drop, a share the district’s caution about early-year counts could shrink. Over the whole decade the English-learner count rose by 13,674, so the fall in the count of other students, 90,336, is larger than the district’s entire net loss of 76,662.

Our reading: the district’s brief recovery in 2023 and 2024 rested on English learners, and the count of other students has fallen every fall regardless, by between 5,243 and 16,202 a year. This fall’s decline among other students, 5,243, was the smallest of the ten, which makes this the first fall in which English learners account for most of the one-year drop.

Which grades lost English learners this fall?

English learners on the 20th day, by grade
Grades	Fall 2025	Fall 2026	Change
Preschool	5,369	5,264	−105
Kindergarten	5,826	5,039	−787
Grades 1–5	33,772	30,322	−3,450
Grades 6–8	16,962	16,345	−617
Grades 9–12	24,243	22,908	−1,335
All grades	86,172	79,878	−6,294

Most of the drop came in the elementary grades: 3,450 fewer English learners in grades one through five and 787 fewer in kindergarten, where the English-learner share of the class fell from 29.1 percent to 26.7 percent. High schools held 1,335 fewer. Each row compares this fall’s students in those grades with last fall’s, so the change is net: students leave the count by leaving the district, by testing out of English-learner status or by not yet being identified when the count is taken, and join it by enrolling or being identified. The files do not say which.

Where did the count rise, and where did it fall?

English learners at each area’s schools Share of 20th-day enrollment at the schools in each community area who are English learners, fall 2026. Hovering an area shows the count and the count in fall 2024. Students are counted where their schools sit, so none of this says where they live.

Largest rises in English learners, fall 2022 → fall 2024learnerschange

West Town2,286 → 3,364+1,078
Humboldt Park2,060 → 2,947+887
New City2,503 → 3,335+832
Belmont Cragin5,700 → 6,440+740
West Ridge3,335 → 4,032+697

Largest declines, fall 2024 → fall 2026learnerschange

West Town3,364 → 2,470−894
South Lawndale4,882 → 4,031−851
Avondale1,837 → 1,075−762
Brighton Park4,410 → 3,861−549
Belmont Cragin6,440 → 5,897−543

The community areas whose schools together added the most English learners between fall 2022 and fall 2024 were West Town, Humboldt Park, New City, Belmont Cragin and West Ridge, and two of those areas, West Town and Belmont Cragin, are also among the five largest declines since. West Town’s schools went from 3,364 English learners in fall 2024 to 2,470 this fall, and 53 of the 77 areas’ schools counted fewer. In Avondale, 338 of the 762 fewer were at two charter high schools that are in last fall’s file and not in this fall’s. The schools in 24 areas counted more English learners than in fall 2024, led by Englewood’s, up 176, and North Lawndale’s, up 156. Seventeen areas’ schools have English learners as 40 percent or more of their students, led by Albany Park at 63 percent; in 29 areas the share is under 10 percent.

Every community area: students and English learners at its schools
Community area	Students, fall 2026	English learners, fall 2026	Share	English learners, fall 2024	Change
Albany Park	4,695	2,944	63%	3,443	−499
Archer Heights	5,497	2,404	44%	2,665	−261
Armour Square	1,033	385	37%	452	−67
Ashburn	6,177	1,579	26%	1,770	−191
Auburn Gresham	4,174	256	6%	189	+67
Austin	7,517	1,174	16%	1,069	+105
Avalon Park	1,771	91	5%	90	+1
Avondale	2,677	1,075	40%	1,837	−762
Belmont Cragin	11,643	5,897	51%	6,440	−543
Beverly	1,471	21	1%	15	+6
Bridgeport	2,494	676	27%	712	−36
Brighton Park	7,307	3,861	53%	4,410	−549
Burnside	264	13	5%	5	+8
Calumet Heights	1,221	11	1%	9	+2
Chatham	4,416	125	3%	111	+14
Chicago Lawn	6,091	2,698	44%	2,815	−117
Clearing	3,212	573	18%	669	−96
Douglas	2,397	94	4%	98	−4
Dunning	4,361	1,230	28%	1,330	−100
East Garfield Park	3,394	147	4%	109	+38
East Side	3,984	1,582	40%	1,623	−41
Edgewater	3,928	1,529	39%	1,750	−221
Edison Park	1,113	196	18%	152	+44
Englewood	4,843	615	13%	439	+176
Forest Glen	1,792	194	11%	207	−13
Fuller Park	218	27	12%	24	+3
Gage Park	8,545	4,332	51%	4,826	−494
Garfield Ridge	4,055	922	23%	1,068	−146
Grand Boulevard	1,696	27	2%	52	−25
Greater Grand Crossing	3,675	153	4%	179	−26
Hegewisch	813	248	31%	254	−6
Hermosa	2,995	1,633	55%	1,743	−110
Humboldt Park	7,940	2,927	37%	2,947	−20
Hyde Park	1,515	174	11%	202	−28
Irving Park	7,032	2,647	38%	2,788	−141
Jefferson Park	1,714	388	23%	376	+12
Kenwood	4,619	174	4%	160	+14
Lake View	5,787	886	15%	1,076	−190
Lincoln Park	5,674	340	6%	409	−69
Lincoln Square	4,551	801	18%	909	−108
Logan Square	6,431	1,920	30%	2,118	−198
Loop	3,156	233	7%	250	−17
Lower West Side	4,846	2,451	51%	2,840	−389
McKinley Park	1,050	467	44%	557	−90
Montclare	967	368	38%	456	−88
Morgan Park	3,260	109	3%	153	−44
Mount Greenwood	2,495	90	4%	86	+4
Near North Side	3,534	344	10%	575	−231
Near South Side	2,171	184	8%	202	−18
Near West Side	9,419	865	9%	1,059	−194
New City	6,586	3,246	49%	3,335	−89
North Center	7,466	438	6%	461	−23
North Lawndale	4,854	433	9%	277	+156
North Park	5,149	1,397	27%	1,364	+33
Norwood Park	7,499	1,510	20%	1,670	−160
Oakland	586	17	3%	22	−5
O’Hare	1,137	609	54%	794	−185
Portage Park	5,187	1,796	35%	2,061	−265
Pullman	2,262	123	5%	114	+9
Riverdale	1,518	115	8%	101	+14
Rogers Park	3,171	1,592	50%	1,982	−390
Roseland	4,065	195	5%	173	+22
South Chicago	3,760	762	20%	717	+45
South Deering	1,143	262	23%	326	−64
South Lawndale	7,554	4,031	53%	4,882	−851
South Shore	4,060	313	8%	354	−41
Uptown	3,142	935	30%	1,131	−196
Washington Heights	3,771	65	2%	60	+5
Washington Park	2,742	57	2%	67	−10
West Elsdon	1,746	759	43%	822	−63
West Englewood	4,304	780	18%	682	+98
West Garfield Park	1,278	149	12%	127	+22
West Lawn	4,019	1,767	44%	1,904	−137
West Pullman	2,095	147	7%	171	−24
West Ridge	7,769	3,721	48%	4,032	−311
West Town	9,280	2,470	27%	3,364	−894
Woodlawn	2,914	109	4%	96	+13

How many students have IEPs?

This fall the district counted 56,124 students with individualized education programs, the plans that set out a student’s special education services. That is 18.4 percent of enrollment, and both the count and the share are the highest in the eleven files. The count has risen five falls in a row, by 7,375 since fall 2021, while enrollment fell by 25,724. The district’s release puts the rise since fall 2024 at about 4.9 percent, which matches the files. The change is largest among the youngest students: the share of kindergartners with IEPs more than doubled, from 8.2 percent in fall 2016 to 17.0 percent this fall, as the number of kindergartners with IEPs rose from 2,147 to 3,204 and kindergarten enrollment fell by more than a quarter. The files do not say why; an IEP follows an evaluation, and a rise in the share can come from more students being evaluated and found eligible as well as from fewer students without IEPs.

Why low income is not compared

The third count in the files, students from low-income families, changed its name twice over the decade, from “Free/Reduced Lunch” to “Economically Disadvantaged” to, this fall, “Low Income.” The fall 2026 file’s note defines the group as families within 185 percent of the federal poverty line and ties the change of terms to the federal government funding meals for all students where more than 40 percent qualify, under its Community Eligibility Provision. The district also expects early-year counts to rise. This page reports the fall 2026 figure, 68.9 percent of enrollment, and makes no comparison across years.

How to look up one school

Each school’s fall 2026 counts of English learners, students with IEPs and low-income students are in the 2026–27 file on the district’s demographics page, alongside the files for earlier years. The district’s school locator lists each school’s programs, and its pages on special education and newcomer student services describe the district’s services for these students.

Known limits

Every figure is one day’s count from the district’s own files. A student can leave the English-learner count without leaving the district, by testing out of the status, and a student not yet identified on the 20th day is counted among the other students, so the two groups’ changes are net figures. The change of label between the 2022–23 and 2023–24 files may carry a change in counting that the files do not describe. Every file counts by grade; counts by school with the district’s own community-area column start with the fall 2022 file, so area comparisons start at fall 2022. Area figures place students where their schools sit. The enrollment totals in these files match the district’s membership files for every fall.

Sources CPS 20th-day English learner, IEP and low-income files, school years 2016–17 through 2026–27, from the district’s demographics page, retrieved October 1, 2026; the district’s September 24, 2026 release, read the same day, for the statements attributed to the district.
Counting The district-total row of each file gives enrollment, English learners, students with IEPs and low-income students; students who are not English learners are enrollment minus English learners. Grade rows sum exactly to the district row in every file, and so do the school rows in the 2022–23 and later files, the first to carry them. Falls are named by calendar year: “fall 2026” is school year 2026–27.
Checks Each file’s enrollment total equals the district’s 20th-day membership file for the same fall, and each area’s enrollment equals the area totals on our enrollment page, which places each school where that year’s file places it.

Computed by KCM Desk from records retrieved October 1, 2026. Human-guided and edited — about this desk. If you spot an error, corrections come first.