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Chicago Releases Black Student Success Plan Amid Backlash Against Race-Based Initiatives
Its release during Black History Month is part of CPS’s broader five-year strategic plan and aims to address long-standing disparities in graduation, discipline and other metrics faced by Black students.

2/20/25
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Parents Defending Education challenges Chicago district’s Black Student Success Plan as discriminatory
02/22/25
A student reads at Chicago's Gary Comer Middle School in 2023...
An out-of-state advocacy group filed a federal antidiscrimination complaint challenging Chicago Public Schools’ Black Student Success Plan the day after the district released its long-awaited blueprint.
Parents Defending Education, which has challenged race-based initiatives and the teaching of topics involving race and gender in schools, submitted a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, asking it to block the five-year plan’s implementation. It invoked the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning the use of race as a factor in college admissions, and a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights late last week warning school districts to halt any race-based initiatives or risk losing federal funding.
District leaders in Chicago said they would review and respond to the complaint.. CPS officials have previously said the plan is essential in addressing longstanding disparities in achievement, graduation, discipline, and other outcomes for its Black students.
The plan sets goals to increase the number of Black teachers, reduce Black student suspensions, provide more professional development for all educators, and ensure that Black history is taught in more classrooms, among other steps.
The plan’s release collides with an aggressive push by the Trump administration to root out diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The administration argued in its Dear Colleague letter that even using income and other non-racial factors in education initiatives runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s admissions decision — a claim some legal experts deem a major stretch.
In a letter to families Friday, district CEO Pedro Martinez did not specifically refer to the Black student plan but said that CPS will stay the course amid Trump administration changes and threats of withholding funding, including when it comes to teaching students’ cultures and history in the classroom.
“We will stay true to our values and our mission — to provide all students with a rigorous, joyful, and equitable daily learning experience that affirms and celebrates their identities,” Martinez wrote
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