The bold vision of the CPS Black Student Success Plan
Last Friday, Chicago Public Schools celebrated significant milestones of the district’s work around Equity. Attending the event, sitting in solidarity with so many CPS staff, partners, educators, community members, parents, and students was a joyful experience. 2025 marks five years of the CPS Equity Framework, a guiding document, language, and lens that has enabled the district to profoundly shift and impact the daily experiences of students and families across the district. Convergence has been privileged to work with the Office of Equity since its inception, strategizing and developing tools and stories that provide entry points and support to those engaged in equity work across the district.
Evidence of the power of this work was clear at this event, when the district officially launched its Black Student Success Plan. Listening to the passion and determination of those who developed this roadmap to equitable experiences for Black students in our city, I left fortified and inspired.
I am confident that the ambitious goals laid out in the plan will not only happen, but will have a sustained, ongoing, positive impact on everyone in our district. This is clear because this plan was developed within a resilient system of learning. The initiative was undertaken with a systems-based approach that focused on clear intention, situating the work in context, and understanding the dimensionality of the task.
When we think about what constitutes a resilient system of learning, many components are often in play. Yet, what stood out to me in the Black Student Success Plan were not only the aspirations and strategic intentionality of the plan, but how they got there - the process, the steps, and the work behind the scenes that led CPS to this moment.
This roadmap did not appear from nowhere. It is guided by the CPS Equity Framework, which provides a lens through which to view the entire system. The framework, as its 5-Year Impact Report states, provides a “shared language, tools, and accountability for supporting our students and communities.” Rather than a tool for one-time use, the framework is intended to be used continually in order to maintain a focused commitment to helping all students thrive. The Black Student Success plan emerged through engagement with Liberatory Thinking and Inclusive Partnerships, dimensions of the CPS Equity Lens.
The process of creating the Black Student Success Plan focused on centering, listening to, and collaborating with stakeholders across the city. The Black Student Success Working Group convened staff, students, parents, community partners, board members, university partners, advocates, and school leaders to situate the work in historical context, examine causes and harms in the system, and build a vision for change. The working group went even further to gather as many voices as possible - initiating and leading community roundtables across the city to listen to the experiences and gather the recommendations of those most impacted by inequities to inform the plan. Convergence was fortunate to document the process of the working group:
The deep, contextual work of the Working Group and the Office of Equity–gathering history, data, research, and stories–yielded an energizing vision of systemwide transformation. The plan maps out the system and where supports and inputs are needed to advance equity, lifting up new approaches to policies, professional learning, curriculum and instruction, family and community engagement, Black educators, and access to educational opportunities for Black students. It is woven into the accountability and improvement structures for the district, as well as the five-year strategic plan.
The Black Student Success Plan is not just a vision but a promise, grounded in the elements of a resilient learning system. It has emerged from an understanding that intentionality, participatory approaches, and an anchoring in a clear framework ensures lasting change that is strong enough to continually evolve.
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