Chicago board spotlights rising preK attendance at North Lawndale school

The Chicago Board of Education on Thursday recognized progress in prekindergarten attendance across the district and spotlighted Chalmers Elementary in North Lawndale for a multi-year effort that boosted preK daily attendance.

Chief Leslie McKinley of the Office of Early Childhood Education told the board that “every day a child attends preK is another day to learn, to grow, and to belong,” and said the office has expanded data monitoring and family-engagement teams to support schools. McKinley said preK attendance has improved districtwide over the last two years, outpacing gains in K–12 and with a larger reduction in the share of preK students who miss 10% or more of school days.

Principal Dr. Crockett described tactics used at Chalmers, including close family partnerships, regular family events, and classroom-level practices that treat families as partners rather than passive recipients of information. PreK teacher Miss Brown told the board that the school’s work was “ongoing, not event-based,” citing quarterly family gatherings and unit celebrations that keep families connected to classroom learning.

Superintendent Dr. Meline King praised the local work and said the district will scale proven practices. Board members echoed support: several called the school’s approach a model for other neighborhoods and noted that attendance improvements at the early grades can have long-term effects on readiness and later school engagement.

Officials said the district is using a mix of tools — attendance dashboards, family-engagement coordinators, and an OECE initiative called Building Connections that partners schools within networks — to replicate the practices seen at Chalmers across CPS.

The board did not take any formal vote on new districtwide policy during the presentation; leaders said more detailed attendance and enrollment data will be shared and discussed in committee sessions this fall.