If the union really cares about justice, it should focus on teaching students how to read and write.
Usually New Year’s resolutions are a chance to ditch bad habits and make a change for the better, but the Chicago’s Teachers Union (CTU) is choosing to buck that convention as they resolve to more of the same in 2026. The union posted this week on social media that its resolution is to “speak truth to power” and committed to “defending Black and brown and immigrant communities who are targeted by federal agents,” as well as “fighting back against an administration trying to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and roll back civil rights protections.”
Those are lofty goals in a school district that can hardly teach kids to read and write. In 2025, 43 percent of Chicago’s third through eighth grade students were reading at grade level. Only 27 percent were proficient in math. Those are fundamental deficits that haunt kids into high school. In 11th grade, only 40 percent were proficient in reading and 25 percent in math on the ACT.
It’s hard to believe the union has students’ best interests at heart when its bosses continue to ignore the biggest problems. Poor test scores endure despite lower standards. Last summer, the state of Illinois lowered proficiency benchmarks on reading and math scores.
Effective instruction starts by showing up. For the fourth year in a row, chronic absenteeism among students stayed stuck near 40 percent, about 16 points higher than in 2019. Teachers are also playing hooky, with about 43 percent of educators missing 10 or more days of school, compared to 34 percent statewide. Teacher absences are a top predictor of student success.