Chicago Public Schools is betting that the best way to attract more qualified teachers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students is to develop them from within the district. The district is paying for American Sign Language classes and graduate-level coursework for current special education teachers through a new partnership with Illinois State University, aiming to chip away at a stubborn shortage of DHH teachers. Twenty-two CPS educators are in the first cohort, and their coursework is designed to roll into an online master’s program that Illinois State hopes to launch in summer 2026. District officials frame the effort as part of a broader "Grow Your Own" strategy to develop credentialed DHH teachers within CPS, rather than relying solely on outside recruitment.
District Turns To ISU And Pays For Upskilling
According to Illinois State University News, the collaboration started nearly two years ago when Josh Long, chief of the Office for Students with Disabilities at CPS, contacted ISU’s Department of Special Education about the district’s DHH staffing gaps. The university reports that even after hiring fairs and nationwide outreach, CPS still had 14 open DHH teaching positions. In response, the district is now covering tuition for current staff to take ASL classes and graduate-level DHH coursework as part of its Grow Your Own initiative.
Shortages Stretch Across CPS Special Education
Those vacancies are part of a larger strain on special education services. Chalkbeat Chicago reported this year that CPS has been restructuring its special education offices while wrestling with ongoing staffing and compliance challenges. The need in Chicago is not small: the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission estimates the city’s deaf population numbers in the tens of thousands, a scale advocates say raises the stakes for having trained, certified DHH teachers in local classrooms.
Statewide And National Context
Experts say CPS is hardly alone. The shortage of teachers prepared to work with deaf and hard-of-hearing students is a statewide and national issue, as university programs that train those specialists have thinned out in recent years. A review in MDPI’s Education Sciences traces a long-term decline in DHH teacher preparation programs and warns that, without new training pathways, the pipeline is unlikely to meet growing demand.
How The ISU Pathway Will Work
Illinois State has assembled faculty to deliver graduate-level DHH coursework that the first CPS cohort began this year. Those 22 teachers are slated to complete three graduate courses by summer 2026, with the option to transfer those credits into the planned online master’s program, Illinois State University News reports. The department also notes the demand was immediate and intense: more than 300 educators expressed interest after CPS issued its internal call, and 10 other Illinois districts sent letters of support within 48 hours, signaling that Chicago’s problem mirrors a wider statewide need.
"This collaboration is a powerful example of what happens when higher education and K-12 systems come together to solve shared problems," Dr. Yojanna Cuenca‑Carlino said, emphasizing that the effort is designed to build long-term capacity rather than slap a quick fix on a chronic shortage. CPS leaders say they hope the pathway keeps more DHH students working with teachers who understand both their communication needs and the realities of the city’s communities.
If the master’s program secures approval, Illinois State plans to open the degree statewide once the CPS teachers transition into it, a step university and district officials say could serve as a model for other districts struggling with similar shortages. For now, the partnership gives Chicago a clearer, homegrown route to bringing more qualified DHH teachers into classrooms across the city.
