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The Educational Attainment of Chicago Public Schools Students: 2021

Research
Explore our recently released annual analysis of how CPS students are faring on the path to and through high school and college
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Elementary On-Track: Elementary School Students’ Grades, Attendance, and Future Outcomes

Research
New findings on the relationship between students' attendance and GPA in their elementary grades and future academic outcomes
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Approaching Chicago Student Attainment from a Community Perspective

Research
Read new findings on CPS students' high school & college outcomes based on where they live
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Announcing the second cohort of the To&Through Middle Grades Network

To&Through Middle Grades Network
Learn more about the new cohort
CPS data on students' high school graduation rate and college graduation rate and their immediate college enrollment rate by neighborhood Chicago Public School statistics by community area

The To&Through Community Milestones Tool

New Data Tool
Explore high school & college outcomes for CPS students from each of Chicago's 77 community areas
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Student Stories: Navigating the Post-Secondary Maze

Student Voice
Read five recent CPS graduates' stories of navigating higher education systems
The Second Window: How a Focus on Freshmen Transformed a System

The Second Window: How a Focus on Freshmen Transformed a System

Documentary
Watch the film

The To&Through Project


In collaboration with educators, policymakers, and communities, the To&Through Project aims to significantly increase high school and post-secondary completion for under-resourced students of color in Chicago and around the country by providing education stakeholders with research-based data on students’ educational experiences and facilitating dialogue on its implications for adult practice.

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Data

We conduct research and publish data on what matters for the attainment of Chicago Public Schools students (in collaboration with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research).

We design data tools and resources for education stakeholders that make data meaningful and actionable, including the publicly available To&Through Online Tool.

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Dialogue

We convene leaders for Data Collaboratives and convenings to foster conversation about what matters most for students' high school and post-secondary success.

We facilitate a network of middle grades educators committed to building more equitable and supportive educational environments that promote the success of middle grades students in high school and beyond.

To&Through Home

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The Middle Grades Network (MGN)

A group of schools dedicated to creating more equitable and supportive educational environments where middle grades students can thrive.

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Online Tool

The To&Through Project provides data on the milestones that research shows matter most for students’ high school and college success in one online hub for education stakeholders.

Professionals working on reports

Reports

The To&Through Project works closely with The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research to conduct research and publish reports.

The Middle Grades Network (MGN)

The To&Through Middle Grades Network is a group of schools dedicated to creating more equitable and supportive educational environments where middle grades students can thrive. The network seeks to build the capacity of practitioners to understand the developmental, social-emotional, and non-academic factors critical for student success and to make changes in practice that improve middle grades indicators for success in high school and beyond.

Practitioners from selected schools participate in customized professional learning and receive dedicated in-school coaching as they engage in a student-centered improvement process grounded in data, research, and the expertise of participating schools. This process involves articulating a problem of practice connected to the experiences of middle grades students; designing, implementing, and iterating a strategy to address this problem; and codifying and demonstrating promising tools and practices relevant to middle grades outcomes district-wide. Schools will learn and apply research from the UChicago Consortium on School Research and others on adolescent development, continuous improvement, social-emotional learning, early warning indicators, equity learning environments, and effective middle grades practices from around the country.

Online Tool

The To&Through Project provides data on the milestones that research shows matter most for students’ high school and college success in one online hub for education stakeholders. The To&Through Online Tool links Chicago public high schools to post-secondary outcomes, providing the full picture of students’ educational progress, from the middle grades through college graduation. District and school leaders, school partners, families, and policymakers can interrogate district and school level data. The Online Tool can be used to examine patterns of educational attainment among different student subgroups, see how many students from individual high schools have reached a particular milestone along the path to and through college, and see which colleges and universities Chicago Public Schools students are choosing, as well as the institutional graduation rates of those schools.

Reports

The To&Through Project works closely with The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research to conduct research and publish reports on what matters most for students’ high school and college success. These reports have included work on the educational attainment of Chicago Public School students, the transition from 8th to 9th grade, sophomore year, and patterns of college enrollment. The To&Through Project uses these reports as the basis for data on the To&Through Online Tool. 

Ms. Jung and Melanie

The Second Window Documentary Film

The Second Window: How a Focus on Freshmen Transformed a System spotlights the research that inspired Chicago Public Schools’ bet on students’ ninth grade year.

A data collaborative session

Data Collaboratives

The To&Through Data Collaborative is a monthly gathering for the presentation and discussion of new work in education data in Chicago.

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Student Perspectives

The To&Through Project shares CPS students and graduates' stories to elevate them as experts of their own lived experiences.

The Second Window Documentary Film

The early childhood years have long been recognized as a time of rapid brain development and the critical window for establishing positive life trajectories. However, mounting evidence from neuroscience, developmental psychology, and the education field points to a second window — the widely disdained and infamously “awkward” adolescent years. The Second Window spotlights the research that inspired Chicago Public Schools’ bet on students’ ninth grade year — once considered a “throwaway year”—and catalyzed sustained, system-wide improvement. It illuminates Chicago’s journey from “worst district in the nation” to a district leading the country in its work to keep freshmen on-track toward high school graduation and postsecondary success, and how changing adults’ mindsets about what is possible in mid-adolescence can change policy, practice, and lives. Watch the film and access accompanying resources.

Data Collaboratives

The To&Through Data Collaborative is a monthly gathering for the presentation and discussion of new work in education data in Chicago. The group meets once a month at the University of Chicago to hear from local leaders in the Chicago education space, learn about new bodies of work focused on the application of data in support of youth development, and provide feedback on problems of practice facing local organizations. Presenters have included leaders from the To&Through Project, UChicago Urban Labs, Chicago Public Schools, Noble Charter Schools, One Goal, and National Louis University. For more information on past and future Data Collaborative sessions, visit our events page.

Student Perspectives

The To&Through Project's written student story series amplify the voices of CPS graduates navigating postsecondary journeys that often look more like mazes than straight paths. Their stories provide insights into what makes persistence possible and their pushes for the field. The To&Through Experts by Experience podcast is a series of discussions with college students from Chicago who navigating the pandemic-induced rupture in their educational journeys. In each episode, our experts — Black and Latinx college students — reflected on their personal successes and challenges.

Students outside of a Philadelphia school building

Partnership with the School District of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia has focused on improving 9th Grade OnTrack rates to increase high school graduation rates.

CPS data chicago public schools statistics on the high school graduation rate and college enrollment rate for black students for latino students for asian students and for white students both young men and women during the pandemic

Data Insights

The To&Through Project data insights illustrate research on the forces and factors that drive high school and college success.

Myths and Facts

Myths & Facts

UChicago Consortium and To&Through Project research has helped solidify facts and dispel myths about what it takes to make it to and through college.

Partnership with the School District of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia has focused on improving 9th Grade OnTrack rates at the system and school-level in an effort to increase its high school graduation rates. In partnership with the Neubauer Family Foundation, Revolution Impact, LLC and Philadelphia Academies, the To&Through Project is working closely with the School District of Philadelphia in adapting Chicago’s approach to improving students’ high school attainment with actionable research, access to high-quality, research-based data, and targeted professional development. This work includes the development of a 9th Grade On Track indicator and several data tools for principals and teachers across the district, with targeted support for eight high schools in the 9th Grade Success Network. 

Data Insights

The To&Through Project data insights illustrate how Chicago is faring on its quest to propel more students to and through high school and college. The data reveal that Chicago has seen major progress on the milestones that matter most for college success without sacrificing achievement—as systemwide high school and college graduation rates have gone up, so have GPAs and ACT scores for all student subgroups and school types. Learn more about Chicago’s upward trajectory and the forces and factors that drive college success below. View the data insights.

Myths & Facts

The path to and through high school and college is riddled with misguided notions and outdated assumptions about what students should know, do, and focus on in order to maximize their chances for success. Fortunately, more than a decade’s worth of research and data from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research — as well as new research produced in partnership with the To&Through Project — has helped solidify the facts and dispel myths about what it takes to make it to and through college. View the Myths & Facts.

MGN Project Page Photo

The Middle Grades Network (MGN)

A group of schools dedicated to creating more equitable and supportive educational environments where middle grades students can thrive.

Learn More
Screenshot of the online tool interface

Online Tool

The To&Through Project provides data on the milestones that research shows matter most for students’ high school and college success in one online hub for education stakeholders.

Learn More
Professionals working on reports

Reports

The To&Through Project works closely with The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research to conduct research and publish reports.

Learn More
Ms. Jung and Melanie

The Second Window Documentary Film

The Second Window: How a Focus on Freshmen Transformed a System spotlights the research that inspired Chicago Public Schools’ bet on students’ ninth grade year.

Learn More
A data collaborative session

Data Collaboratives

The To&Through Data Collaborative is a monthly gathering for the presentation and discussion of new work in education data in Chicago.

Learn More
taking a semester off college pathways transitions to college first generation student story taking a semester off for mental health tips for college success why college students drop out college success story

Student Perspectives

The To&Through Project shares CPS students and graduates' stories to elevate them as experts of their own lived experiences.

Learn More
Students outside of a Philadelphia school building

Partnership with the School District of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia has focused on improving 9th Grade OnTrack rates to increase high school graduation rates.

Learn More
CPS data chicago public schools statistics on the high school graduation rate and college enrollment rate for black students for latino students for asian students and for white students both young men and women during the pandemic

Data Insights

The To&Through Project data insights illustrate research on the forces and factors that drive high school and college success.

Learn More
Myths and Facts

Myths & Facts

UChicago Consortium and To&Through Project research has helped solidify facts and dispel myths about what it takes to make it to and through college.

Learn More