The To&Through Project’s events are intended for a diverse cross-section of education leaders and partners from the K-12, higher education, nonprofit, and civic communities. Presenters and panelists come together to share new research findings as well as share ideas and strategies for helping Chicago’s under-resourced students succeed in high school and college. The To&Through Project also hosts monthly Data Collaboratives designed to elevate and promote dialogue around new and emerging work focused on applying data to youth development efforts. You can watch recordings of our previous events on YouTube.
Events
Featured Events
January Data Collaborative - The To&Through Project
Peyton Cunningham will present theoretical frameworks which provide grounding and research support for the most central initiatives at To&Through. Peyton is a Ph.D. Candidate in University of Chicago’s Sociology department and an Institute for Education Sciences Fellow at To&Through.
To&Through Milestones Tool Workshop: Higher Ed Lens
This 90-minute in-person workshop will offer a guided exploration of the To&Through Milestones Tool's new Higher Ed lens. Participants will connect data to their efforts to support CPS students who matriculate to City Colleges of Chicago, using CCC as an example of what's possible with this data.
English Learners in Chicago Public High Schools
The UChicago Consortium on School Research recently published a report examining high school and college outcomes for English Learners in Chicago Public Schools. Join study author Marisa de la Torre (Consortium on School Research) and Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro (Latino Policy Forum) to learnkey takeaways from the study.
Upcoming Events
January Data Collaborative - The To&Through Project
Peyton Cunningham will present theoretical frameworks which provide grounding and research support for the most central initiatives at To&Through. Peyton is a Ph.D. Candidate in University of Chicago’s Sociology department and an Institute for Education Sciences Fellow at To&Through.
To&Through Milestones Tool Workshop: Higher Ed Lens
This 90-minute in-person workshop will offer a guided exploration of the To&Through Milestones Tool's new Higher Ed lens. Participants will connect data to their efforts to support CPS students who matriculate to City Colleges of Chicago, using CCC as an example of what's possible with this data.
English Learners in Chicago Public High Schools
The UChicago Consortium on School Research recently published a report examining high school and college outcomes for English Learners in Chicago Public Schools. Join study author Marisa de la Torre (Consortium on School Research) and Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro (Latino Policy Forum) to learnkey takeaways from the study.
February Data Collaborative - Enlace Chicago
Valerie Coffman from Enlace Chicago will present on a report centered on undocumented students. The presentation will also contextualize immigration within the context of Trump administration and change in landscape.
Exploring Chicago Public School’s Black Student Success Plan
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Black Student Success Plan is a strategic initiative focused on improving daily learning experiences and life outcomes for Black students across Chicago. Join us on February 27th, 2025 at Noon for a two-part webinar exploring Black student success in CPS.
March Data Collaborative - Praxis Institute
The Praxis Institute will present on the evolution of their data sessions to make them engaging and responsive, informed by their learnings after years of leading data collaboratives for Chicago’s youth programs. You can check out the Praxis Institute's recent blog to learn more.
Fausto is the Co-Founder of the Praxis Institute and Josh is a Managing Partner at Praxis.
Using Cultural Wealth to Reframe Community Partnerships
Chicago’s neighborhoods contribute to the vibrancy of our city and play an integral part in shaping the lives of Chicago Public School students.
April Data Collaborative - UChicago Inclusive Economy Lab
Emileigh Harrison and Kelly Hallberg from the UChicago Inclusive Economy Lab will present research on the impact of the Star Scholarship in Chicago, which offers free community college tuition to high school graduates with at least a 3.0 GPA. Using a regression discontinuity design, their findings suggest that free community college increases overall degree attainment without causing students to substitute 4-year degrees for 2-year degrees.
June Data Collaborative - Mikva Challenge
Youth leaders a part of Mikva Challenge's Student Advisory Council will present their work supporting youth civic engagement related to CPS polices.
Past Events
December Data Collaborative - CPS Metric Redesign
Jeff Broom, Augusta Smith, Jonathan Harper, and Jake Brekelbaum will present how Chicago Public Schools is implementing the new Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency policy. The new policy shifts away from summative school rating and towards a holistic view of schools that includes student outcome metrics, measures of the conditions present at schools, and the district provided resources and supports aligned to those metrics and conditions.
November Data Collaborative - Career Village
Eric Reyes and Abby Lupi will present their journey and two-year plan for measuring Career Readiness at CareerVillage.org, an organization that aims to democratize access to career information and advice. Historically, they did this through their Q&A forum and have since released Coach, their AI career coach. Eric is the Director of Data, and Abby is the Senior Data Analyst at CareerVillage.
October Data Collaborative - City Colleges of Chicago
City Colleges of Chicago’s Decision Support team will share how they’re supporting data-informed decision-making for continuous improvement. City Colleges of Chicago is Illinois’ largest community college system, serving more than 60,000 students annually. It is comprised of seven independently-accredited colleges: Harold Washington College, Harry S Truman College, Kennedy-King College, Malcolm X College, Olive-Harvey College, Richard J. Daley College, and Wilbur Wright College.
September Data Collaborative - BUILD Chicago
Community-based organizations can greatly benefit from logic models, but often struggle to develop and maintain logic models that are well aligned with evolving on-the-ground program realities. Dave Koch will present on two games recently implemented with program staff at BUILD, a violence prevention organization working with young people on Chicago’s west side, which helped center the perspective and gain the buy-in of program staff while developing and implementing a new logic model.
August Data Collaborative - Ingenuity
Angela Lin and Christine Ng will present on Ingenuity’s continuum of data products tailored for different stakeholders, informing strategy and driving change within arts education in CPS. Their focus will be on the latest annual State of the Arts Report and new interactive dashboard. Ingenuity’s mission is to ensure that every student, in every grade, in every CPS school, has access to the arts as part of a well-rounded education.
June Data Collaborative: OneGoal
Susie Tovar, E.M. Saunders, Veronica Nieves and Drew Stricker will share about the OneGoal organization and recent quantitative analysis about postsecondary outcomes for students “in the middle” academically (GPA: 2.25-2.99). OneGoal is a postsecondary access and success organization working with schools and districts to transform postsecondary advising so that all students can define their futures. Susie is the Senior Director of Teacher Support, Junior Year of High School; E.M.
Kegs & Cases: Supporting CPS students in their journeys after high school
Join us in-person for our second annual To&Through Kegs & Cases event at Guild Row (3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618). We will share our latest Learning Case– a qualitative look at how practitioners are supporting CPS alumni in their postsecondary journeys in the first two years after high school graduation. Come participate in a facilitated case learning experience, learn about how this resource can support the learning communities you engage with, and network with our To&Through community with drinks and snacks!
May Data Collaborative - The People’s Music School
Natalie Butler and Marc Wilson will present on The People's Music School's use of quantitative and qualitative data analysis to deepen student impact over a long-term journey with the school. The People's Music School is one of the nation's only and largest free music schools, partnering with CPS schools to provide high quality after-school music programming in Chicago's historically underserved communities. Natalie is their Dean of Learning & Teaching and Marc is the Chief of Strategy and Partnerships.
Spotlight on Student Voice: Centering Young People as Experts in Student Experience
How can we better put student voice and student feedback into action? Join us on May 2nd at 2:00pm (CST) to engage in discussion with Middle Grades Network (MGN) Student Fellowship and its alignment with one of their partner schools, Sumner Math & Science Community Academy. Participants will learn about the process of student voice implementation and understand how direct feedback from students can be used to shift practice.