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
August Data Collaborative | Project OneTen
Adrian Villarreal from Project OneTen will walk through their Student Engagement Dashboard, powered by Airtable, and show how we use real-time data to track participation, growth, and retention. We’ll highlight our Flag System, a key tool to ensure students receive timely support and stay on track, activating staff and partners as needed. Adrian Villarreal is the Director of Operations & Impact at Project OneTen.
To&Through Spotlight: Sparking Engagement in the Middle Grades
Adolescence is one of the most critical periods for brain development and learning. Research also indicates that student engagement drops dramatically during this time. This is why the middle grades are a period of vulnerability but also of tremendous opportunity. This is a cornerstone of the work of our To&Through Middle Grades Network.
September Data Collaborative | To&Through’s 100th Data Collaborative
Come celebrate our 100th To&Through Data Collaborative! We’ve been hosting these data-centered collaborative spaces since 2017 and we are reaching the milestone of hosting our 100th Data Collaborative! Join us for a highlight of the impact of our Data Collaboratives over time AND join Alex Ritson and Dominique McKoy from the To&Through Project to provide input on the rollout of our new Milestones Tool lens showing outcomes for CPSChicago Public Schools students filtered by Higher Ed institutions.
Upcoming Events
August Data Collaborative | Project OneTen
Adrian Villarreal from Project OneTen will walk through their Student Engagement Dashboard, powered by Airtable, and show how we use real-time data to track participation, growth, and retention. We’ll highlight our Flag System, a key tool to ensure students receive timely support and stay on track, activating staff and partners as needed. Adrian Villarreal is the Director of Operations & Impact at Project OneTen.
To&Through Spotlight: Sparking Engagement in the Middle Grades
Adolescence is one of the most critical periods for brain development and learning. Research also indicates that student engagement drops dramatically during this time. This is why the middle grades are a period of vulnerability but also of tremendous opportunity. This is a cornerstone of the work of our To&Through Middle Grades Network.
September Data Collaborative | To&Through’s 100th Data Collaborative
Come celebrate our 100th To&Through Data Collaborative! We’ve been hosting these data-centered collaborative spaces since 2017 and we are reaching the milestone of hosting our 100th Data Collaborative! Join us for a highlight of the impact of our Data Collaboratives over time AND join Alex Ritson and Dominique McKoy from the To&Through Project to provide input on the rollout of our new Milestones Tool lens showing outcomes for CPSChicago Public Schools students filtered by Higher Ed institutions.
To&Through Milestones Tool 101 Workshop
In this 90-minute introductory and interactive workshop, participants will dive into the To&Through's online public data tool, which shows CPS students' outcomes on key academic metrics from the sixth grade through college. You'll understand our specific philosophy on data use, learn about the different “lenses” of available CPS outcomes data, and how this Milestones Tool can (and can't) be helpful in your work of strengthening student pathways to and through college.
October Data Collaborative | CPS Academic Progress Indicator
Peter Leonard and Kevin Shallcross will share how Chicago Public Schools has developed and is implementing the Academic Progress Indicator (API), the "Student Growth to Proficiency" measure in the Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency Policy (CIDT). The API uses shifts in standardized achievement to provide an understanding of student progress over time. Peter Leonard is the Executive Director of Student Assessment & MTSS and Kevin Shallcross is the Manager of Data Quality in the Department of School Quality Measurement & Research.
Exploring Pathways From High School to Career and Their Payoffs in Illinois
Does higher education still pay off for students? How have students from low-income families in Illinois fared after high school, and how do their education and earnings outcomes compare to more economically advantaged students? What education and employment opportunities best support upward economic mobility for Illinois students?
To&Through Milestones Tool Superuser Workshop
Calling all To&Through Milestones Tool fans! We want to delve deeper into the hidden features of the Tool that only superusers know about, and collaborate around use cases for the Tool and the CPS student outcomes data found there. Join us in this virtual workshop to practice finding and communicating insights from the Milestones Tool and share potential actions we want to take with that data.
Who should attend?
November Data Collaborative | Chicago Youth Boxing Club
Noah Pickens and Adrian Guzman, from the Chicago Youth Boxing Club (CYBC), will present on their efforts to develop a competency-based evaluation protocol that captures the holistic impact of their year-round boxing and mentorship programs. Their approach centers youth and community transformation, and they are seeking ways to improve our ability to capture a blend of quantitative, demographic, and developmental data to measure change over time.
December | Kids First Chicago: The State of Chicago Public Schools
Kids First Chicago (K1C) will present its latest State of Chicago Public Schools report—an annual data-driven review of how CPS students are doing both academically and socioemotionally. The report highlights key indicators such as student proficiency, growth, on-track rates, chronic absenteeism, post-secondary outcomes, and parent engagement.
Past Events
The To&Through Project: Kegs & Cases
Join the To&Through Project for our third annual Kegs & Cases at Cruz Blanca Taproom. We will share our latest Learning Case– a qualitative look at the experiences of Diverse Learner students as they navigate decision making, enrollment, and persistence at their chosen post-secondary pathways. Come participate in a facilitated case learning experience, meet & collaborate with stakeholders supporting CPS students, and network with our To&Through community over beers and snacks!
June Data Collaborative - Mikva Challenge
Mikva Challenge's Student Advisory Councial youth will present their Student-Led Local School Council (LSC) Toolkit, which is explicitly designed for student representatives. The toolkit will cover: building confidence; public speaking tips; leadership empowerment strategies; effective communication with teachers, administrators, and peers; conflict resolution and finding common ground; resources on LSC student member voting privileges; ways to elevate student voice in LSC meetings.
Partnership for College Completion’s College Transfer Report
The Partnership for College Completion will present findings from their recent report, Seamless Success: Transforming College Transfer for Greater Equity, which delves into the barriers faced by transfer students in Illinois, with a focus on community college students striving to transfer to four-year institutions. Informed by student perspectives, the report highlights challenges such as financial stress, administrative burdens, and inequities in transfer pathways, which disproportionately impact students from low-income backgrounds and students of color.
May Data Collaborative - Noble Schools
D. Nigel Green & Tyler Portis will present on Noble Schools’ Campus Equity Story dashboard, a newly introduced data tool that measures which campus subgroups have experiences furthest from “promised” goals within the Family, Staff, and Student communities. This dashboard takes information from multiple data tools to narrow the focus to where strategic planning could be better focused. D. Nigel Green is Senior Director of Equity and Tyler Portis is Senior Data Analyst within Noble Schools.
To&Through Milestones Tool 101: Exploring CPS Student Outcomes Data
In this 90 minute introductory workshop, participants will dive into the To&Through's online public data tool that shows CPS students' outcomes on key academic metrics from the sixth grade through college. You'll understand T&T's specific philosophy on data use, learn about the different “lenses” of available CPS outcomes data, and how this Tool can (and can't) be helpful in your work of strengthening student pathways to and through college.
Annual Middle Grades Network Celebration of Learning
Join us to celebrate the remarkable work of partner schools in the To&Through Middle Grades Network (MGN) at our annual celebration of learning. This virtual celebration will feature reflections from our MGN schools on their overall MGN experience, breakout sessions highlighting change ideas tested by schools, highlights from the MGN Student Fellowship.
Middle Grades to College: High School Views on Building Foundations for Postsecondary Success
The CPS Office of School Counseling and Postsecondary Advising and Success Bound will join the To&Through Middle Grades Network to host a panel of high school practitioners who will share advice on how to best support middle grades students in the transition to high school and the foundational skills necessary for postsecondary success. This session is geared towards elementary school practitioners supporting middle grades students and those interested in strengthening the connection between the middle grades and postsecondary success.
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.
Using Cultural Wealth to Reframe Community Partnerships
Chicago’s neighborhoods play a large role in helping shape the vibrancy of our city and plan an integral part in shaping the lives of Chicago Public School students. On March 19th, join us to learn about the successful community-centered student success model highlighted in the To&Through Project and Enlace Chicago’s recent release Connected Community: Reframing Community Partnerships Around College Success at Enlace Chicago.
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.