Skip to main content

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.

Upcoming Events

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.

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.

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! 

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.

Past Events

To&Through Data Collaborative: Kirat Doshi

Kirat Doshi presented on work around the "My Options" tool, a project to provide OneGoal Fellows with real-time feedback around the development of their college lists. Kirat Doshi is the Managing Director of Analytics at OneGoal.

To&Through Data Collaborative: Nate Flint

Nate Flint presented National Louis University's undergraduate coaching/advising/career milestones, and the data dashboard used to manage them. Nate is the Manager of Undergraduate Analytics at National Louis University. 

To&Through Data Collaborative: Patrick Milton

Patrick Milton presented on Chicago Public School's "LEARN. PLAN. SUCCEED. Progress Reports", which provide personalized overviews of potential college options and each student’s level of competitiveness based on available academic metrics. Patrick is the Executive Director of the Office of School Counseling & Postsecondary Advising at Chicago Public Schools.

To&Through Data Collaborative: Megan Lane

Megan Lane shared analysis on current teacher retention measures and trends in CPS, along with plans for building an "on-track indicator" to predict teacher attrition to inform recruiting and school match. Megan is a Strategic Data Project Fellow at Chicago Public Schools.

To&Through Data Collaborative: Jon Furr and Charlie Rosemond

Jon Furr and Charlie Rosemond presented the initial public version of the Illinois Postsecondary Profiles, a new online resource for information and data describing higher education institutions across Illinois.  Jon is the Executive Director of Education Systems Center and Charlie is the Data and Outcomes Manager. 

To&Through Data Collaborative: Quinton Keith

Quinton Keith presented the Network for College Success’ Tableau data portal for the organization’s 17 CPS partner schools. Que is the Director of Data and Continuous Improvement for NCS.

To&Through Data Collaborative: Monica Bhatt

Monica Bhatt presented the methodology CPS and the Urban Ed Lab recently used to set realistic, data-driven goals across the district, networks, and schools, employing an equity-focused approach to improvement. Monica is the Research Director with the Crime and Ed Labs. 

To&Through Data Collaborative: Steven Shewfelt and Emily Cibelli

Steven Shewfelt and Emily Cibelli presented new developments to Ingenuity’s artlook platform. Steve is the Director of Research and Data, Tom is the Manager of Data Strategy and Products, and Emily is a Senior Data Analyst. 

To&Through Data Collaborative: Matt Niksch

Matt Niksch presented Noble Charter School’s data systems for college access and success, including the use of Python, Jupyter Notebooks, Google Docs, Github, AWS, and JIRA. Matt is the Chief College Officer at Noble Charter School. See Matt's blog.

To&Through Data Collaborative: Jeff Broom and Bridget Lee

Jeff Broom and Bridget Lee presented a working draft of Chicago Public Schools’ new School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP). Jeff is the Director of School Quality Measurement and Research and Bridgette is the Manager of Performance Policy for CPS.