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
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.
To&Through Milestones Tool 101
Learn how to use our online tool! In this 90-minute introductory, 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.
January | The To&Through Project
The To&Through Project, will present the newest edition of our iconic Myth & Facts. The new resource is titled Numbers & Narratives. It blends both quantitative and qualitative data into an interactive website, highlighting important educational facts starting from the middle grades, all the way to college graduation.
Upcoming Events
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.
To&Through Milestones Tool 101
Learn how to use our online tool! In this 90-minute introductory, 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.
January | The To&Through Project
The To&Through Project, will present the newest edition of our iconic Myth & Facts. The new resource is titled Numbers & Narratives. It blends both quantitative and qualitative data into an interactive website, highlighting important educational facts starting from the middle grades, all the way to college graduation.
Beyond Income: How Wealth Can Better Target State Funding for Higher Education
State post-secondary aid systems assess a student’s ability to pay for college by focusing on their household income, but overlook household wealth. This approach obscures the significant challenges faced by dually disadvantaged students—those who are both low-income and low-wealth.
February | Hope Chicago
Megan Lane Conklin and Deanna Stewart will present on Hope Chicago's effectiveness at increasing college enrollment and retention for over 2,600 students from underserved Chicago Public High Schools. Specifically, they will discuss the role student engagement plays in success and what types of student engagement are correlated with higher outcomes. Megan is the Director of Data and Deanna is a Program Manager at Hope Chicago.
Supporting College Success for Black Graduates of Chicago Public Schools
In 2024, 57% of Black CPS graduates successfully enrolled in college in the fall immediately after high school graduation. When we look at college completion for the most recently available 6 year graduation cohort however, we see that for the class of 2018, 40.% of those Black young women and 27% of Black young men who enrolled have actually walked across the stage with their college diploma or certificate.
March | City Colleges of Chicago
In FY25, in response to both rising student need and looming federal program cuts, the City Colleges of Chicago launched the Thrive Strategy: an ambitious system-wide commitment to making basic needs support—spanning food security, housing, mental health, emergency grants, and technology—an integral part of the CCC experience. Thrive is rooted in the belief that when students’ basic needs are met, they are empowered to persist, complete their programs, and graduate into upwardly mobile, family-sustaining careers.
To&Through Milestones Tool Superuser Workshop
Calling all To&Through Milestones Tool fans! 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?
Past Events
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.
To&Through Data Collaborative: Blenda Chiu
Blenda Chiu presented Bottom Line Chicago’s use of financial aid data to improve student supports. Blenda is the Director of Programs for Bottom Line Chicago.
2018 To&Through Convening
The To&Through Project's 2018 Convening brought together more than 220 K-12 and higher education, nonprofit, and civic leaders for a rich series of discussions centered on research and data on what fosters students' high school and post-secondary attainment and featured a keynote address from former U.S. Secretary of Education and Education Trust President and CEO, John B. King, Jr.