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
February Data Collaborative - Kids First Chicago
Jose Pacas, Chris Poulos, and Micaelan Valesky will present key data insights that supported an in-depth report series of parent-led recommendations to help stem Chicago’s Enrollment Crisis. Jose, Chris, and Micaelan are part of the Data Science and Research team at Kids First Chicago.
January Data Collaborative - Evidence 2 Action Workshops
Rosa Ramirez Richter (UChicago Consortium on School Research) and Dom McKoy (The To&Through Project) will present on efforts to share research and data with CPS parent and community LSC members in our new Evidence to Action workshop series. Rosa is the Director of Engagement and Partnerships at the UChicago Consortium on School Research and Dom is the Deputy Director of the To&Through Project.
Research Spotlight: Evidence to Inform Holistic College Admissions Policies
As we continue to navigate a college admissions landscape following the Supreme Court ban on race-conscious admissions and a context that is increasingly test optional, how are we re-thinking what equitable admissions policies can look like? A new report examines the idea of contextualized evaluation to account for the opportunities available within a high school and the broader context of individual schools, which seeks to level the playing field among different applicants coming from starkly different high schools, neighborhoods, and backgrounds.
December Data Collaborative - Embarc Post Secondary Team
Thomas Goodwin (Director of Data & Analytics) and Frank Miller (Lead Postsecondary Success Coach) will provide a presentation highlighting their utilization of Postsecondary Success (PSS) metrics, including non-college options, to drive and enhance Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) outcomes. Additionally, they will explore the reciprocal relationship between SEL measures and the enhancement of the PSS curriculum.
Research Release: The Finishing in Four Years Fallacy: 4-year versus 6-year
On the Dec 5th, 2023 at 2pm join the To&Through Project and UChicago Consortium for the release of a new research brief and student stories series focused on CPS graduates' time to college completion.
November Data Collaborative - T&T Student Stories
The To&Through Project team will present on their expansion of the Student Stories initiative. These stories aim to humanize quantitative To&Through findings by zooming in on individual CPS student journeys to highlight the successes, challenges, and complexities that exist across the many post secondary pathways chosen by CPS graduates.
Inquiry and Action Workshop: To&Through Milestones Tool
Join the To&Through team as we explore new 2022 data on our To&Through Milestone Tool! This 90-minute in-person workshop will allow participants to explore the To&Through Milestone Tool and learn how the data can be used to inform the support efforts of Chicago Public Schools students on their paths to high school and college completion.
October Data Collaborative - Black Researchers Collective
Dr. Glenance Green and Shari Runner will present on the Black Researchers Collective's efforts to train and equip communities with the research tools to be more civically engaged and policy informed. Glenance and Shari are the co-founders of the Black Researcher Collective.
Annual Update on the Educational Attainment of CPS Students
On Thursday, October 12th, 2023 at 12pm, the To&Through Project and UChicago Consortium will share their newest report on the 2022 Educational Attainment of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Students, which highlights the success of CPS students pursuing college degrees and opportunities gaps that still exist to make college success an accessible option for all CPS students.
To&Through Research Spotlight: The State of Adolescent Mental Health
As students re-enter school buildings this fall, we know that mental health challenges are on the rise for adolescents and we need to show up to support the well-being of young people in our communities. Dr. Jorge Verlenden (Behavioral Health Scientist at the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the CDC) will share the CDC's latest research on the current state of mental health for adolescents in the United States and in Chicago, including disparities in mental health within specific student populations.