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
Annual Update on the Educational Attainment of Chicago Public Schools Students
The To&Through Project and UChicago Consortium will share our newest report on the 2020 Educational Attainment of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Students. Researchers will provide a picture of educational attainment during the onset of the pandemic (which comprises the most recent available data) for students of different race/ethnicity groups, students who began as English Learners, students with disabilities, and Options students.
To&Through Data Collaborative: UIC & Kids First on CPS Accountability Stakeholder Engagement
Natalie Neris and Matt Sweeney will present on the stakeholder engagement process for the CPS Accountability Redesign initiative at our December To&Through Data Collaborative.
Using Community-Based Data for Educational Equity
Join us on Wednesday, November 17 at 11:00 AM (CST) for a panel discussion with leaders from organizations collecting and using data on differences in investments, assets, and educational experiences between communities in Chicago. Leaders will discuss the implications of these data for cross-sector efforts to foster equitable investment in and educational experiences for Chicago Public Schools students.
To&Through Data Collaborative: To&Through on the Middle Grades Data Tool
Alex Seeskin and Thomas Massion will share a working prototype of the To&Through Online Tool that for the first time provides elementary schools with data on their graduates' Freshman OnTrack, high school graduation, and college enrollment rates. Alex is the Director of the To&Through Project and Thomas is a Research Analyst with the To&Through Project.
Community-Based Approaches to Educational Improvement
Join us on Tuesday, November 9 at 11:00 AM (CST) to put CBOs’ work in conversation with new research from the UChicago Consortium and the To&Through Project on differences in educational attainment between Chicago’s community areas. CBO leaders from the South and West Sides of Chicago will discuss the need for a whole-city approach to educational improvement and the collaborations that must be realized to advance educational equity.
Investigating Educational Attainment for CPS Students from a Community Perspective
Join us to investigate key attainment metrics for CPS students based on the community area in which they live rather than the school they attend. At the webinar, we will present key findings from new research that analyzes differences in patterns of high school enrollment as well as high school and college attainment between Chicago’s community areas. Attendees will also be among the first to explore the new, first-of-its-kind To&Through Community Milestones Tool.
Research Spotlight: Race, Advanced Math, and the Transition to High School
What are the academic and social factors that explain disparities in students’ likelihood of getting on (and staying on) the accelerated math track during the transition to high school? Join us at our Research Spotlight webinar on October 27 at noon (CST) to learn about Dr. Yasmiyn Irizarry’s recent study on advanced math course-taking in the ninth grade and its implications for practice and policy.
Research Spotlight: The Impact of COVID-19 and Racial Trauma on Emerging Adolescents
Experts in adolescent development and the creation of racial identities will discuss the impact of COVID-19 and incidents of racial trauma on emerging adolescents. The panel will include Dr. Rob Jagers from CASEL and Dr. Joanna Williams from Rutgers University. The panel will be moderated by Jenny Nagaoka of the University of Chicago with a welcome and introduction by Dr. Nancy Deutsch of the University of Virginia.
To&Through Data Collaborative: OneGoal on the "Fellow Journey Map"
Sam Koenig will present on the "Fellow Journey Map," an interactive student-facing data view for OneGoal fellows to understand what postsecondary milestones they have accomplished so far, and what they should work on next. Sam is the Senior Analyst at OneGoal.
To&Through Data Collaborative: Innovare & the Chicago Literacy Alliance
Nick Freeman of Innovare - Social Innovation Partners and Annie Rezac and Kaitlyn Childs of the Chicago Literacy Alliance will present on the LEI: Insights dashboard, which provides a shared map and a common set of data to empower the Chicago Literacy Alliance and its member organizations to make strategic, data-informed decisions to address the opportunity and access gaps facing Chicago communities.