Over the past decade, the college enrollment rate for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) graduates has steadily increased, but the college completion rate has remained relatively flat. To ensure more students who begin college finish with a diploma, we need to have a better understanding of what happens to students between the point at which they first enroll and the point at which they exit the post-secondary system.
In this report, we begin unpacking this question by looking at six years of patterns of college enrollment, non-enrollment, and completion for the approximately 63,000 CPS students who graduated high school between 2010 and 2012. Specifically, we look at when students stop out from college, how often they stop out, the type of transitions students make (between two- and four-year institutions and enrolled and not enrolled), and whether or not students complete a degree or certificate.Â
Below, you can read the report, explore the new College Pathways Tool that visualizes different groups of students' transitions, or download the research briefs that summarize key findings.