A high school student plays flute with his classmates during music class.

Hidden Risk: Changes in GPA across the Transition to High School Report

Insights into GPA loss across the transition from eighth to ninth grade in Chicago Public Schools (CPS)

This report explores how CPS students’ grades declined during the transition to high school in more detail, and considers how both eighth- and ninth-grade grades have changed since the original report was written.

The report cover of Hidden Risk features high school students in a music class.

Download the report

The report "Hidden Risk: Changes in GPA across the Transition to High School"  examines GPA declines in arts and PE/health grades, in addition to grades in the core subject areas, and breaks down these declines by race/ethnicity, gender, and eighth-grade achievement, and looks at how these patterns vary across schools. It also explores the relationships between failures in ninth-grade core and non-core courses, credit accumulation, and high school graduation.

Looking for more? Explore the To&Through Project leaders’ op-ed relating the lack of attention paid to the changes in students’ GPAs across their transition to high school to critical issues in higher education contributing to the opportunity gap for students with lower GPAs. Use the To&Through Milestones Tool to dive deeper into high school graduation and college enrollment data for CPS students — use the filter functions to disaggregate by students' graduating GPA.