Efforts to improve the academic performance of ninth-graders drove large improvements in graduation rates three years later in a diverse set of 20 Chicago public high schools, according to a report released Thursday by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research. This suggests that the recent dramatic improvement in the percentage of Chicago ninth-graders who are “on track” to graduate should continue to propel system-wide graduation rates in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
A second report released today by UChicago CCSR helps explain why ninth grade is such a key leverage point for reducing dropouts. The results were presented at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center in an April 24 event that included Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; CPS Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett; Dean Neil Guterman of UChicago’s School of Social Service Administration (SSA); Tim Knowles, the John Dewey Director of the Urban Education Institute; Prof. Melissa Roderick, Senior Director at CCSR; and Elaine Allensworth, the Lewis-Sebring Director of CCSR...