On April 21, 2006, the Consortium on Chicago School Research released “From High School to the Future,” a report on its multi-year study of college completion rates for CPS graduates. Discouragingly, only 35 percent of CPS graduates enrolled in a four-year college within a year after graduating high school. The Consortium blamed low GPAs and ACT scores for CPS students’ lack of access to college and success once enrolled.
“On average, 20 percent of CPS students leave high school with the GPAs and ACT scores they will need to attend selective colleges, such as University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University. However, half of these well-prepared students come from only five high schools. Most high schools are simply not up to standards in producing graduates ready for college.”