Matt Herndon (he/him) is the Development and Engagement Associate at the UChicago Consortium. In this role, he helps plan community events, workshops, and engagement activities, and assists partner organizations and the Consortium Investor Council with the goal of supporting more equitable outcomes for students. Prior to joining the UChicago Consortium, Matt worked as a preschool teacher and at Google in various capacities surrounding the recruitment and hiring process. Matt is currently an Education Pioneers Impact Fellow.

Key Findings

• Fewer than one-third of CPS graduates completed a bachelor’s degree within four years (30%) but 51% of CPS graduates completed within six years (51%; see Figure 1).

Dania is a doctoral student in the UChicago Developmental Psychology program working with Dr. Susan Levine. Prior to graduate school, Dania worked as a research assistant in the Cognitive Development Lab at the University of Chicago. Dania’s research explores mathematical learning through a developmental lens. Specifically, she is interested in investigating the impact that different socio-emotional, cognitive, and linguistic factors have on children’s mathematical understanding.

On a hot morning in July, a sleepy John Crerar Library starts to rouse as students arrive for Introduction to Robot Programming and Design, a college-level summer course for Chicago Public Schools rising seniors. Since Crerar’s renovation five years ago, the University Library’s sciences collections, housed here since 1984, have shared the building with the Department of Computer Science. Hustling and bustling from September to June, Crerar is several notches quieter now.

New data from the Illinois Report Card reveals that chronic absenteeism rates in McHenry County schools remain higher than pre-COVID-19 levels. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of school days, whether excused or unexcused. The report also highlights racial disparities in absenteeism rates, with Black and Hispanic students experiencing higher rates compared to their white peers.

Last month, this quote appeared in the New York Times Magazine. The article titled Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That? was written by Paul Tough.

Paul Tough and OneGoal go way back. In 2012, Paul published How Children Succeed and dedicated an entire chapter to the work we were doing at OneGoal. In 2019, I interviewed him in Chicago on his The Years that Matter Most book tour. Many of our champions associate Paul with OneGoal and OneGoal with Paul...

Mary Ann Ahern has a look at the latest reports for Illinois students and their test scores...

“What happens if our school isn’t renewed?”

Claudia Rodriguez read aloud that question, which was submitted from an audience of more than 100 parents gathered inside Noble School’s UIC College Prep’s gymnasium in mid-October...

According to the latest NWEA data, students last spring were, on average, 4.1 months behind pre-pandemic achievement levels in reading and 4.5 months behind in math. Students in middle school grades, students attending high-poverty schools, and students of color were the furthest behind, especially in math. These are big gaps, and they represent a daunting challenge: How, exactly, are schools supposed to help students get back on track? Which academic interventions will work best?