This episode features a conversation with Alex Usher and Alex Seeskin from the University of Chicago. Alex Usher is Associate Director for Data Research at the University of Chicago’s To&Through Project and Senior Research Analyst for the UChicago Consortium on School Research. Alex Seeskin is Director of The To&Through Project, which is housed at the UChicago Urban Education Institute.

Data released this week by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) demonstrated the devastating effect of the pandemic on the recent academic gains made by Chicago students.

In math, 41% of fourth graders were “below basic” — which NAEP defines as students not demonstrating the prerequisite fundamental skills they would need to be proficient in a subject — with roughly another 20% recognized as “proficient.” Also in math, 51% of eighth graders were considered below basic, with 16% achieving proficiency...

While abysmal math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams have parents and educators worried about students’ futures, English learners made a surprising gain, scoring four points higher in 8th-grade reading while student results overall dropped.

Developing the critical skills, attitudes, and behaviors children need to succeed as adults requires consistent, supportive relationships and positive developmental experiences in and out of school, according to a report by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Key Findings

• Students in grades 3-8 in the On-Track category graduated high school at more than twice the rate of students in the Intensive Support category (93 percent vs. 39 percent) and enrolled in college at more than four times the rate of students in the Intensive Support category (72 percent vs. 16 percent).
• Students in the Academic Support category, who came to school regularly yet were still not earning a 3.0 GPA, made up nearly 40 percent of students in the 2018–19 school year.

After 18 months of virtual learning, Terrence Smith returned to Chicago’s Austin College and Career Academy last year — and was struck by how empty the four-story building felt.

The West Side school lost more than a third of its student body during the pandemic, shrinking to fewer than 160 students, in a campus meant to serve almost 1,900...

Anyone who knows me or has ever heard me speak knows that one of my all-time favorite infographics is the Foundations of Young Adult Success two pager that accompanies the full 2015 report prepared by the UChicago Consortium on School Research.

Chicago students got more failing and incomplete grades during the pandemic, though that increase was much steeper at elementary schools than high schools, a new report out today finds.

But researchers with the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research say COVID-era grading data also offers some bright spots — and clues about how to steer recovery dollars to the schools that need them the most...