The impact of chronic absenteeism on McHenry County schools

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.

Is college worth it?

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...

3 academic interventions policymakers can support to help get students back on track

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?

Lenient grading won’t help struggling students

Two weeks ago, when I wrote about the proliferation of 50 percent grading floors in K-12 schools, I was shocked that there wasn’t more evidence available to have informed such a systemic change in the first place. The teachers I spoke to for that newsletter felt that this kind of policy — which prevents them from giving students zeros, including, in some cases, when they’ve skipped an assignment — coupled with policies that don’t allow them to factor attendance into grading, left them with few options for holding students accountable.

Education partnership guides post-pandemic learning recovery

Public schools continue to face challenges stemming from the pandemic. Many schools opened in fall with teacher vacancies and students performing below grade level. To support school districts’ efforts in learning recovery, faculty members in the UNC School of Education are leading an effort to connect K-12 and higher education leaders and educators, university-based faculty and researchers, and state policymakers.

Caroline Kelly

Caroline Kelly is an Affiliated Researcher at the UChicago Consortium and a PhD Student at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. She is also an Institute of Education Sciences fellow at the University of Chicago. Caroline's research centers on the implementation of Medicaid policy in schools and school-based mental health services. Caroline is a social worker with experience working in Chicago, Detroit, and Bay Area schools.

Rising share of Chicago Public Schools graduates are pursuing college, study finds

A rising share of Chicago Public Schools students enrolled in college in recent years, and far more are earning degrees or certificates at two-year colleges.

That’s according to a study released Thursday by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the To & Through Project, which tracks college enrollment. Additionally, the study found that more Chicago students than ever are projected to pursue and complete college over the next decade...

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