Navigating the Maze

In this report, we begin unpacking this question by looking at six years of patterns of college enrollment, non-enrollment, and completion for the approximately 63,000 CPS students who graduated high school between 2010 and 2012.

Many worry about ‘learning loss,’ but has this really been a lost year for CPS students?

There were some tough days for Alanna Barber’s kids in remote learning the past year.

Barber’s third-grade son, Sean, lost patience at times. She had to juggle Sean’s classes with her kindergartner’s first year in school. Barber ended up leaving her job as a school cafeteria manager in another district to stay home with her children...

Three Implications from Our Report on CPS College Enrollment and Retention During the Pandemic

In a relatively normal year, spring is a complicated time for CPS seniors, many of whom depend on their counselors, teachers, and other adults for support with financial aid packages and complex college decisions. In conversations with peers and adults, they grapple with how different post-secondary choices will affect their identities, relationships, and future.

William Delgado

William Delgado is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago and an Affiliated Researcher at the UChicago Consortium. He is currently working on the REACH project to examine teacher quality. He also studies human decision-making, with a focus on parents. His overarching goal is to understand and address inequality in opportunities and to foster human potential. His fields of interests include labor economics, economics of education, and behavioral economics.

College During the Pandemic

Key Findings

  • CPS graduates from the class of 2020 were about as likely to enroll in a four-year college as previous cohorts: 41.8 percent in 2019 vs. 40.8 percent in 2020.
  • CPS graduates from the class of 2019 were slightly more likely than previous cohorts to remain in four-year colleges between spring and fall 2020: 81.5 percent in 2019 vs. 84.1 percent in 2020.
  • CPS graduates from the class of 2020 were less likely to enroll in a two-year college: 20.0 percent in 2019 vs.
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