Despite the pandemic’s disruption, Chicago high school students graduated at a record high rate for the second year in a row this past spring, with upticks for students of all races.

Overall, 83.8% of students graduated in five years in 2021, compared with a rate of 82.5% last year, the district said Thursday. That increase comes after a year of largely remote learning, marked by increases in failing grades and drops in attendance, especially for students of color...

As a Research Analyst at the UChicago Consortium, Ella cleans large-scale databases and conducts statistical analyses to help create and maintain resources that support students, teachers, and administrators in CPS. Prior to joining the UChicago Consortium, Ella worked as a Data Archive Research Assistant for the Committee on Education at the University of Chicago. She also previously worked as a lab assistant, behavioral science consultant, and barista. Ella is interested in integrating data-driven research with practice to effectively improve students' experiences.

May Malone is the Senior Public Engagement Strategist at the Urban Education Institute. In this role, May helps to expand awareness of and engagement with the research- and practice-based knowledge that UEI produces. May most recently worked as a Kimpton Fellow at the Urban Education Institute in the department of Stategic Communications and National Engagement. May is an award-winning filmmaker specializing in documentaries and short narratives.

When school buildings shuttered in March of last year and districts were scrambling to connect with students virtually, administrators in the Guilford County Schools in North Carolina started looking for tutors. 

Dominique “Dom” McKoy is the Executive Director of The University of Chicago To&Through Project, which strives to create equitable education outcomes for Chicago Public Schools students by helping educators use data for inquiry and impact. Through his work, Dom aims to ensure education and community leaders in positions to affect student outcomes from the middle grades through college have access to high-quality quantitative and qualitative data to better understand student experiences and to inform the development of responsive student supports.

Key Findings

• In 2019, high school graduation rates were similar across community areas; in most community areas the rates were between 70 and 90 percent. However, the rates for the same students by high school ranged from 49 percent to 99 percent.

• In almost every community area in Chicago, more than 50 percent of 2019 high school graduates enrolled in a two-year or four-year college immediately after graduating from high school.

Key Findings

• The Freshman OnTrack initiative reframed the problem of school dropout from an outcome that is outside the control of educators to one that can be managed through effective school-based strategies.
• Ninth grade is a pivotal year that provides a unique intervention point to prevent school dropout.
• The Freshman OnTrack initiative in Chicago provides an important case study of the potential use of data to build the capacity of high school educators to manage complex problems and create systems of continuous improvement.