How effective is online learning?

The times have dictated school closings and the rapid expansion of online education. Can online lessons replace in-school time?

Clearly online time cannot provide many of the informal social interactions students have at school, but how will online courses do in terms of moving student learning forward? Research to date gives us some clues and also points us to what we could be doing to support students who are most likely to struggle in the online setting...

Reviewing REACH five years later

Five years after Chicago rolled out a teacher evaluation system that tied educator scores to student achievement, a new survey shows most teachers say it improves their performance in the classroom, but don’t want the scores used to hire or fire them. 

The survey from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research asks educators and administrators how effective they find the annual evaluations, and what they’d like to see change...

Do GPAs and ACT scores predict college completion?

In a new study, researchers examined the accuracy and consistency of grades and test scores in measuring a high school student’s academic readiness for the college.

The study, coauthored by the University of Chicago’s Elaine Allensworth, found that students with the same GPA or ACT score can complete college at significantly different rates, depending on the high school they attended...

New studies hint at clearer ways to measure English learners' performance

For many years, most of the problems of American public education have been described in terms of “achievement gaps.” This framing, and the education policy approaches that build from it, have much to recommend them. The framing begins from the incontrovertible premise that students from historically underserved demographic groups often have limited access to high-quality educational opportunities. This core, systemic inequity drives gaps in student achievement between students from these groups and privileged students.

Commentary

Millions of high school graduates across the country began college last fall. Since nearly three-quarters of CPS graduates now enroll in a two- or four-year college, it’s likely that you know a few of them. It’s also likely that many won’t finish college.

New studies hint at clearer ways to measure English learners' performance

For many years, most of the problems of American public education have been described in terms of “achievement gaps.” This framing, and the education policy approaches that build from it, have much to recommend them. The framing begins from the incontrovertible premise that students from historically underserved demographic groups often have limited access to high-quality educational opportunities. This core, systemic inequity drives gaps in student achievement between students from these groups and privileged students.

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