Sixteen years ago, high school students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) were almost as likely to drop out as they were to graduate; today they are three times as likely to graduate as drop out. What is driving this remarkable increase? A new report from the UChicago Consortium on School Research addresses the extent to which various factors could account for the changes in graduation rates, including changes in student performance and student demographics, increasing numbers of charter and selective enrollment high schools that serve Chicago students, and changes in school practices around improving attendance and course performance. The study uses age cohorts – following students from freshman year in CPS until they turn 19. This allows the cohorts to be comparable over time, regardless of changes in grade promotion criteria. It finds graduation rates have increased by 22 percentage points over the last 16 years, from 52.4 percent among students who turned 19 in 1998, to 74.8 percent in 2014, with the most rapid increase occurring in the last six years. Freshman on-track rates have also risen during the same period, from 48 percent among students who were 19 years old in 1998 to 81 percent for students who will turn 19 in 2017, suggesting graduation rates will continue to rise. While changes in student demographics account for some of the increase in graduation rates, improvements in student performance in high school —compared to similar students who started high school in the past—accounts for most of the change; students are passing more classes and earning more credits in ninth grade. Not only are more students graduating, but they are leaving high school with higher achievement than graduates in prior years.

High School Graduation Rates through Two Decades of District Change: The Influence of Policies, Data Records, and Demographic Shifts

Education & Teaching

Allensworth, Elaine M.

Healey, Kaleen

Gwynne, Julia A.

Crespin, René

Schools & Teaching

Consortium On Chicago School Research

This research synthesis is designed to help teachers and principals support equitable outcomes for all students. It suggests ways teachers, administrators, and school support personnel can use insights from research to create Pre-K-12 schools and classrooms that advance educational equity.The synthesis brings together the UChicago Consortium's ground-breaking research on the influence of school climate on student achievement, the importance of mindsets and developmental experiences, as well as other leading education research. It draws attention to the critical role of engagement and mindsets in student success; how teachers and administrators can create strong school climates that support students and engage families as partners; and how responsive classrooms can enable all students to have strong academic engagement.

Supporting Social, Emotional, and Academic Development: Research Implications for Educators

Johnson, David W.

Farrington, Camille A.

Nagaoka, Jenny

Gordon, Molly F.

Klein, Kylie

McDaniel, Bronwyn

More than 76 percent of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students who begin kindergarten as English Learners (ELs) become proficient in English by fifth grade. Outcomes showed that students who achieved English proficiency by eighth grade (78 percent), performed academically as well as or better than their peers who began school proficient in English or were native-English speakers.Previous studies about ELs have reported data on active English Learners-defined as those students who have not yet reached proficiency on a state English test-at a specific moment in time. This study, for the first time, analyzed the long-term trajectories of 18,000 CPS students who began kindergarten as ELs and followed their progress all the way through eighth grade.

English Learners in Chicago Public Schools: A New Perspective

Reference

de la Torre, Marisa

Blanchard, Alyssa

Freire, Silvana

English as a Second Language

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