Project Tracks How CPS Supports Effect College Success
Project Tracks How CPS Supports Effect College Success
By Tia Carol Jones
According to research done by the To & Through Project, if current rates hold, 31% of current CPS ninth-graders would complete a college credential within 10 years. This data comes from a study that was released in fall of 2024, using 2023 data. The project, which is housed at the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute, has been tracking this data since it has been in existence for 10 years.
The To & Through Project is comprised of researchers, educators and data strategists who work on the project, which is a partnership between the University of Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools. They are driving research to better understand what is happening with Chicago Public School students and what supports they need to ensure they are successful within the school district and beyond.
Dominique McKoy is the Executive Director of the To & Through Project at The University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. McKoy said that the To & Through Project uses data to understand student outcomes along their journey through CPS as they are on their pathway to college and in college.
“We spend a lot of time both working in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools to train educators and leaders on how we can use some of the outcome data to better understand how we help our students, but also we work with the larger ecosystem that support Chicago Public School students – nonprofits, community-based organizations, and sometimes elected officials. That we strongly believe we play a role in making sure our students have supports, resources and conditions to be successful in middle school high school and college,” he said. He added that the Chicago Public Schools deserves credit for creating positive narratives around improving access to college and college success.
McKoy said that in 2006, a team looked at rates of attainment – high school graduation, college enrollment and college completion -- for CPS students. It found that 6% would graduate from college, which would mean six out of 100 ninth graders that entered CPS high schools would have a college degree.
He said it kicked off an era where the district wanted to understand what was happening that would lead to this low rate of college completion. Since 2006, the To & Through Project has been tracking the numbers in the postsecondary attainment report annually. The postsecondary attainment index data will be updated this fall to reflect the 2024 data.
McKoy said to go from six percent in 2006 to thirty one percent in 2023 means that the district has made progress, with making college more accessible, but there is still more work to do. He said that it is important to note that those rates are aggregated based on race and gender and one thing they found was that young Black men are projected to have a twelve percent attainment rate. He said the project is continuing to work to understand how to ensure that all students have the support they need to go to and complete college.
McKoy said that the district has gotten better at making sure that students know what their options are and that there is an improvement in the quality of counselors and postsecondary advisors to advise students to know they have options. He added that in talking to students, the issue of finances comes up a lot. He said that making sure students have sustainable financial aid plans can improve the attainment rates, which he said has improved.
He also pointed to the city of Chicago’s robust nonprofit system and college partnership initiatives that support CPS students navigating going to and completing college. He acknowledged Roadmap, which helps students transition from CPS to City Colleges of Chicago, and Hope Chicago, which supports students and their parents by providing debt-free postsecondary pathways.
McKoy said that while To & Through Project has done a lot of work to collect the data, the work continues.
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