The Network for College Success
A Partnership to Support Whole School Improvement in Chicago Public High Schools
The Network for College Success (NCS), a partnership between the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and the Chicago Public Schools, is transforming our high school communities through collaboration, shared learning, and use of data to support postsecondary success for all students. Founded by Professor Melissa Roderick in 2006, NCS brings research-based, integrated and intensive support for school improvement to principals, their instructional leadership teams, grade level teams and counselors. NCS builds the capacity of school leaders to work together and to use data to improve practice through five key initiatives:
Principal Leadership Development
The Principals Network provides professional learning in managing and leading change for school improvement, with an emphasis on instructional leadership and supervision. Peer network meetings serve as stuctured opportunities for exchanging ideas and resources in meeting the technical challenges of school improvement. Principals also receive individual coaching to help them translate learning and strategies into their own unique school contexts.
Instructional Leadership TeamsNCS provides training and school-based coaching to help schools: identify an area of instruction across all content areas to improve learning for all students; examine student work and data to guide instruction and professional learning; build capacity to use effective, research-based instructional practices; and align resources on efforts that most improve learning for all students.
Transition Success ProjectThe Transition Success Project empowers grade level teams to contain, focus, and propel their intervention efforts so that increasing numbers of students are on track to graduation. The project includes school-site coaching and the Success Team Collaborative, a professional community which brings schools across the network together monthly to share student support strategies informed by data and research. This project is grounded in the CCSR What Matters for Staying On Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools research.
Postsecondary LeadershipRooted in the CCSR Potholes on the Road to College study, the College Counselors Collaborative supports counselors in developing a sustainable schoolwide college-going culture. School-site coaching helps counselors use key data to guide students through the college search, application and enrollment process. The CCC also partners with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest in an ambitious initiative called The Pipeline Project 3.0, designed to increase the number of highly qualified Chicago Public School students who enroll in and graduate from selective and very selective colleges and universities.
Data and Research AccessNCS bridges the gap between research and practice by engaging school leaders in cutting edge research on high school reform. NCS draws on the unique resources of the Consortium on Chicago School Research to provide coherent and research-validated frameworks for student outcomes and strong research supports for schools in understanding their current performance and tracking progress as they move forward.
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