Ongoing Research from the UChicago Consortium

Tool Set E

The relationship between freshman course performance and high school graduation has been validated in schools, districts, cities, and states across America. Since the release of the What Matters report, UChicago Consortium researchers have produced a plethora of new evidence on the transition to high school. 

This body of research is moving the field from mitigating course failure (just staying On Track) to supporting high levels of course performance for all students. Specifically, this means helping students increase their Grade Point Averages so they are ready for the rigors of college. Tool Set E provides educators with an understanding of how the work has evolved in Chicago since the development of the On-Track indicator. 

These tools can serve as reference guides when your school is ready to work on improving course performance more holistically. The Annotated Bibliography lists and summarizes the key research coming out of the UChicago Consortium on the transition to high school. It shows the scope of the work from 2005, when the relationship between On-Track and high graduation rates was identified, to the latest research in 2016. The Developing the Risk and Opportunity Framework slide deck describes how the research indicators and data analysis on freshman success evolved over time to become a more complex early warning indicator system.

Use the Tool Set

The full Ongoing Research from the UChicago Consortium Tool Set is available for download. The download includes the two tools in this Tool Set. 

Tool Name Type

Annotated Bibliography of UChicago Consortium Research on the Transition to High School

Since the initial research on the On-Track metric, UChicago Consortium researchers have studied the transition to high school again and again to develop a large body of work on the critical nature of freshman year in Chicago Public Schools. This annotated bibliography provides an overview of the most important UChicago Consortium research over the past decade as well as how the findings push practice on the ground.
Research

Developing the Risk and Opportunity Framework

This slide deck breaks down the data system that Chicago schools now use to monitor freshman success. As the On-Track work evolved, UChicago Consortium researchers and the Network for College Success collaborated to develop a broader data framework to guide improvement efforts. Called the Risk and Opportunity Framework, it now functions as a detailed early warning indicator system for monitoring freshman success in schools throughout Chicago. Adopting this new and more complex data system also helped practitioners move from improving On-Track rates to increasing freshman course performance to higher levels.
Slide Deck