Consortium on Chicago School Research

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Data

Data Requests

The depth of CCSR's research capacity is made possible by our rich archive of quantitative and qualitative data, the largest of any urban public school system. One of the most important sources for evidence on Chicago's schools is our Improving Chicago's Schools survey, which we have administered biannually since 1991 to CPS principals, teachers, and students. Among the many areas of school practice probed by our surveys are learning climate, student-teacher relationships, leadership, quality of instructional programs, professional environment, and relationships with parents and the community.

Complementing data from our biannual surveys are complete student test-score records (dating from 1987), CPS student and teacher administrative records, and grade and transcript files for high school students. Our archive also includes ancillary data from other sources, such as census and crime statistics and student information on Chicago neighborhoods from surveys of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods.

Our extensive collection of qualitative data includes teacher assignments, samples of student work, information from in-depth interviews and classroom observations, and short-term and longitudinal case studies of schools. This depth of qualitative data enables us to identify future research topics, refine interview and research questions, and, on occasion, pose alternative explanations for unexpected results from our quantitative analyses.