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Elaine Allensworth
Interim Co-Executive Director

E-mail: elainea@ccsr.uchicago.edu

Elaine Allensworth is the Co-Director for Statistical Analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology, and an M.A. in Sociology/Urban Studies from Michigan State University. Elaine is an expert in statistical methodology, but believes strongly in combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Her work focuses on the structural factors that affect high school students’ educational attainment, particularly the factors that affect graduation and dropout rates. She was the lead author on a number of studies on graduation rates in the Chicago Public Schools, including What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in CPS (2007), The On-Track Indicator as a Predictor of High School Graduation (2005), and Ending Social Promotion: Dropout Rates in Chicago after Implementation of the Eighth-Grade Promotion Gate (2004). She recently began a three-year mixed-methods study of the transition to high school which follows a cohort of students from eighth grade into their second year in high school. This study looks at students’ perceptions of the challenges of high school, the school practices that can foster successful freshman-year performance, and the practices that can hinder students. Elaine is a member of the CCSR postsecondary project, which is following students’ transition from high school to college. As part of this work, she studied the factors affecting students’ performance on the ACT, From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation—Too Much, Too Late (2008). Elaine is also leading several studies on the effects of rigorous curricular reforms on students’ experiences in their classes, grades, test scores, high school graduation and college attendance. Elaine was once a high school Spanish and science teacher.

Elaine Allensworth is credited on the following CCSR Publications:

• The Schools Teachers Leave: Teacher Mobility in Chicago Public Schools
• From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation--Too Much, Too Late
• Trends in Access to Computing Technology and Its Use in Chicago Public Schools, 2001-2005
• What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools
• Update to: From High School to the Future: A First Look at Chicago Public School Graduates' College Enrollment, College Preparation, and Graduation from Four-Year Colleges
• The Essential Supports for School Improvement
• From High School to the Future: A First Look at Chicago Public School Graduates' College Enrollment, College Preparation, and Graduation from Four-Year Colleges
• The On-Track Indicator as a Predictor of High School Graduation
• Graduation and Dropout Trends in Chicago: A Look at Cohorts of Students from 1991 to 2004
• Ending Social Promotion: Dropout Rates in Chicago after Implementation of the Eighth-Grade Promotion Gate
• Principal and Teacher Leadership in Chicago: Early Evidence on Two Initiatives
• The Chicago Annenberg Challenge: Successes, Failures, and Lessons for the Future
• Educational Technology: Its Availability and Use in Chicago's Public Schools
• Declining High School Enrollment: An Exploration of Causes
• Student Performance: Course Taking, Test Scores, and Outcomes
• Calculating a Cohort Dropout Rate for the Chicago Public Schools
• Teacher Professional Development in Chicago: Supporting Effective Practice
• Summary of Presentations on Research on High School Reform Efforts in Chicago
• School Instructional Program Coherence: Benefits and Challenges
• Access to Magnet Schools in Chicago
• Ending Social Promotion: Results from the First Two Years