This post is by Alex Seeskin (Chief Strategy Officer of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute and UChicago To&Through Project Director), Jenny Nagaoka (Deputy Director of the UChicago Consortium), and Sarah Duncan (Co-Executive Director of the University of Chicago Network for College Success)
In 2006, fewer than 2 in 3 students who entered Chicago Public Schools (CPS) as freshmen graduated from high school. Of those who did earn a diploma, only a third went on to enroll in a four-year college. The outcomes were even worse for African American and Latino male graduates. Now, just more than a decade later, Chicago’s high school graduation rate has climbed 18 percentage points, to 75 percent, and its college enrollment rate rose 14 percentage points to 47 percent, a number slightly higher than the nation’s college enrollment rate of 46 percent. The college enrollment rates for African American and Latino male students increased 14 and 13 points, respectively...