Ask the Expert On-Track for Graduation

Elaine Allensworth, Julia Gwynne,
Holly Hart & Joy Lesnick

Photograph of Elaine M. Allensworth, Ph.D. Elaine M. Allensworth, Ph.D.

Elaine Allensworth is the Interim Co-Executive Director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research. She has published widely on the structural factors that affect high school students' educational attainment, particularly the factors that affect graduation and dropout rates. Elaine is currently leading a mixed-methods study of the transition to high school, as well as several studies on the effects of rigorous curricular reforms on instruction, grades, test scores, high school graduation and college attendance.

Photograph of Julia Gwynne, Ph.D. Julia Gwynne, Ph.D.

Julia Gwynne is a Senior Research Analyst at CCSR. Her research interests include student mobility, curriculum policies, and special education.

Photograph of Holly Hart, Ph.D. Holly Hart, Ph.D.

Holly Hart is Associate Director for Survey Research at CCSR. Holly is currently conducting evaluations in areas of human resource development, including principal preparation and new teacher induction programs in Chicago.

Photograph of Joy Lesnick, Ph.D. Joy Lesnick, Ph.D.

Joy Lesnick is a Researcher at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and a Senior Research Analyst at CCSR. She is currently examining the relationship between reading on grade level in elementary school and future educational outcomes.

<< Back to Ask the Expert Home

Ask the Expert Your Question!

Question 3: Can the early warning system work as an "on track intervention system" for ELLs and other students to help ascertain if their interventions are working?

The on-track indicator can be used to gauge the effectiveness of certain interventions. The Consortium produces customized on-track reports for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) high schools that provide both current and historical data on how freshmen at each school perform on a variety of academic indicators, including absences, course failures and GPA. Examining how performance on these indicators has changed over time can help school leaders determine whether past intervention efforts have been successful of if they need improvement. The reports also separate on-track rates by gender and eighth-grade EXPLORE scores, allowing educators to determine whether interventions were more successful with some groups of students than others.

As well, CPS produces its own reports that provide schools with information about the on-track status of individual students. The reports flag students with poor attendance or poor grades for interventions and track the progress of students flagged on previous reports. These periodic updates provide timely feedback on how each student is responding to targeted interventions.

As for the system’s applicability to English Language Learners, previous Consortium research suggests the on-track indicator works the same way for ELLs as for the general student population. Researchers looked at the relationship between graduation and on-track status for first-time freshman in 2001-2001 who had ever been classified as ELL. Whether currently or formerly classified as ELL, those students who were on-track were four times more likely to graduate than those who were off-track.

The Consortium does have tentative plans to look more closely at how freshman year course performance predicts graduation for ELLs. Such research would necessarily take us beyond our typical focus on CPS, since ELL populations vary widely from district to district and state to state.