The Educational Attainment of Chicago Public Schools Students

A four-year college degree increases a student's employment prospects and earning potential. Given this importance, it is not surprising that 75 percent of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) high school students aspire to obtain at least a four-year college degree. Yet, prior research showed that few achieved this goal: a 2006 University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR) report estimated that--based on high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, and college graduation rates--just 8 percent of CPS ninth-graders would earn a bachelor's degree by the time they reached their mid-twenties. This number was shockingly low to many people and served as a rallying cry to drastically improve the college success of Chicago's students. It also provided a baseline for examining changes in the educational attainment of CPS students over time. This brief updates that statistic, which the authors refer to as the "degree attainment index" and describes the changes in the key milestones that comprise it--high school graduation, four-year college enrollment, and bachelor's degree completion--that have occurred since the 2006 report. It also shows how CPS graduates' qualifications for college--high school GPAs and ACT scores--and the colleges they attend have changed during this time period. Three appendixes are included: (1) Changes in Four-Year High School Graduation, Four-Year College Enrollment, and College Match Rates by Achievement; (2) Data and Methods; and (3) Bachelor's Degree Completion by ACT and High School GPA.