This episode features a conversation with Alex Usher and Alex Seeskin from the University of Chicago. Alex Usher is Associate Director for Data Research at the University of Chicago’s To&Through Project and Senior Research Analyst for the UChicago Consortium on School Research. Alex Seeskin is Director of The To&Through Project, which is housed at the UChicago Urban Education Institute. UChicago’s Consortium on School Research and the To&Through Project have been at the forefront of research into data that can determine whether students in elementary, middle and high school are on-track for on-time graduation and successfully transitioning into postsecondary options.

In Part 2 of the conversation, Alex Usher, Alex Seeskin and Jason talk about the power of on-track indicators to show real-time trajectories of students; the two most critical thresholds across student grades and attendance that drive those trajectories; how educators can use these data to influence big picture school wide educational issues as well as interventions for individual students or specific groups of students; how think about moving the needle on student trajectories; and, what are some new research interests for the middle grades on the horizon.

Additional Readings and Resources

• University of Chicago To&Through Project
  • Milestones Data Tool
  • Middle Grades Network
  • “Elementary On-Track: Elementary School Students’ Grades, Attendance, and Future Outcomes,” Alex Seeskin, Thomas Massion, and Alexandra Usher, University of Chicago Research Report, October 2022.
  • Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework, Jenny Nagayoka, et al., University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, June 2015.
  • “The On-Track Indicator as a Predictor of High School Graduation,” Elaine Allensworth and John Q. Easton, University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, 2005.
• Consortium on Chicago School Research
• Network for College Success
• Chicago Public Schools