Chicago Public Schools Options Schools

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) serves 7,500 at-risk students—in particular, students who return to school after dropping out or are significantly behind in credits needed for graduation—through 41 Options Schools. These schools offer students additional supports and services to provide a path towards high school graduation. 

In 2018, CPS engaged Civic Consulting Alliance and our partners to analyze the Options Schools and identify strategies to better support students and improve student outcomes. One key strategy we identified was the need for a comprehensive, student-centric process to identify, enroll, and smoothly transition students to schools that match their needs.

From June to November 2018, Civic Consulting Alliance—together with our pro bono partners the Kellogg School of Management—helped redesign this process. We: 

• Defined the student population and criteria for entering Options Schools;

• Developed a student identification, assessment, and matching process to ensure the appropriate population enrolls in Options Schools;

• Revamped the enrollment process to address pain-points and ensure standardization across schools; 

• Defined an onboarding process to ensure students transition to schools smoothly; and 

• Recommended a follow-up model to create a feedback loop in the student matching and enrollment processes.

OUTPUTS

• A student-centric process to identify, assess, enroll, and transition 7,500 at-risk CPS students to Options Schools

OUTCOMES

• CPS CEO Janice Jackson committed to strengthening supports for students in Options Schools in her strategic plan, Five Year Vision: 2019-2024