Using Community-Based Data for Educational Equity

Over the past two decades, rates of educational attainment in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have improved rapidly and significantly. Yet as we emerge from the pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that achieving even more ambitious goals for students’ attainment hinges upon factors that lie beyond school buildings.

On Wednesday, November 17 at 11:00 AM (CST) join a panel discussion with leaders from organizations collecting and using data on differences in investments, assets, and educational experiences between communities in Chicago. Leaders will discuss the implications of these data for cross-sector efforts to foster equitable investment in and educational experiences for Chicago Public Schools students.

The discussion will also explore how publicly accessible data and data tools can build an ecological understanding of educational improvement for Chicago by connecting geographic inequities across sectors. Panelists include Dr. Nia Abdullah, Executive Director of MAPSCorps, which trains youth to produce high-quality, publicly accessible data about community assets; Jennifer Axelrod, Senior Director of Learning and Impact for the Chicago Community Trust, which is one of the organizations behind the Mapping COVID-19 Recovery project; and Jake Ament, Director of the Neighborhood Network at LISC Chicago.