Research has shown that a student’s likelihood of graduating high school can be strongly predicted by freshman year performance as early as the first semester. For that reason, the state adopted a measure of 9th-grade progress called the Freshman On Track rate. Between 2018 and 2022, North Chicago’s Freshman On Track rate rose from 56 percent to 94 percent.
Tashara Williams is the Administrative Assistant at the Steans Family Foundation. Her role includes managing the foundation’s day-to-day operations with responsibilities for scheduling, coordinating and organizing internal and external meetings, activities and events on behalf of the trustees, executives, and program officers for the foundation.
Elizabeth Garcia is a Research Director for the Steans Family Foundation. In her role, she is responsible for working with the North Chicago team to identify, track, and monitor outcomes for SFF’s North Chicago initiatives, which includes providing support to school-based staff in student tracking and developing data cycles.