Roderick, Melissa. University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, April 2014. Research from UChicago CCSR shows that students who end their ninth-grade year on track are almost four times more likely to graduate from high school than those who are off track. In response, Chicago Public Schools launched a major effort in 2007 centered on keeping more ninth-graders on track to graduation. The district initiative promoted the use of data to monitor students’ level of dropout risk throughout the ninth-grade year, allowing teachers to intervene before students fell too far behind. The diversity of strategies was notable — from calls home when students missed a class to algebra tutoring to homework help. Since that time, the CPS on-track rate has risen 25 percentage points, from 57 to 82 percent. This report shows that improvements in ninth grade on-track rates were sustained in tenth and eleventh grade and followed by a large increase in graduation rates.