Teacher and students

New partnership will support Chicago’s underserved students

A generous gift from AbbVie Pharmaceuticals will support a new partnership between the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Education Lab to implement and evaluate the most promising approaches for improving the education outcomes of Chicago’s most vulnerable students. This $15 million gift will bring proven programs to more youth in Chicago and support the design and implementation of innovative approaches for better serving the adolescents at greatest risk for school failure, dropout and violence victimization. This support will also enable the Education Lab to evaluate these efforts, which will generate rigorous evidence to inform policy and practice in Chicago and in cities across the country.

The investment builds on both AbbVie’s longstanding commitment to underserved populations and on CPS’s tradition of pushing the frontier of education practice and policy innovation. The Education Lab is honored to partner with the Chicago Public Schools and AbbVie to leverage local innovation, data, and evidence in service of Chicago’s youth. Together, we hope to achieve the shared goal of ensuring that every student in Chicago has the supports they need to succeed in school and achieve their potential.

This transformative gift will ensure that many more students in Chicago get the support they need to succeed and will help generate evidence to guide policy and practice for years to come. Still, one gift alone cannot solve for the enormous unmet need for segments of young people in our home city, and we believe there is much work left to be done. If you are interested in learning about how your support can help the Chicago Public Schools and the Education Lab provide proven and innovative supports to more youth, please click here or contact:

Roseanna Ander
Executive Director
University of Chicago Education Lab
rander@uchicago.edu

Francie Richards
Head of External Affairs, Chicago Public Schools
Executive Director, Children First Fund
fmrichards@cps.edu
 

UChicago Education Lab Press Release
AbbVie Press Release

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