Student Re-Engagement

Students who are disconnected from school are disproportionately vulnerable to gun violence and the resulting trauma. In Chicago, more than 90% of youth shooting victims are not enrolled in school at the time of victimization.

There is a dearth of programming for youth who are no longer consistently attending school and those who are already interacting with the justice system. To address this challenge, the Education Lab works with school communities to reach youth who have become disengaged from school, reconnect them to school programming, and ensure they have the trauma-informed supports needed to thrive. These programs, based on behavioral science-informed interventions, seek to give young people additional tools to navigate their difficult environments — return a sense of safety, slow down their decision-making processes, and increase their social-emotional skillset. We also use data to improve how public schools serve students facing significant barriers to completing a high school education by designing and testing innovative programs and policies that can support students at scale.