Student Re-Engagement

For children and families living in communities most affected by gun violence in America, consistent exposure to violence and trauma can be detrimental to their mental health, emotional development, and academic engagement, resulting in students becoming disconnected from school. Recent research suggests providing wraparound behavioral and mental health supports can help decrease violence involvement and increase academic 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.

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7 days

Our evaluation of Choose to Change (C2C) showed that in the year after the program’s start, participating youth attended an additional seven days of school compared to their peers.

48%

After the start of the program, C2C youth had 48 percent fewer violent-crime arrests. This positive impact persisted for over 1.5 years.

Related Projects
Back to Our Future (B2OF)

Back to Our Future (B2OF)

Back to Our Future (B2OF) is a state-funded, district-led, evidence-informed effort to re-engage disconnected students at an elevated risk for gun violence involvement.

Youth Advocate Programs
CURRENT

Youth Advocate Programs

The Crime Lab and Education Lab, in partnership with Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP), conducted a randomized controlled trial of YAP’s wraparound advocacy services to evaluate the program’s impact on youth academic outcomes and violence engagement outcomes.

Embedded Analysts
CURRENT

Embedded Analysts

The Education Lab provides technical assistance to support Chicago Public Schools in using data analysis to answer key questions and guide daily decisions.

High School Transitions

High School Transitions

At the request of Chicago Public Schools, the Education Lab conducted the High School Transitions project, which leveraged predictive analytics to identify students at risk of dropping out of high school as early as 7th grade and paired them with a summer enrichment program to help them get back on track.

Related Resources
Connect & Redirect to Respect: Final Report
Report

Connect & Redirect to Respect: Final Report

Jan 2019

Report on Connect & Redirect to Respect

Latest Updates

Why tutoring is a logistics problem worth solving
Op-Ed
District Administration
Oct 2025

Why tutoring is a logistics problem worth solving

The National Student Support Accelerator’s (NSSA) Susanna Loeb and the Education Lab’s Monica Bhatt highlight the ways districts can stay the course on using high-dosage tutoring as a research-backed lever for strengthening teaching and learning.

Months After Deep Cuts, Education Researchers See Reason for Cautious Optimism
Media Mention
The 74
Oct 2025

Months After Deep Cuts, Education Researchers See Reason for Cautious Optimism

In a recent piece from The 74 Media’s Greg Toppo, Education Lab Senior Research Director Monica Bhatt discusses why continued investment in education R&D matters: To drive better outcomes for students and to strengthen America’s global competitiveness.

Tutoring was supposed to save American kids after the pandemic. The results? ‘Sobering’
Media Mention
The Hechinger Report
Aug 2025

Tutoring was supposed to save American kids after the pandemic. The results? ‘Sobering’

The Hechinger Report’s Jill Barshay speaks with Education Lab Senior Research Director Monica Bhatt about the Personalized Learning Initiative’s latest interim findings from the 2023-24 school year.