CPS Gradebook reconstructed 2016–17 analytic dataset

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Evidence · 7 claims (7 for) · 2 studies (2 associational), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description

A Consortium-reconstructed analytic file linking five back-end CPS Gradebook tables for 17,056 ninth-grade students, 366 teachers, 86 schools, and 1,804 algebra and geometry sections in 2016–17.

Components

• CPS Gradebook electronic grading system and the reconstructed 2016-17 analytic dataset: Gradebook was CPS's electronic grade tracking system, since replaced by the very similar ASPEN, that suggested default grading categories and weights teachers could alter and provided parent and student portals. The Consortium reconstructed five of 13 back-end tables into a single analytic file covering 17,056 students, 366 teachers, 86 schools, and 1,804 ninth-grade algebra and geometry sections. The report states it took "approximately six months to reconstruct and connect five of 13 different 'back end' Gradebook tables into a single file." (Diaz et al. (2021))

Claims

• In CPS ninth-grade math sections using mastery-based or weekly grading, those categories determined nearly all of the final grade; otherwise assessments carried the highest weight, with a median of 60 percent exceeding the CPS/CTU 50 percent recommendation [+W]
• CPS ninth-grade math category families typically contained many tasks per semester—about 11 in assessments and 28 in assignments—except weekly categories, which typically contained only four tasks [+W]
• In 2016-17 CPS ninth-grade math sections, 98 percent of teachers altered or created grading category titles rather than using Gradebook's defaults, producing 709 unique category titles [+W]
• Sixty-five percent of CPS ninth-grade math sections used Gradebook's default Total Points Logic ON setting, aggregating task scores by total points earned over total points possible [+W]
• Most CPS ninth-grade math teachers used two or three grading category families, averaging 2.43 families per section [+W]
• Ninth-grade math teachers on average weighted assessments most heavily (57%), assignments next (36%), and behavior little (7%) [+W]
• Higher weights on assessments shrank, but did not eliminate, the gender difference in final grades, because young women were more often in classes weighting assessments heavily [+W]

Related Products and Programmes

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Key Sources

• Diaz, B., & Easton, J.Q. (2021). CPS Gradebook Technical Report. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/CPS-gradebook-technical-report

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	cps-gradebook-reconstructed-201617-analytic-dataset
title	CPS Gradebook reconstructed 2016–17 analytic dataset
description	A Consortium-reconstructed analytic file linking five back-end CPS Gradebook tables for 17,056 ninth-grade students, 366 teachers, 86 schools, and 1,804 algebra and geometry sections in 2016–17.
status	review
moved_from	element/cps-gradebook-system-and-dataset
product_kind	dataset
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — diaz-2021

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