Chicago Public Schools (CPS), City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) are expanding the nationally-recognized higher education partnership with the launch of “Chicago Roadmap 2.0.” This next phase is designed to ensure students have a seamless transition from high school to community college to four-year institutions — retaining earned credits, reducing barriers to transfer, and keeping them on track for bachelor’s degree completion.  Initiated through an unprecedented partnership between CPS and CCC in 2020, the Chicago Roadmap supports students along a path to and through college on the way to their chosen careers. So far, the partnership has yielded some extraordinary outcomes:

• Increased Early College enrollment for CPS students by 62 percent, adding nearly 4,000 more students who reflect the demographics of CPS – emphasizing the District’s commitment to eliminating opportunity gaps. 

• Expanded access in 20 CPS schools to more in-demand hands-on career pathways in fields like tech, health care, manufacturing and construction.

• Significantly increased career guidance by increasing postsecondary navigators from seven in 16 schools to 18 in 91 schools. 

The degree planning tool features an interactive portal to help students and their families navigate college and career pathways with dynamic term-by-term degree plans. The AI-powered tool will initially incorporate course credits from CPS, CCC and UIC, before expanding to include other two-year and four-year partners. The portal is currently under development and is expected to launch in fall 2026.