The purpose of this study is to explain the effects elementary schools in the Chicago Public School system have on students’ collegiate performance. This experiment focused on identifying whether different types of elementary schools - traditional public schools, magnet schools, charter schools, or selective/gifted schools - cause students to perform better during their college careers through different forms of preparation. For this study, collegiate performance was measured in terms of GPA. The components measured among elementary schools were the range of extracurrivular activities offered to students and school climate, in terms of teacher-student relationships and the perception of student-orientedness. Further, this study used students’ perceptions as a way to measure their own attitudes regarding their experiences in the Chicago Public School system. This information was collected and recorded via interviews and confidential online questionnaires among Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University students who attended elementary school in the Chicago Public School system. The results of this research study could be used to show schools that school climate does, in fact, play a role in student's success. Hopefully, this would allow school administrators to make decisions on how to improve the environment within the school, in hopes of improving their student's educational journeys.
