Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact
Research and Strategies to Support the Goal of Strategy Group 1:
All Students Graduate High School College Ready
Briefing Booklet
November, 2012
Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
About This Booklet
This booklet presents a compendium of research, national best practices, and case studies intended to
complement and build upon currently identified strategies to support the goal of Strategy Group 1, that
all students within the Rio Grande Valley graduate high school college and career ready. Some of these
strategies are best implemented by individual institutions, while others are best implemented across
institutions or at a regional level. Also, should Strategy Group 1 prioritize any of these strategies, the
group should spend time discussing how those approaches would need to be adopted for the specific
context of the RGV.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Table of Contents
Strategy Group 1 – Strategies for Impact ..................................................................................................... 3
Strategies to Improve 9th Grade Persistence ................................................................................................ 5
Profile: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ 9th-Grade Persistence Efforts................................................... 9
Strategies to Strengthen Academic Rigor ................................................................................................... 10
Profile: KIPP Promotes Character Building as Part of the Culture and Curriculum ................................ 17
Strategies to Develop the Personal Skills Needed for College & Career .................................................... 18
Profile: State of Illinois Life Skills Curriculum.......................................................................................... 20
List of Sources ............................................................................................................................................. 21
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Strategy Group 1 – Strategies for Impact
9th Grade Persistence
#
Strategy
1
Work with feeder middle schools to align curricula between eighth- and ninthgrade and to foster improved preparation for high school
Strengthen summer bridge programs to prepare rising ninth-graders for the
academic, social, and emotional challenges of high school
Provide targeted academic and emotional support to ninth-graders (either inhouse or through partnerships), especially for those students at high risk for
dropping out
Create dedicated, supportive spaces for 9th graders or other at-risk students to
support their transition to high school work and provide extra academic and nonacademic supports.
Provide credit recovery and additional supports in math and English, through
double periods, creative interventions, or dual-course strategies for those below
grade level
Build an early warning system to catch when students fall off-track for graduating
high school, and couple this with a multi-tiered response strategy to provide
support to these students
Launch an effective dropout recovery system marked by a comprehensive network
of student supports, multiple pathways back to school, and alternative educational
options
2
3
4
5
6
7
Institutional
PartnerBased
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
College Ready Rigor
#
Strategy
1
Agree to a common definition of what college readiness means in the region,
drawing on the insights of secondary and postsecondary school leaders, and on all
relevant data
Develop a college readiness indicator system based on academic performance as
well and non-academic factors, and track these indicators at the student, school,
district, and regional levels
Require students to earn credit in Algebra II or higher during high school and/or
take other steps to add rigor to the credit requirements needed for graduation,
particularly in math and science
Audit the individual course requirements across the region to ensure that rigor is in
place within each course of the core curriculum
Expand opportunities to gain college credit during high school – including dual
enrollment offerings, early college high schools, AP courses, and other credit-based
transition programs
Increase and retain the number of master / highly effective teachers in the region
2
3
4
5
6
Institutional
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PartnerBased
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
7
8
Leverage technology to spur innovative teaching methods, improved student
outcomes, enhanced efficiency, and potentially cost savings
Provide high dosage tutoring, in which students receive up to two hours of tutoring
a day in math and reading from paid, qualified tutors
X
X
Learners with the Personal Skills Needed for College and Career Success
#
Strategy
1 Launch a region-wide social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum
2 Provide programming on life skills, financial literacy, and college readiness either
through internal structures like advisories, or through partnerships with outside
organizations.
2 Launch an integrated, effective parent and community engagement program
3 Develop a school-wide feeling of teacher-student trust
IntraInstitutional
PartnerBased
X
X
X
X
X
The following pages provide research-driven detail on the strategies above, including examples of the strategies in
practice and case studies of institutions where these and other practices are helping to drive student success.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Strategies to Improve 9th Grade Persistence
The transition to high school, with its greater academic rigor and increased expectations of responsibility
and ownership for one’s own scholastic progress and personal development, is challenging for students.
The difficulties of negotiating this transition, along with growing personal and life challenges, lead many
students to drop out of school. Key strategies for helping these students successfully persist include
increasing their academic preparation before they enter 9th grade, providing additional support once
they are there, and addressing any risk factors before they lead to a student dropping out. Specific
strategies include:
1. Work with feeder middle schools to better align curricula between eighth- and ninth-grade and
to foster improved preparation for the jump to high school
2. Strengthen comprehensive summer bridge programs to prepare rising ninth-graders for the
academic, social, and emotional challenges of high school
a. When carefully implemented, these transition programs often lead to improved pass
rates from ninth- to tenth-grade, increased enthusiasm for learning, improved
academic skills, enhanced self-esteem, and fewer discipline problems1
b. Example: DeKalb County Schools (GA) uses funding from the Federal Smaller Learning
Communities grant program to provide a week-long summer bridge program for all
incoming high school freshmen; the program focuses on study, social, and literacy skills,
and has resulted in dramatic gains for participating students2 3
3. Provide targeted academic and emotional support to ninth-graders (either in-house or through
partnerships), especially for those students at high risk for dropping out
a. Example: Upward Bound has been proven through research to be an effective program
for promoting student achievement, as seen through increased credit accumulation,
graduation rates, and college enrollment rates – benefits that are even more striking for
disadvantaged students, when compared to peers not enrolled in the program4
i. One of the federal government’s eight TRIO programs, Upward Bound is
implemented differently at program sites across the country but generally
includes a mix of supplemental tutoring, Saturday and summer enrichment
classes, financial aid information, test-prep workshops, and guidance on finding
alternative pathways back to school5 6
b. Example: Turnaround for Children, a nonprofit organization currently serving 9,000
children in high-poverty, low-performing schools, uses an approach at its partner schools
1
Summer Bridge Programs. Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement, Washington, DC, May
2009.
2
Ibid.
3
DeKalb County School District website: http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/.
4
Calderon, Sarah, et al. Ninth-Grade Remediation Programs: A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Research. MPR
Associates, Inc. Berkeley, CA, June 2005.
5
Ibid
6
Upward Bound webpage on the U.S. Dept. of Education website:
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/index.html.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
featuring effective and targeted behavioral and academic interventions for high-need
students. The network of supports involved includes a system of interdisciplinary teams
to guide and track interventions, a school-based social worker, a linkage with a nearby
mental health provider, and structures for ongoing collaboration with juvenile justice,
child protective services or other social services as required7
4. Create dedicated, supportive spaces for 9th graders or other at-risk students to support their
transition to high school work and provide extra academic and non-academic supports
a. Learning communities or Ninth Grade Academies, including advisory teams of class
teachers and upperclassmen working closely with freshmen, can be an effective way to
create small, supportive settings and foster improved performance and engagement
b. The Federal Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) grant program provides opportunities
to build school-based learning communities centered on career or college readiness.
These communities can be an effective strategy for strengthening academic preparation
and building non-cognitive skills like tenacity and grit8 9
c. Career academies in particular represent a proven learning community model: they
leverage a college-preparatory curriculum with a career theme, incorporate
partnerships with local employers and PSE institutions, and provide students with
information on college and career planning10
5. Provide credit recovery and additional supports in math and English (specifically for ELL
students), through double periods, online interventions, or dual-course strategies for those who
enter school below grade level or are otherwise struggling with the 9th-grade curriculum
a. Many schools have implemented “Acceleration Academies” during school vacation
weeks and after-school sessions to provide credit recovery options to students during
the school year, sometimes beginning just weeks after a student has failed a course;
online programming is increasingly used within these efforts as it provides a costeffective, flexible avenue through which the school can provide credit recovery services
i. Example: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has instituted an extended day credit
recovery program in the spring for students, particularly ninth-graders, who
failed a first-semester course and are at risk of being retained or of dropping out
(see profile)
ii. Example: The Edwards Middle School in Boston implements its Acceleration
Academies during the school’s February and April vacation weeks; students are
selected to attend based on a range of factors, are exposed to needs-based,
small-group school work for six hours each day, and are rewarded with shopping
7
Turnaround for Children website: http://turnaroundusa.org.
U.S. Dept. of Education Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) webpage:
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/slcp/index.html.
9
McAlister, Sara, and Pascale Mevs, College Readiness: A Guide to the Field. College Readiness Indicator Systems,
the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, 2012.
10
Dayton, Charles, et al., Career Academies: A Proven Strategy to Prepare High School Students for College and
Careers. Career Academy Support Network, University of California, Berkeley, 2010.
8
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
mall gift cards if they show good effort and perfect attendance; the academies
have now been implemented across Boston11
6. Build an early warning system, embedded as early as middle school, to catch when students fall
off-track for graduating high school; develop the system around the A,B,C’s of the dropout crisis
(poor Attendance, unsatisfactory Behavior, and Course failures in math and English) and couple
this with a multi-tiered response strategy to provide support to these students
a. Research shows that when six-graders in high poverty schools exhibit just one of these
factors they have less than a 25% chance of graduating from high school12; similarly,
80% of the likelihood of a student graduating from high school can be predicted by
freshman performance and attendance13
b. Example: The Washington D.C. City Council passed legislation this year creating an early
warning system pilot project in four D.C. schools; the program will track fourth- to ninthgraders progress toward high school and college and will provide targeted supports to
students who fall off-track14
c. Example: The Browne Education Campus in Northeast Washington State is one of about
two-dozen schools nationwide that have partnered with Diplomas Now to launch early
warning systems or related programs; Browne’s system has proven effective to date:
after the 2010-11 school year, the campus saw an 83% reduction in students identified
at the start of the year as chronically absent, a 38% reduction in students flagged at the
beginning of the year for suspensions, an 18% reduction in the number of students who
failed math, and a 9% reduction in the number who failed English15
7. Launch a dropout recovery system marked by widespread community advocacy, a
comprehensive network of student supports, and multiple pathways back to school
a. In order to launch an effective dropout recovery system, multiple reports suggest the
need for (1) accurately depicting the scale of the dropout problem through rigorous
data tracking, (2) building community and policymaker awareness of the problem, and
(3) presenting out-of-school youth and those at risk for dropping out with multiple
options for returning to school (e.g., school-within-a-school; online delivery; GED
pathway; early credit; and career academy models)16 17 18
11
Acceleration Academies: Clarence Edwards Middle School. The National Center on Time and Learning, Boston,
MA, 2010.
12
Balfanz, Robert, et al., “Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in
Urban Middle-Grades Schools: Early Identification and Effective Interventions,” Educational Psychologist. Lawrence
Erlbaum Assoc., Inc., 2007. The researchers defined the indicators above as: attending school 80% or less of the
time during sixth-grade (17% of students hitting this indicator graduated on time or one year late); failing math in
sixth-grade (19%); failing English in sixth-grade (18%); and receiving an out-of-school suspension in sixth-grade
(20%).
13
Allensworth, Elaine M., and John Q. Easton, What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public
High Schools: A Close Look at Course Grades, Failures, and Attendance in the Freshman Year. Consortium on
Chicago School Research, July 2007.
14
Strauss, Valerie, “How ‘early warning systems’ are keeping kids in school,” The Washington Post. April 10, 2012.
15
Ibid.
16
Balfanz, Robert, et al., Grad Nation: A Guidebook to Help Communities Tackle The Dropout Crisis. Everyone
Graduates Center (commissioned by America’s Promise Alliance), February 2009.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
i. Developing a Community Graduation Compact can be a powerful way to
engender public support and focus on a shared mission to recover dropouts and
increase high school graduation rates19
b. Example: Project U-Turn, a multi-sector collaborative in Philadelphia, launched a
comprehensive and effective approach to combating the city’s dropout crisis, an effort
that was highlighted by:20
i. Mayoral support as the mayor pledged to halve the city’s dropout rate
ii. The creation of 3 accelerated school programs serving up to 300 students
iii. The founding of a Re-Engagement Center for former dropouts at district
headquarters with staff support from the City
iv. The establishment of a Department of Multiple Pathways to Graduation within
the school district
v. The creation of a work group, known as Graduation 2014, charged with
identifying strategies to increase graduation rates
vi. The adoption of a new district policy to identify and focus on students who are
repeating or are over-age in 9th grade and to use “early warning indicators” of
dropout at key student transition points between 6th and 9th grade
c. Example: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (CMS) conducted 103 home visits
during the first eight weeks of school this year, and succeeded in influencing 19 students
to re-enroll; the district also successfully redirected 419 other dropouts to alternative
pathways back to school (e.g., a GED program at Central Piedmont Community
College)21
i. The visits have comprised of various members of CMS staff including social
workers and, at times, even the superintendent; during each visit the district
team counsels the students on options for continuing their education and
earning their diploma22
17
Steinberg, Adria, and Cheryl Almeida, The Dropout Crisis: Promising Approaches in Prevention and Recovery. Jobs
for the Future, June 2004.
18
National Dropout Prevention Center / Network website: http://www.dropoutprevention.org/.
19
Balfanz, Robert, et al., Grad Nation: A Guidebook to Help Communities Tackle The Dropout Crisis. Everyone
Graduates Center (commissioned by America’s Promise Alliance), February 2009.
20
Project U-Turn website, through the Philadelphia Youth Network:
http://www.pyninc.org/projectuturn/index.php.
21
Lyttle, Steve, “CMS continues home visits with dropouts,” The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC, Wednesday,
Oct. 10, 2012.
22
Helms, Ann Doss, “Knock, knock: CMS leaders look for dropouts,” The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC, Friday,
Sep. 28, 2012.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Charlotte Schools Use a Range of Curricular and Personal Supports to Maintain High
Graduation and 9th-Grade Completion Rates
As of the 2010-2011 school year, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District
had a four-year graduation rate of 70%, a respectable rate for a large urban
school district and one with a clear and treatable symptom: 5 out of 6
students who failed to graduate on time were retained in 9th-grade
•
The district responded by launching an extended-day credit
recovery program for freshmen at risk of being retained
The credit recovery program:
• Takes place at all CMS high schools, from 2:30-4:00, two or more days a week
• Utilizes a combination of online- and teacher-led instruction
• Is offered to students, particularly freshmen, who failed a first-semester course
and enables them to recover this credit before 10th-grade and without the
need for summer school
Independence High School in Charlotte has used this program and the following to
ensure that its 9th-graders are given the support they need to persist:
•
•
•
Summer School English I classes for ELL students who took a remedial
“Foundations” course in 9th-grade – this allows them to take English 2 in
10th-grade and gets them on track for graduation
A Freshman Academy and a Patriot Life Line program, through which small
teacher teams and upperclassmen, respectively, counsel freshmen on the
transition into high school
“Blitzes,” or early morning intervention classes, during the last two weeks
of each semester for students at risk of failing state-required courses
CMS paid for the various initiatives mainly through School Improvement Fund and Title I
support, and leveraged an existing technology partnership providing free online software
Source: Interviews and analysis.
Profile: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ 9th-Grade Persistence Efforts
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Strategies to Strengthen Academic Rigor
The best predictor of postsecondary completion is the rigor of a student’s secondary education. As
Clifford Adelman states it, “The academic intensity of the student's high school curriculum still counts
more than anything else in precollegiate history in providing momentum toward completing a bachelor's
degree.”23 If we are to increase degree completion rates, it is critical for high schools to provide a full and
challenging curriculum that truly equips students for the intellectual demands of postsecondary
education. Research shows that the highest level of math taken is especially predictive of success, so one
key strategy is to ensure that as many students as possible are taking the highest level of math they can.
Other strategies include agreeing to a common definition of college readiness, tracking an indicator
linked to that definition, expanding dual enrollment offerings and early college high schools, and
improving the quality of the teacher pool in the region. Specific strategies include:
1. Agree to a common definition of what college readiness means in the region, drawing on the
insights of secondary and postsecondary school leaders, and on all relevant data
a. Example: With funding from the Gates Foundation, the New York City Department of
Education partnered with the City University of New York and used data from the DOE,
CUNY, and the National Student Clearinghouse to build indicators of college readiness;
each school’s performance on these indicators is presented in new school report cards24
b. Example: Through a federal Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant, the Kentucky P20 Data Collaborative produces feedback reports for high schools across the state
updating them on the postsecondary performance of their graduates; the information
also informs curriculum and policy changes when taken in aggregate25 26
c. When evaluating academic readiness for college, put more weight on the students’
curricular choices (e.g., highest math taken) and on course performance (e.g., GPA)
than on test scores
i. Multiple studies suggest that test scores are not as predictive of college
enrollment and completion as are academic markers which build over time, as
these reflect a degree of persistence and/or momentum; for example, Clifford
Adelman’s research indicates that one’s “academic intensity” (a composite
covering enrollments in math, science, foreign language, and AP courses) is the
single greatest predictor of bachelor’s degree attainment, followed by class
rank/GPA, and later by test scores. It is more important, in a statistical analysis,
than student demographics and postsecondary enrollment, and is an even
greater predictor of postsecondary completion for African American and Latino
students 27
23
Adelman, Clifford. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College. U.S. Department of
Education, 2006.
24
McAlister, Sara, and Pascale Mevs, College Readiness: A Guide to the Field. College Readiness Indicator Systems,
the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, 2012.
25
Ibid.
26
Kentucky P-20 Data Collaborative website: http://kentuckyp20.ky.gov/.
27
Adelman, Clifford. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College. U.S. Department of
Education, 2006.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
2. Develop a college readiness indicator system based on more than just academic factors and
track these indicators at the student, school, district, and regional levels, beginning in
elementary school28
a. Example: Education policy professor David T. Conley contends that a college readiness
definition and system of indicators should encompass four key areas: key cognitive
strategies, key content knowledge, key learning skills and techniques, and key transition
knowledge and skills, as depicted in the following framework: 29
b. Example: Colorado’s Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Description, which
emerged from state legislation passed in 2008, includes two broad components:
i. Content Knowledge, including benchmarks for literacy, math, science, social
studies, and the arts
ii. Learning and Behavioral Skills, including benchmarks for nine separate
dimensions (e.g., creativity and innovation, work ethic, and communication)30
c. Example: The Dallas and San Jose school districts and New Visions for Public Schools in
New York City have adopted the College Readiness Indicators System framework,
developed by the Annenberg Institute for Social Reform at Brown University and the John
W. Gardner Center for Youth & Their Communities at Stanford31; the districts track:
28
Gurantz, Oded, and Graciela N. Borsato, “Building and Implementing a College Readiness Indicator System: Lessons
from the First Two Years of the CRIS Initiative,” Voices in Urban Education. The Annenberg Institute for Social
Reform, Fall 2012.
29
Conley, David T., Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), “What Does It Mean to Be College and Career
Ready,” presentation at Architecture for Implementing Common Core Standards: Strategies, Partnerships, and
Progress, slide 4. Louisville, KY, 2012.
30
Colorado State Board of Education and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, “Postsecondary and
Workforce Readiness Description” Adopted June 30, 2009. Note: Within the Texas College and Career Readiness
Standards, the state has set standards in key cognitive skills such as intellectual curiosity, reasoning, and work
habits, but it is not clear how, if at all, these are being measured to indicate college readiness.
31
Alter, Jamie, et al., “Helping Schools Measure and Support Their Students’ College Readiness: The Central Office
Perspective,” Voices in Urban Education. The Annenberg Institute for Social Reform, Fall 2012.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
i. Academic Preparedness, including factors such as GPA and test scores
ii. Academic Tenacity, including behavioral factors such as attendance and
disciplinary infractions
iii. College Knowledge, including factors such as FAFSA completion rates and
college counselor-and-student meetings.32
d. Ensure that school programming and resource capacity are in place to promote
improvement along each indicator and effective tracking of each indicator; crossdepartmental buy-in and involvement are essential, as is a flexible data system33
3. Require students to earn credit in Algebra II or higher during high school or take other steps to
add rigor to the credit requirements needed for graduation, particularly in math and science
a. Extensive research shows that students who take Algebra II in high school fare better in
a number of metrics, including postsecondary completion
i. A 2008 report from the National Mathematics Advisory Panel found that high
school students who complete Algebra II are more than twice as likely to
complete college than students with less mathematical preparation. The report
also found that the gap between the college graduation rates of African
American and Latino students and the graduation of the general population was
cut in half for those AA/L students who completed Algebra II in high school.
ii. Texas currently includes Algebra II in its default “Recommended High School
Program,” but allows students to opt out of this and/or other college-ready
courses in favor of the “Minimum High School Program, ” in which Algebra II can
be taken to fill a required third math credit but is not mandatory34
b. It may be advisable to require students to complete courses beyond Algebra II; this
alone has been shown to be a powerful predictor of postsecondary completion
i. Clifford Adelman’s The Toolbox Revisited presents the following bachelor’s
degree attainment rates, by highest level of math taken, for a national sample
of students who graduated high school in 1992:35
Highest Level of Math
Taken
Percentage Reaching
This Level of Math
Calculus
Precalculus
Trigonometry
Algebra II
9.7%
10.8%
12.1%
30.0%
Percentage Who
Earned Bachelor’s
83.3%
74.6%
60.0%
39.3%
Gurantz, Oded, and Graciela N. Borsato, “Building and Implementing a College Readiness Indicator System: Lessons
from the First Two Years of the CRIS Initiative,” Voices in Urban Education. The Annenberg Institute for Social
Reform, Fall 2012.
33
Gurantz, Oded, and Graciela N. Borsato, “Building and Implementing a College Readiness Indicator System: Lessons
from the First Two Years of the CRIS Initiative,” Voices in Urban Education. The Annenberg Institute for Social
Reform, Fall 2012.
34
2012 Closing the Expectations Gap: 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of K-12 Policies and Practice with
the Demands of College and Careers. Achieve (The American Diploma Project Network), 2012.
32
35
Adelman, Clifford. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College. U.S. Department of
Education, 2006.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Geometry
Algebra I
Pre-algebra
14.2%
16.5%
6.7%
16.7%
7.0%
3.9%
4. Audit the individual course requirements across the region to ensure that rigor is in place within
each course of the core curriculum, particularly in the upper grades, so that students develop
the problem solving skills, inquisitiveness, and work ethic often required of them in college
a. An ACT study found that students from schools whose curricula met the organization’s
criteria for rigor showed far better success in terms of college readiness, college
enrollment, and college completion than students from non-rigorous schools
i. For example, 50% of students at rigorous ACT-tested schools who took a math
curriculum consisting of Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry met or exceeded
ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks, compared to only 26% of students across
all other ACT-tested schools who took those three courses
ii. The ACT study also indicated that while 68% of tested ninth-graders met one,
two, or three of ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks, only 56% of these
students met one, two, or three benchmarks upon reaching twelfth-grade;
other findings pointed to the same conclusion: that academic rigor is lacking at
many high schools and is a particular weak spot in the upper grades36
b. Several researchers contend that increasing the minimum Carnegie unit requirements
needed for graduation is not the same as adding rigor; it is the substance of the classes
that matters most
i. While adding specific course requirements in math and science would be a
viable strategy, Texas is already one of only a few states in the country to
require 26 credits to meet the default high school program needed for
graduation),37 38 so substantially increasing Carnegie unit requirements may not
be the most viable option.
c. Example: Concord Academy, a private high school in Massachusetts, felt that even
having multiple Advanced Placement courses did not equate to having rigor as the
courses, in the school’s estimation, did not go deep enough into the subject matter
i. The school responded by empowering the faculty to design new, project-based
courses which foster analytical growth and deep research (students must
conduct year-long research on a topic of their choice); the courses are labeled as
Advanced Curriculum and are asterisked in students’ transcripts so as to signal
the advanced nature of the courses to admissions officers39
36
Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum. ACT, Inc., 2007.
“Credit requirements and exit exam requirements for a standard high school diploma and the use of other high
school completion credentials, by state: 2008 and 2011.” Digest of Education Statistics. Note that in several states
graduation requirements are determined locally; minimum credit thresholds likely reach 24 credits in many of
these jurisdictions.
38
“Graduation Requirements for Students Entering Grade 9 in 2012-13 and thereafter.” Texas Education Agency:
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/graduation.aspx.
39
Wertheimer, Linda K., “The Problem of AP Overload,” The Boston Globe Magazine. October 7, 2012.
37
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
5. Expand opportunities to gain college credit during high school – including dual enrollment
offerings, early college high schools, AP courses, and other credit-based transition programs
a. A Jobs for the Future study of dual enrollment programs in Texas found that
economically disadvantaged students who participated in these programs were 2.41
times more likely to enroll in four-year institutions than those who did not complete
dual enrollment courses40
i. The same study found that students who completed at least one college course
through dual enrollment in high school were 1.75 times more likely to complete
college than those who did not41
b. Research from UTPA and STC has found that students entering PSE with prior college
hours had higher retention rates, higher GPA, and higher graduation rates compared
with students who entered with no prior college hours42
c. Example: The Early College High School Initiative at El Paso Community College provides
students with the opportunity to complete an associate’s degree while still in high school
(five local school districts have joined the initiative; last year over 1,500 students were
enrolled)43
d. Taking steps to improve AP performance is important: six-year college graduation rates
for African-American and Hispanic students rise from 15% to 60% if they have scored a
3 or above on at least one AP exam44
6. Increase and retain the number of master / highly effective teachers in the region
a. Multiple studies point to teacher effectiveness as the most important in-school factor
in promoting student achievement
i. A 2006 Brookings Institution report found that the average performance gap
between students with a bottom-quartile teacher and those with a top-quartile
teacher was equivalent to 10 percentage points a year in test scores45
b. Example: In 2002, Chicago Public Schools partnered with the Chicago Public Education
Fund and the local teachers’ union on an initiative aimed at increasing and retaining the
number of CPS teachers who were National Board Certified; within seven years the
number of such teachers in the district rose from 11 to over 1,200 and their retention
rate stood at 90%46
ii. Financial incentives, which can amount to roughly $4,000 per year, aid retention
in the program
40
Struhl, Ben, and Joel Vargas, Taking College Courses in High School: A Strategy for College Readiness. Jobs for the
Future. October 2012.
41
Ibid.
42
Hinojosa, Magdalenda, “Where are all the Freshmen? A Review of Prior College Hours,” February 2012.
43
What Works for Latino Students in Higher Education: 2011 Compendium: Profiles of Selected Programs. Excelencia in
Education, 2011.
44
National Math and Science Initiative website: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org.
Gordon, Robert, et al., Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job. The Brookings Institution,
April 2006.
46
Profiles in Excellence: Chicago, IL: Leveraging National Board Certification in a District-wide Human Capital
Initiative. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, June 2009.
45
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
c. Improve teacher professional development through job-embedded, sustained peer-topeer and administrator-led coaching, and through close coordination with local
postsecondary institutions to ensure that secondary school teaching is aligned with PSE
expectations
i. Example: The University of Florida College of Education has partnered with
Miami-Dade Public Schools as part of the Florida Master Teacher Initiative,
through which K-3 public school teachers can now take part in a job-embedded
graduate degree program and an inquiry-based professional learning
community; the goal is to improve academic outcomes for high-need students
across the district by improving teacher effectiveness47
d. Strengthen teacher performance evaluation programs, and structure tenure and
compensation policies based on performance instead of only on experience or
educational qualifications
i. Example: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools implemented the Strategic Staffing
Initiative, in which strong principals were recruited to run low-performing
schools (partly through a yearly bonus equal to 10% of their base salary). The
principals in turn could bring in up to five new teachers with past evaluations
that proved them to be successful in the classroom, and these teachers, too,
would receive an incentive: in exchange for a three-year commitment to their
new school, they would receive a $10,000 bonus in year 1 and a $5,000 bonus in
years 2 and 3.48
1. An evaluation of the initiative found that pilot schools showed gains in
state test proficiency rates, and also improved in areas such as student
absenteeism and teacher retention. The evaluation points out that
factors unrelated to the restructured compensation system helped
generate the improvement, including significant time for teacher
collaboration, a culture of learning among school staff, and an
improvement in the administrative functioning of the school49
ii. Performance-based pay should be only one element in a web of changes and
supports designed to catalyze a more effective teaching force. For example,
Teach Plus, a national nonprofit that brings the teacher’s voice to important
policy discussions, advocates for a teaching model in which differentiated pay
should be accompanied by cohort-based staffing, rigorous teacher recruitment
and evaluation, career growth opportunities, and improved school culture50
e. Partner with an outside organization to provide support aimed at boosting AP teacher
effectiveness and AP test participation and performance
47
Florida Master Teacher Initiative webpage on the University of Florida College of Education website:
http://education.ufl.edu/fmti/graduate-program-overview/.
48
Travers, Jonathan, and Barbara Christiansen, Strategic Staffing for Successful Schools: Breaking the Cycle of
Failure in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. ERS and The Aspen Institute, April 2010.
49
Profiles in Transformation: Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Public Schools Strategic Staffing Initiative,
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, April 2012.
50
Ready for the Next Challenge: Improving the Retention and Distribution of Excellent Teachers in Urban Schools (A
Proposal by Teachers), Teach Plus, Spring 2009.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
i. Example: Advance Placement Strategies, in partnership with the National Math
and Science Initiative, works with 14 Texas school districts, including McAllen
and South Texas, and provides teacher training, curricular support, program
management, and financial incentives tied to AP participation and success51
1. RGV schools in the organization’s Advanced Placement Incentive
Program have seen a 65% increase in AP qualifying scores since 2007
2. A 2007 independent analysis linked the program to a 30% rise in student
SAT and ACT scores and an 8% rise in the number of college-going
students52
7. Leverage technology to spur innovative teaching methods, improved student outcomes,
enhanced efficiency, and potentially cost savings
a. Example: Moorseville, NC began giving laptops to all of its fourth- through eighth-grade
students four years ago – to function as both the platform for their writing and research
work and the students’ gateway to digital learning lessons – and saw dramatic
increases in the district’s graduation rate and proficiency rates on state test scores, and
a decrease in the racial performance gap53
b. The use of educational technology is common in rural settings as an effective means of
providing courses that are otherwise not available, particularly at the high school level54;
this trend toward online-enabled distance education has only grown more pronounced
in recent years
8. Provide “high dosage tutoring,” in which students receive up to two hours of tutoring a day in
math and reading from paid, qualified tutors
a. Example: In the last two years, 20 previously low-performing schools in Houston and
nine such schools in Denver have adopted a paid-tutor approach; it is one in a set of five
new practices the schools have taken from high-performing charters
i. State test results have increased across all schools using the new approach, most
strikingly in grade levels with high dosage tutoring; for example, in Denver, the
percentage of fourth-graders who scored proficient on the state math exam
after the first year of tutoring increased by 22 points, far better than the 3%
average increase for the district55 56
51
Advanced Placement Strategies website: http://www.apstrategies.org.
Ibid.
53
Schwarz, Alan, “Mooresville’s Shining Example (It’s Not Just About the Laptops),” The New York Times, February
12, 2012. Note that the results mentioned cannot be attributed solely to the launch of the laptop program, though
the program clearly played a role in the district’s improvement.
54
Hall, Bobby, “K-12 Distance Education: The Case of Rural Schools,” The Cornell Policy Review: Volume 2: Number
1, Fall 2011.
55
2012 TCAP Data Analysis. Blueprint Schools Network, August 2012.
56
Fryer, Roland J., The Impact of Apollo 20 on Student Achievement: Evidence from Year One. Apollo 20 and the
Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University, 2011. Note that the cost of the tutoring program is roughly
$2,000 per student.
52
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
KIPP Promotes Character Building as Part of the Culture and Curriculum
Like many high-performing charter schools, KIPP Schools promote
character development across many aspects of the students’ education:
•
Faculty at KIPP model character strengths and link traits like zest
and curiosity into their lessons whenever possible
− “KIPP teachers believe their job is to teach 49 percent
academic and 51 percent character.”
– Mike Feinberg, KIPP co-founder
KIPP NYC Schools have launched a Character Report Card, through which
teachers grade students on 24 character indicators, across a range of seven
“highly predictive” character strengths:
1. Zest: approaching life with excitement and energy; feeling alive and
activated
2. Grit: finishing what one starts; completing something despite obstacles
3. Self-control: regulating what one feels and does; being self-disciplined
4. Social intelligence: being aware of motives and feelings of other people
and oneself
5. Gratitude: being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen
6. Curiosity: taking an interest in experience for its own sake; finding things
fascinating
7. Optimism: expecting the best in the future and working to achieve it
Angela Duckworth, a UPenn
professor, worked with the
schools to build a questionnaire
allowing students to be graded
on 24 “indicators” covering
these 7 strengths (e.g., an
indicator for curiosity is: “This
student is eager to learn new
things”)
KIPP’s leadership team and the
authors of a robust character
study identified these seven
strengths as being the best
predictors of student success
KIPP had already instituted a rigorous curriculum but found that it needed to accompany
this with a research-proven approach to fostering the development of the whole child
Sources: Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) website: www.kipp.org; Tough, Paul, “What if the Secret to Success Is Failure.” New York Times. Sept. 14,
2011
Profile: KIPP’s Character Report Card
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Strategies to Develop the Personal Skills Needed for College & Career
Non-cognitive skills, such as resilience and grit, are increasingly seen as critical to postsecondary success.
High school offers an opportunity to help underserved students close personal skills gaps with their more
affluent counterparts that may have developed over many years, as well as to impart valuable “cultural
capital” that middle-class students get at home. Approaches to ensure that students gain the noncognitive skills they need to succeed include targeting social and emotional learning, financial literacy,
and college knowledge. Specific strategies include:
1. Launch a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum across the region, integrated
throughout all grades and implemented as a routine part of the school day or week; where
necessary, advocate for policies supporting the development of such a curriculum
a. A 2011 meta-analysis of 213 school-based programs targeting the instruction of SEL
skills found that students within such programs demonstrated significantly improved
social and emotional skills, had more positive attitudes toward school, and improved an
average of 11 percentile points on standardized achievement tests when compared to
students who did not receive such instruction57
b. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a leading
proponent of SEL instruction, developed the following framework to convey the
different elements of a sound SEL program:58
57
Durlak, Joseph A., et al., “The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of
School-Based Universal Interventions,” Child Development, January/February 2011.
58
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning website: http://casel.org.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
i. Example: The SEED School, a boarding school for disadvantaged youth in
Washington, DC, imbeds a character-building, life skills course called HALLS (for
Habits for Achieving Life-Long Success) within its daily schedule encompassing
many of the dimensions of the SEL framework above59
2. Provide programming on life skills, financial literacy, and college readiness either through
internal structures like advisories, or through partnerships with outside organizations.
a. Example: The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program works with
students across the K-16 pipeline, and includes college readiness programming based
around academic support, college awareness, and non-cognitive skills like self-control
and organization; AVID impacts 700,000 students annually and is located in more than
4,900 schools, including 832 sites in Texas60
b. Schools would also do well by teaching, either formally or informally, that proper time
management is essential to college readiness; research shows that students who learn
how to manage their time early on are more likely to complete their high school and
college coursework on schedule and at high rates of achievement61
3. Launch an effective family and community engagement program
a. Research suggests that when schools, families, and community groups work together to
support student learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer,
and like school more.62 Additionally, when schools effectively engage families and
communities, students are ten times more likely to improve their math performance
and four times more likely to improve their reading performance than students
attending schools without strong family and community engagement practices63
i. Family and community engagement is not only central to student success, but is
also interdependent with other reforms – without including family and
community engagement strategies other approaches like human capital
improvements or a culture of data use are less likely to succeed64
b. Proven approaches to support improved family and community engagement include
building trust and a welcoming environment, developing a shared vision and plan for
engagement, and engaging families and community members as partners in learning
i. Example: Supported by the district’s Office of Parental Involvement, MiamiDade County’s Parent Academy consists of extensive resources for parents; it
includes as many as 30 workshops this year on a wide range of topics, ranging
from career and college education plans to bullying and immigration policy65
59
SEED School website: www.seedschooldc.org.
AVID website: http://www.avid.org/index.html.
61
Schneider, Barbara, Forming a College-Going Community in U.S. Public High Schools. Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, 2007.
62
Henderson, Anne T., and Karen L. Mapp, A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community
Connections on Student Achievement. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 2002.
63
Bryk, Anthony S., et. al., Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Consortium on Chicago
School Research, 2010.
64
Ibid.
65
Miami-Dade County Public Schools, The Parent Academy website: http://theparentacademy.dadeschools.net/.
60
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
4. Develop a school-wide feeling of teacher-student trust (e.g., through teacher-student
advisories, parent and community engagement practices, etc.)
a. Research from comprehensive student surveys found that teacher-student trust can
have a significantly positive effect on dropout indicators such as GPA, attendance, and
course failures (e.g., students at schools with high student-teacher trust averaged 2.3
fewer absences per semester than students at schools with low student-teacher trust)66
Illinois Has Standardized the Importance of Life Skills Curriculum on a Statewide Level
through Its Social and Emotional Learning Standards
The Illinois State Board of Education has mandated an intentional approach to
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) across all school levels
− The state has in place grade-appropriate SEL standards on which individual
students can be assessed
− The standards are meant to reinforce three goals of the state’s SEL
framework:
1. Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve
school and life success
2. Use social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and
maintain positive relationships
3. Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in
personal, school, and community contexts
The state has also incorporated life skills coursework as a graduation requirement
•
In order to graduate, public high school students must complete one or more class offerings on topics
including financial literacy, budgeting, banking, comparison shopping, and consumer fraud
The Illinois effort reveals the potential for solidifying policy in this area, ensuring that SEL
and life skills classes are offered across the state, not just on a school by school basis
Source: Illinois State Board of Education website: www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm
Profile: Illinois’and Emotional Learning Standards
66
Allensworth, Elaine M., and John Q. Easton, What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public
High Schools: A Close Look at Course Grades, Failures, and Attendance in the Freshman Year. Consortium on
Chicago School Research, July 2007.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
List of Sources
Books, Reports, and Related Publications
1
2012 Closing the Expectations Gap: 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of K-12 Policies and Practice
with the Demands of College and Careers. Achieve (The American Diploma Project Network), 2012.
2
2012 TCAP Data Analysis. Blueprint Schools Network, August 2012.
3
Acceleration Academies: Clarence Edwards Middle School. The National Center on Time and Learning,
Boston, MA, 2010.
4
Adelman, Clifford. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College.
U.S. Department of Education, 2006.
5
Allensworth, Elaine M., and John Q. Easton, What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago
Public High Schools: A Close Look at Course Grades, Failures, and Attendance in the Freshman Year.
Consortium on Chicago School Research, July 2007.
6
Alter, Jamie, et al., “Helping Schools Measure and Support Their Students’ College Readiness: The Central
Office Perspective,” Voices in Urban Education. The Annenberg Institute for Social Reform, Fall 2012.
7
Balfanz, Robert, et al., “Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in
Urban Middle-Grades Schools: Early Identification and Effective Interventions,” Educational Psychologist.
Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., Inc., 2007.
8
Bryk, Anthony S., et. al., Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Consortium on Chicago
School Research, 2010.
9
Calderon, Sarah, et al. Ninth-Grade Remediation Programs: A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Research. MPR
Associates, Inc. Berkeley, CA, June 2005.
10
Colorado State Board of Education and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, “Postsecondary and
Workforce Readiness Description,” Adopted June 30, 2009.
11
Conley, David T., Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), “What Does It Mean to Be College and
Career Ready,” presentation at Architecture for Implementing Common Core Standards: Strategies,
Partnerships, and Progress, slide 4. Louisville, KY, 2012.
12
"Credit requirements and exit exam requirements for a standard high school diploma and the use of other
high school completion credentials, by state: 2008 and 2011.” Digest of Education Statistics.
13
Dayton, Charles, et al., Career Academies: A Proven Strategy to Prepare High School Students for College and
Careers. Career Academy Support Network, University of California, Berkeley, 2010.
14
Durlak, Joseph A., et al., “The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis
of School-Based Universal Interventions,” Child Development, January/February 2011.
15
Fryer, Roland J., The Impact of Apollo 20 on Student Achievement: Evidence from Year One. Apollo 20 and
the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University, 2011.
16
Gordon, Robert, et al., Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job. The Brookings
Institution, April 2006.
17
"Graduation Requirements for Students Entering Grade 9 in 2012-13 and thereafter.” Texas Education
Agency: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/graduation.aspx.
18
Gurantz, Oded, and Graciela N. Borsato, “Building and Implementing a College Readiness Indicator System:
Lessons from the First Two Years of the CRIS Initiative,” Voices in Urban Education. The Annenberg Institute
for Social Reform, Fall 2012.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
19
Hall, Bobby, “K-12 Distance Education: The Case of Rural Schools,” The Cornell Policy Review: Volume 2:
Number 1, Fall 2011.
20
Helms, Ann Doss, “Knock, knock: CMS leaders look for dropouts,” The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC,
Friday, Sep. 28, 2012.
21
Henderson, Anne T., and Karen L. Mapp, A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and
Community Connections on Student Achievement. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 2002.
22
Hinojosa, Magdalenda, “Where are all the Freshmen? A Review of Prior College Hours,” February 2012.
23
Lyttle, Steve, “CMS continues home visits with dropouts,” The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC,
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012.
24
McAlister, Sara, and Pascale Mevs, College Readiness: A Guide to the Field. College Readiness Indicator
Systems, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, 2012.
25
Presley, Jennifer B., and Yuqin Gong, The Demographics and Academics of College Readiness in Illinois.
Illinois Education Research Council: Policy Research Report: IERC 2005-3, 2005.
26
Profiles in Excellence: Chicago, IL: Leveraging National Board Certification in a District-wide Human Capital
Initiative. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, June 2009.
27
Profiles in Transformation: Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Public Schools Strategic Staffing
Initiative, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, April 2012.
28
Ready for the Next Challenge: Improving the Retention and Distribution of Excellent Teachers in Urban
Schools (A Proposal by Teachers), Teach Plus, Spring 2009.
29
Rigor at Risk: Reaffirming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum. ACT, Inc., 2007.
30
Schneider, Barbara, Forming a College-Going Community in U.S. Public High Schools. Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, 2007.
31
Strauss, Valerie, “How ‘early warning systems’ are keeping kids in school,” The Washington Post. April 10,
2012.
32
Struhl, Ben, and Joel Vargas, Taking College Courses in High School: A Strategy for College Readiness. Jobs
for the Future. October 2012.
33
Summer Bridge Programs. Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement, Washington, DC,
May 2009.
34
The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. U.S. Dept. of Education, March 2008.
35
Tough, Paul, “What if the Secret to Success Is Failure.” New York Times,Sept. 14, 2011.
36
Travers, Jonathan, and Barbara Christiansen, Strategic Staffing for Successful Schools: Breaking the Cycle of
Failure in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. ERS and The Aspen Institute, April 2010.
37
Wertheimer, Linda K., “The Problem of AP Overload,” The Boston Globe Magazine. October 7, 2012.
38
What Works for Latino Students in Higher Education: 2011 Compendium: Profiles of Selected Programs.
Excelencia in Education, 2011.
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Rio Grande Valley Collective Impact – Strategy Group 1 – Focus Areas and Strategies
Websites, Videos, and Related Presentations
1
Advanced Placement Strategies website: http://www.apstrategies.org.
2
AVID website: http://www.avid.org/index.html.
3
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning website: http://casel.org.
4
DeKalb County School District website: http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/.
5
Florida Master Teacher Initiative webpage on the University of Florida College of Education website:
http://education.ufl.edu/fmti/graduate-program-overview/.
6
Illinois State Board of Education website: www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm.
7
Kentucky P-20 Data Collaborative website: http://kentuckyp20.ky.gov/.
8
Knowledge Is Power Program website: http://www.kipp.org/.
9
Miami-Dade County Public Schools, The Parent Academy website:
http://theparentacademy.dadeschools.net/.
10
National Math and Science Initiative website: http://www.nationalmathandscience.org.
11
SEED School website: www.seedschooldc.org.
12
Turnaround for Children website: http://turnaroundusa.org.
13
U.S. Dept. of Education Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) webpage:
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/slcp/index.html.
14
Upward Bound webpage on the U.S. Dept. of Education website:
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/index.html.
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