Transcript What Programs Work for Disconnected Older Adolescents?

Keeping Students on Track: Creating Statewide Pathways,
Models, and Early Warning Systems
Joel Vargas, Jobs for the Future
American Diploma Project:
State Leadership Team Meeting
September 10, 2009
The Education Pipeline is Broken
Percentage of 8th graders by SES who attain different levels of education
Source: Analysis of NELS data by Optimal Solutions for JFF
Early Warning Systems
• Built on studies that show we can predict over half of dropouts
by 6th grade and nearly 80% by 9th grade based on a few school
related factors
• States or districts can conduct studies to determine their
strongest predictors and in what grades these first become
predictive
• With support, schools use this data to flag youth when they first
start to fall off-track and build an on-time, responsive culture &
intervention system
• Best systems are tiered: utilize whole school, targeted, and
intensive supports. The best work transforms school culture.
Slide 3
Two New Pathways to Success
Pathway One:
Starting College in High School
Pathway Two:
Back on Track
•Focused on improving college success of
underrepresented young people.
•Range of models tailored to needs of
different groupings of off-track youth
•Include “Blended” (secondary-postsecondary) schools and dual enrollment
models
•Dual focus on strong college/career ready
academic core and strong academic advising
and social supports
•Combine college preparatory academic
program with college course-taking
•Supports offered through community
partnership model
•Blended schools (ECHS) offer compressed
time to earn two years of college credits
while in high school
•Designed to enable credit recovery and
acceleration for off-track and out-of-school
youth
Slide 4
Early Warning Systems:
What is a State to Do?
• Conduct data study to surface key indicators and disseminate
findings
• Create tools to help districts/schools use data for purposes of
building early warning systems
• Set up and oversee data reporting and tracking systems
• Collect information on and determine highest impact
interventions and disseminate best practices
Slide 5
Early Warning Systems:
What is a State to Do?
Total # of
Referrals
Age of
Student
Louisiana
• Implemented DEWS in 46
districts (over half of total
districts)
• Manage data and technical
issues of system at state levelList of
• Partnered with state universitystudents
researchers to analyze historical
within a
data for predictive factors
school
• Provide grants for pilot phase
• Require districts to develop 9th
grade intervention systems Total
Enrollment
Days
Intervention
Codes
Total Days
Absence
Intervention
Status
Slide 6
Models, Options, Pathways:
What is a State to Do?
• Analysis which points to the need for types of models based
on key characteristics of segments of the off-track population.
• Assess the extent to which existing models in the state can
address those needs and identify need for additional options.
• Examine & Change Policies: Alternative Education, Dropout
Policies, Dual Enrollment Policies, Innovation Policies.
• Specify role for creation of new models in tandem with
turnaround strategies for existing schools.
• Identify start-up resources and support for the capacity for
new school development.
Slide 7
North Carolina
Early College High Schools
North Carolina
• Created Innovative Education
Initiatives Act
• Dual Enrollment Policies:
Enablers and Barriers
• Waiver Process
• 82 Innovative High Schools
• 69 Learn & Earn Early College
Schools
• New Schools Project provides
support and coherence
Slide 8
Impact: Early Warning Systems
Abbeville High School, Louisiana

Intervention system (mandatory tutoring,
staff and student mentors, increased levels
of communication with families)
50% decrease in nonpromotion rates from 9th to
10th grade.

Freshman Academy
In 2008, 90% of 9th graders
promoted to 10th grade.
Kelvyn Park High, Chicago, IL

One-on-one counseling sessions, teacher
contract for improvement, tutorials,
academic boot camp sessions, credit
recovery class

Data incorporated into teacher evaluations
84.5% of freshmen on track
for four-year graduation
versus 73.6% two years
earlier
Slide 9
Impact: Models, Options,
Pathways
Dropout Rates in North Carolina
6.00%
5.00%
4.00%
3.00%
5.24%
4.97%
2.00%
3.37%
1.00%
0.00%
State 2006-07
State 2007-08
Innovative Schools 07-08
82 Innovative Schools, 17,000 Students, 541 Dropouts
Slide 10
Impact: Early Promise of Early
College Schools
Total Enrollment
41,972
(200 schools)
Eligible For Free or Reduced Lunch
55.5%
Students of color
74.2%
Graduates Who Earned College Credit
88.2%
Earned More Than A Year Of College
Credit
40%
Earned a HS Diploma and Associate’s
Degree
11%
Slide 11
Impact: NY Transfer Schools
Transfer schools are designed to effectively recoup the youngest, lowest-credited
segment of the OA-UC population.*
Comparative Student Performance:
High School History Prior to Transfer School vs. After Enrolling at Transfer School
10.0
100%
78%
Attendance Rate
80%
60%
40%
40%
20%
0%
Before Transfer School
At Transfer School
Credits Earned per School Year
8.9
8.0
6.0
4.9
4.0
2.0
0.0
Before Transfer School
At Transfer School
* - Historically, these are students who are 16-17 years old and who have earned fewer than 11 credits.
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Sources
Abbeville High School Data from Pinkus, Lyndsay (2008): Using Early-Warning Data to
Improve Graduation Rates: Closing Cracks in the Education System. Alliance for Excellent
Education.
Kelvyn Park High School Data from Gewertz, Catherine (2009): 9th Grade, By the
Numbers. Education Week, Published Online March 10, 2009.
Merrick, Patricia (2009): LA Dept. of Education Powerpoint Presentation given at Collegeand Career-Ready Policy Institute Leadership Meeting, Scottsdale, AZ. March 26, 2009.
New York City Data from Lynch, JoEllen (2008): Recuperative Programs and
Accountability in New York City. Powerpoint presentation for Jobs for the Future, April 17,
2008.
North Carolina Data from New Schools Project (2009): News about High School
Innovation. Innovator online newsletter, February 6, 2009.
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