Chicago Study Update: Freshman Year Performance Evaluation and Accountability September 2008

Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) The CCSR studied freshman course performance and high school completion in Chicago Public Schools E&A has been conducting similar studies in Dallas ISD since 2007 Dallas is also a participant in two CCSR pilot institutes

What we know Student performance in the freshman year of high school is critical for graduation Three significant factors are attendance, GPA, and course failure Course failure in the first six weeks of 9 th grade is an early indicator of high school success or failure

End-of-Course tests required for freshman class of English I English II English III World Geography U.S. History World History Algebra I Geometry Algebra II Biology Chemistry Physics

Improved grades must reflect increased learning We are not suggesting that students be given passing grades if they fail to meet coursework standards, or that course requirements be “dumbed down.” The need for students to pass EOC assessments in order to graduate means that they must learn the course content.

What we need to know How early can we identify students who are off-track for graduation? Are there reliable middle school and elementary predictors of eventual graduation or dropout? If off-track students can be identified earlier than high school, what interventions are effective?

3 Important Middle School Warning Signs 10 or more yearly absences Math course failure Language Arts course failure Low 8 th grade achievement levels increase the “riskiness” of all high school risk factors

Middle school absences are a strong predictor of high school graduation

Middle school course grades are also strong predictors of graduation

More middle school risk factors mean lower chances of graduating

Middle grades absences In , about 30% of all middle grades students had 10 or more absences More than 1/3 of 8 th grade students had high absences

Absence rates vary between schools, even those with similar populations

Middle School A – Median absences by elementary feeder school

Middle School B - Median absences by elementary feeder school

Middle School C – Median absences by elementary feeder school

Middle grades course failures In , 19% of students in grades 6-8 failed language arts and 23% failed math Math failures were much higher at 8 th grade

Course failure rates vary between schools, but math failures are higher

Some schools have clear inconsistencies in failure rates

Others have patterns that raise concerns

Others appear more consistent, at least within content areas

But on a closer look…

Next Steps Track risk factors back to elementary grades Focus on similarities and differences in risk within feeder patterns Understand which are teacher effects, school effects, neighborhood effects, and effects of adolescence

Conclusions (preliminary) Neighborhood, family, poverty, and the onset of adolescence are all factors in middle grades students falling off-track Middle schools can help through early intervention and support for off-track students Schools must be sure they are not contributing to the problem through ineffective instruction or punitive grading practices

Remember: improved grades must reflect increased learning We are not suggesting that students be given passing grades if they fail to meet coursework standards, or that course requirements be “dumbed down.” The need for students to pass EOC assessments in order to graduate means that they must learn the course content.

The bottom line: Like the Chicago Consortium researchers, we are “advocating that teachers and schools identify students who are failing, find out why they are failing, and then try to give them the support they need to recover from this failure and avoid future failures.” The earlier this can be accomplished, the better the outcome, for our students and our schools.