Program Announcement: Middle and High School Reform CFDA 84.305A

Program Officer:
Dr. David Sweet
David.Sweet@ed.gov
(202) 219-1748

Purpose

The purpose of the Institute's education research program on Middle and High School Reform (Middle/High School) is to support research on approaches, programs, and practices that enhance the potential of at-risk students to complete high school with the skills necessary for success in the workplace or in postsecondary education. The Middle/High School research program complements the Institute's existing research programs on teacher quality, reading and writing, interventions for struggling adolescent and adult readers, mathematics and science education, education leadership, and policy and systems, each of which includes middle and high school education. Although these research programs include research on interventions appropriate for middle and high schools, the Middle/High School education research program is different from these research programs in three ways. First, it focuses exclusively on improving educational outcomes in middle schools and high schools. Second, it focuses on a particular population—students who are at-risk of dropping out of high school or who finish high school without the skills necessary to be ready for the demands of the workplace or college. Third, it focuses on approaches, strategies, and interventions that are intended to supplement, complement, intensify, or in some sense, act as a catalyst to increase the benefit at-risk students would otherwise derive from their academic coursework. In other words, for the Middle/High School research program, the Institute is interested in approaches that can augment the effects of better instruction and higher quality teachers in the core academic subjects (e.g., double-blocking, structural reforms) and thereby, better serve the needs of students who are poorly prepared academically and motivationally for the demands of high school.

The Middle/High School research program addresses five goals: (1) exploring malleable factors¹ (e.g., interventions, systemic programs) that are associated with better student outcomes, as well as mediators and moderators of the relations between these factors and student outcomes, for the purpose of identifying potential targets of intervention; (2) developing innovative middle or high school reform interventions that are intended to increase the likelihood that at-risk students will complete high school with the skills necessary for success in the workplace or in postsecondary education; (3) evaluating the efficacy of fully developed middle or high school reform interventions with small efficacy or replication trials; (4) evaluating the impact of middle or high school reform interventions that are implemented at scale; and (5) developing and/or validating assessments of students' non-academic behaviors (e.g., timeliness, responsibility, persistence, discipline, initiative, social competence) that could be used by teachers to evaluate students on skills that are potentially important for future education or employment.

The long-term goal of the Middle/High School research program is to provide an array of effective middle and high school reform practices that have been shown to be effective for improving student outcomes. This research program is designed to support crosscutting reform efforts.

Background

Improving high school students' academic achievement and graduation rates is of national concern. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 36 percent of twelfth grade students read at or above the proficient level, and only 26 percent write at or above that level. Similarly for mathematics, only 16 percent of grade 12 students scored at or above the proficient level, and only 18 percent for science. Low levels of academic achievement in high school affect postsecondary education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2000, 28 percent of college freshmen took at least one remedial course in reading, writing or mathematics. Further, the ACT reports that in the class of 2004, only 26 percent of high school students who took the ACT college entrance exam had scores predictive of earning a "C" or higher in college algebra.² Across the board, low levels of achievement are more likely among minority groups and students from low-income backgrounds than among students from advantaged backgrounds.

More problematic than the generally low levels of academic achievement in grade 12 are the large numbers of students who do not complete a high school diploma. In 2004–05, the averaged freshman graduation rate³—an estimate of the percentage of a freshman class that graduates—across states and the District of Columbia ranged from 57 percent to 85 percent, and was 75 percent for the nation as a whole (Planty et al. 2008).

Although rigorous research on high school reform is meager, there are a few findings and developments that point the way toward approaches, strategies, and practices that could benefit from an intensive research and development effort through the Institute's Middle/High School research program. These include but are not limited to (a) closer monitoring of student academic progress, (b) more demanding course requirements in high schools and middle schools, (c) academic and career-related academies, (d) mentoring, (e) alternate remediation strategies, (f) positive incentives, and (g) alternative schools and additional opportunities for high school completion.

A combination of intervention strategies targeted to academic needs and designed to engage and strengthen students' existing interests and skills is likely to be critical to enhancing the probability that at-risk youth will complete high school with the skills needed for the workplace, college, or the military. For example, the Institute encourages applications to develop and evaluate promising academic remediation programs that cover reading, mathematics, and other basic academic skills, including programs that begin in middle school and are intended to better prepare and support the transition of at-risk students into high school. In addition, the Institute encourages research on the availability of rigorous coursework (e.g., Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses), or increased requirements in mathematics and science and the impact of such practices and policies on high school completion and dropout rates, school achievement, and college enrollment, particularly among students at-risk for failure in high school. For example, when districts have policies requiring algebra or higher for all ninth-graders, what are the most effective ways to enable under-prepared students to complete ninth grade algebra (e.g., double-blocking math courses, summer school)?

The issues of student accountability and achievement monitoring permeate discussions of high school reform. For example, there is accumulating evidence suggesting that when high school exit exams are in place, schools and districts cover more of their state content standards, align their curricula and instruction with such standards, and are more likely to provide remedial instruction and other interventions designed to help students at-risk of failing (Wise et al. 2003). The Institute encourages applications proposing, for instance, interrupted time series analyses to examine the potential effect of high school exit examinations on high school completion and dropout rates, college enrollment, and academic achievement. In addition, the Institute is interested in applications to develop, implement, and assess the impact of using well-designed benchmark assessments to track academic progress toward state achievement standards.

Evidence on the effectiveness of programs that put careers and occupation-oriented knowledge at the center of high school life is mixed. There is a need for research on the conditions under which career and technical education can enhance the potential for at-risk students to complete high school with the skills needed to be successful in the workplace, college, or the military. A number of new directions have been proposed that have not been subjected to rigorous research or evaluation, such as dual enrollment/credit programs that permit students to obtain college-level credits or provide the opportunity to earn an industry-recognized credential while still in secondary school.

Incentives that encourage high school completion take many forms, ranging from "No pass, no play" laws that make participation in extracurricular activities contingent on passing all courses to cash rewards or gift certificates for school completion. Although there is some evidence of the potential benefit of such interventions in other countries, research is needed on the effects of various types of incentives on high school completion and academic achievement in the United States and the conditions that may moderate the impact of such incentives.

Mentoring provides an individualized intervention with an adult who helps with many aspects of a student's life—academic, social, work, personal. Mentoring is a central component of a number of programs that are intended to enhance high school success for at-risk students. For example, Check and Connect, a dropout prevention program for youth with disabilities, increased ninth grade course completion rates and student engagement for special education students (Sinclair et al. 1998). Empirical questions remain about the kind of training, levels of intensity, and cost-effective ratios of mentors to students needed to affect dropout/completion behavior and academic achievement.

Alternative education programs for high school students are commonplace in today's school systems. Schools and programs have been developed with the understanding that some students need more than what a traditional high school experience can provide and may incorporate curriculum modifications, schools within a school, flexible schedules (including evening and weekend classes), small class sizes, individualized instruction, vocational counseling, social service linkages, tutoring, mentoring, and/or parent involvement programs. Given the limited research base, evaluation of alternative education programs and schools as "interventions" for at-risk students would contribute to our understanding of the costs and benefits of such programs (and their components), with outcomes of interest including: academic achievement; disciplinary problems; school attendance, engagement, and connectedness; and high school completion or GED attainment.

The Institute invites applications to develop and validate measures of students' non-academic behaviors (e.g., timeliness, responsibility, persistence, discipline, initiative, social competence) that could be used by teachers to evaluate students. Such evaluations could be incorporated into student transcripts and provide students with a way to document growth and development in skills that are potentially important for future education or employment. Applications to develop and/or validate such instruments are appropriate for Goal Five. Individuals interested in examining the impact of such assessments on students or institutions, or the relation between implementation of the assessments and student/institutional outcomes should consider Goals One, Two, Three, or Four.

References

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2003). Remedial education at degree-granting postsecondary institutions in Fall 2000. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2006). The averaged freshman graduation rate for public high schools from the common core of data: School years 2002–03 and 2003–04. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Sinclair, M. F., Christenson, S. L., Evelo, D. L., & Hurley, C. M. (1998). Dropout prevention for high-risk youth with disabilities: Efficacy of a sustained school engagement procedure. Exceptional Children, 65 (1), 7–21.

Wise,L.L., Harris, C.D., Brown, D.G., Becker, D.E.m Sun, S., & Coumbe, K.L. (2003). California High School Exit Examination: Year 4 evaluation report. Prepared by the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) for the California Department of Education. Sacramento, CA: HumRRO.