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Intervention: First Things First

Research

Five studies reviewed by the WWC investigated the effectiveness of First Things First. Four studies were included in one research report (Quint, Bloom, Black, & Stephens, 2005), but of the four, only the study in Houston, TX met WWC evidence standards with reservations. The three other studies—conducted in Riverview Gardens, MO; Kansas City, KS; and Shaw and Greenville, MS—did not meet WWC evidence screens. A fifth study of First Things First (Gambone, Klem, Summers, Akey, & Sipe, 2004) also did not meet WWC evidence screens.

The Houston study included in the Quint et al. (2005) report focused on three Houston high schools that implemented First Things First from 2001 to 2004. These three schools were each matched to high schools in the district that did not implement First Things First but had similar achievement test scores. To estimate the effect of the program the researchers first compared the average outcomes of ninth graders who entered First Things First high schools in the years immediately after the program was implemented with those of ninth graders from the same schools in the three years just before program implementation. They made similar calculations for the comparison schools. Their estimates of the effect of the program represent the difference between these pre-post implementation comparisons in First Things First high schools and the comparison schools. The study made similar estimates of the effects of First Things First in a set of Houston middle schools but did not include any outcomes relevant to the WWC review of dropout prevention interventions.

Extent of evidence

The WWC categorizes the extent of evidence in each domain as small or medium to large (see the What Works Clearinghouse Extent of Evidence Categorization Scheme). The extent of evidence takes into account the number of studies and the total sample size across studies that met WWC evidence standards.4

The WWC considers the extent of evidence for First Things First to be small for staying in school. No study that met WWC evidence standards addressed the domains of progressing in school or completing school.

4 The Extent of Evidence Categorization was developed to tell readers how much evidence was used to determine the intervention rating, focusing on the number and size of studies. Additional factors associated with a related concept, external validity—such as students’ demographics and types of settings in which studies took place—are not taken into account for the categorization. Information concerning how the extent of evidence rating was determined for First Things First is presented in Appendix A5.