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Project “Graduation Really Achieves Dreams” (GRAD) is an initiative for students in economically disadvantaged communities that aims to reduce dropping out and increase rates of college enrollment and graduation by increasing reading and math skills, improving behavior in school, and providing a service safety net. At the high school level, Project GRAD provides four-year college scholarships and summer institutes to promote attending and completing high school. Project GRAD also provides services in those elementary and middle schools that feed in to the participating high schools.
One study of Project GRAD met the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations. The quasi-experimental research design included ninth-grade students from 13 Houston high schools—three Project GRAD schools and ten comparison schools. The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Project GRAD to be small for progressing in school and for completing school. No studies that met WWC evidence standards with or without reservations addressed staying in school.
Project GRAD had no discernible effects on progressing in school or on completing school.
| Staying in school | Progressing in school | Completing school | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating of effectiveness | na | No discernible effects | No discernible effects |
| Improvement index3 | na | Average: –4 percentile points Range: –2 to –7 percentile points |
Average: –3 percentile points |
| na = not applicable | |||
|Institute of Education Sciences
Dropout