Effectiveness

Findings

The WWC review of interventions for dropout prevention addresses student outcomes in three domains: staying in school, progressing in school, and completing school. For Kemple, Herlihy, & Smith (2005), WWC assessed outcomes only in the progressing in school domain. ⁴

Progressing in school. Kemple, Herlihy, & Smith (2005) found that students using Talent Development High Schools earned an average of 9.5 course credits over the first two years of high school, while comparison group students earned 8.6 course credits. In addition, Talent Development High Schools students were more likely to be promoted to tenth grade than comparison students (68% vs. 60%). ⁵ Both differences were statistically significant.

Rating of effectiveness

The WWC rates the effects of an intervention in a given outcome domain as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings,⁶ the size of the difference between participants in the intervention and the comparison conditions, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme).