Robert Balfanz

Each year in the United States, more than a million students fail to graduate with their high school class. The process of disengagement with schooling which culminates in students dropping out generally manifests itself behaviorally in high absenteeism, behavior problems, and course failure, including both the failure to complete assignments and failure to pass courses. These three factors-the ABCs-are the strongest predictors of dropping out, are often interrelated, and can serve as early ...

The goal of this project is to develop two curriculum interventions that will complement the core high school academic curriculum and improve preparation of students for transition to college, success in the freshman year, and college completion with a bachelor's degree. The theory of action is that the college environment and expectations for intellectual work are fundamentally different from those encountered during high school. First-generation college students and economically disadvant...

States and school districts increasingly mandate not only that all students earn Algebra I course credit to graduate, but that they enroll in Algebra I in the ninth grade. Data from districts that have implemented "Algebra for All" policies indicate that course failure rates approach 50 percent. Despite the pressure on districts and states to have all students "college ready," there is a dearth of rigorous research on the most efficacious methods of teaching Algebra I to under-prepared stu...

In this project, the researchers proposed to evaluate the impact of an elective math course of middle school students who need additional assistance. In the early 2000s, national and international comparisons of student achievement show that U.S. students in general, and minority and low-income students in particular, fell rapidly behind between the 4th and the 8th grades. Many minority children from low-income families were leaving middle school poorly prepared to succeed in a rigorous sequ...