chicago study update: freshman year performance
DESCRIPTION
Chicago Study Update: Freshman Year Performance. Evaluation and Accountability September 2008. Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR). The CCSR studied freshman course performance and high school completion in Chicago Public Schools - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Chicago Study Update:Freshman Year Performance
Evaluation and AccountabilitySeptember 2008
Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR)
The CCSR studied freshman course performance and high school completion in Chicago Public Schools
E&A has been conducting similar studies in Dallas ISD since 2007
Dallas is also a participant in two CCSR pilot institutes
What we know Student performance in the
freshman year of high school is critical for graduation
Three significant factors are attendance, GPA, and course failure
Course failure in the first six weeks of 9th grade is an early indicator of high school success or failure
End-of-Course tests required for freshman class of 2011-2012
English I English II English III World Geography U.S. History World History
Algebra I Geometry Algebra II Biology Chemistry Physics
Improved grades must reflect increased learning
We are not suggesting that students be given passing grades if they fail to meet coursework standards, or that course requirements be “dumbed down.”
The need for students to pass EOC assessments in order to graduate means that they must learn the course content.
What we need to know How early can we identify students
who are off-track for graduation? Are there reliable middle school and
elementary predictors of eventual graduation or dropout?
If off-track students can be identified earlier than high school, what interventions are effective?
3 Important Middle School Warning Signs
10 or more yearly absences Math course failure Language Arts course failure
Low 8th grade achievement levels increase the “riskiness” of all high school risk factors
Middle school absences are a strong predictor of high school graduation
61
46
36
27
17
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Percent Graduating in 4 Years
0-4 days5-9 days10-14 days15-19 days20+ days
Middle school course grades are also strong predictors of graduation
18
56
24
56
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Percent Graduating in 4 Years
Failed MathPassed Math Failed Lang. Arts Passed Lang. Arts
More middle school risk factors mean lower chances of graduating
60
34
18
9
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Percent Graduating in 4 Years
0123
Middle grades absences In 2007-08, about
30% of all middle grades students had 10 or more absences
More than 1/3 of 8th grade students had high absences
23
32
36
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Percent HighAbsences
Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8
Absence rates vary between schools, even those with similar populations
4
6
14
7
2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
0-19% 20-29% 30-39% 40-49% 50-59%
Middle School A – Median absencesby elementary feeder school
3
67
4
7 7
4 4
8
6 67
0
5
10
Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
Feeder A Feeder BFeeder CFeeder D
Middle School B - Median absencesby elementary feeder school
23 3
2
4
6
4 4 445
445
4
0
5
10
Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
Feeder A Feeder BFeeder CFeeder DFeeder E
Middle School C – Median absencesby elementary feeder school
3
6
7
5
4
8
5
87
6
9
8
0
5
10
Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
Feeder AFeeder BFeeder CFeeder D
Middle grades course failures
In 2007-08, 19% of students in grades 6-8 failed language arts and 23% failed math
Math failures were much higher at 8th grade
19
22
27
16
20 20
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Math Lang.Arts
Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8
Course failure rates vary between schools, but math failures are higher
7
3
15
87
9
3
12
1 1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0-9% 10-19% 20-29% 30-39% 40% +
Lang. ArtsMath
Some schools have clear inconsistencies in failure rates
40
15
23
11
34
6
05
1015
20253035
404550
Math Language Arts
Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8
Others have patterns that raise concerns
12
19
30
11
25
34
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Math Language Arts
Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8
Others appear more consistent, at least within content areas
22
26
20
108
10
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Math Language Arts
Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8
But on a closer look…
38
10
19
54
27
12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Math 7 Failure Rate (includes nosheltered, pre-AP, ESL, or Special
Education students)
Teacher ATeacher BTeacher CTeacher DTeacher ETeacher F
Next Steps Track risk factors back to
elementary grades Focus on similarities and differences
in risk within feeder patterns Understand which are teacher
effects, school effects, neighborhood effects, and effects of adolescence
Conclusions (preliminary) Neighborhood, family, poverty, and the
onset of adolescence are all factors in middle grades students falling off-track
Middle schools can help through early intervention and support for off-track students
Schools must be sure they are not contributing to the problem through ineffective instruction or punitive grading practices
Remember: improved grades must reflect increased learning
We are not suggesting that students be given passing grades if they fail to meet coursework standards, or that course requirements be “dumbed down.”
The need for students to pass EOC assessments in order to graduate means that they must learn the course content.
The bottom line: Like the Chicago Consortium researchers,
we are “advocating that teachers and schools identify students who are failing, find out why they are failing, and then try to give them the support they need to recover from this failure and avoid future failures.”
The earlier this can be accomplished, the better the outcome, for our students and our schools.