Students Placed At-Risk

This document states the need for statewide longitudinal data systems that can help facilitate sharing of student-level data across the education spectrum. The brief notes that doing this could help schools answer policy questions critical to increasing college and career readiness among students. Example questions include the number of high school graduates that have taken the required coursework to prepare for college, how many students are "on-track" for future success, etc.

In this report, the author discusses the shift to a mentality that all students need to go on to college in order to be successful in life. He identifies several reasons within the changing economy that support this belief and describes skills that are crucial in today's workforce.

This report provides a profile of 38 schools and details how these schools have implemented strategies to promote and advance college readiness. The report outlines each school, characteristics that make the school unique, and lessons learned from undertaking particular strategies. The report is organized into six sections: 1) alternative schools, 2) charter schools, 3) comprehensive schools, 4) early college high schools, 5) magnet schools, and 6) private schools. In several cases, schools may have utilized more than one strategy to achieve their goal.

This policy brief discusses the growing second-language learner population in schools. Through case studies of schools in Austin and the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas, it provides state and federal policymakers recommendations for policy changes that can help schools increase student achievement among this population.

This study examined the effects of the Comprehensive Intervention Programs (CIP) on students’ preparedness for college by reviewing their reading and mathematics abilities. CIP provided a variety of activities and services intended to increase success in postsecondary education. Sixth grade students were tracked over a period of two years. The study did not find statistically significant program effects on CIP students’ standardized test scores in reading and math.

This issue brief from the NGA Center for Best Practices discusses dropout recovery. The author examines the effects of dropout and provides recommendations that include using data to identify dropouts and providing flexible recovery options for dropouts.

This guide from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education discusses how to identify students at risk of not graduating on time or at risk of dropping out of school using Massachusetts’ Early Warning Indicator Index (EWII). The guide examines the effects of using the EWII to detect those at risk students and provides guidance on common characteristics of at risk students, how risk level is determined, and how to assign risk levels to new students.

This MDRC resource provides an overview of the College Match Program which has been designed to support students who may not plan to attend college or may plan to attend a less competitive (academically) college, and who are prepared for college. The program is designed to support students who may not have resources of parents/households with information about college and particularly how to make decisions about the best college that fits students needs (academically, financially and socially).