Commonalities of Georgia's 85/10 High Schools

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Commonalities of Georgia‘s 85/10 High Schools INTRODUCTION For too many Georgia students, leaving school before graduation is a lengthy process, not a one-time decision. The causes may be many and are not the same for all dropouts, but the lifetime effects are predictable – less income, higher unemployment, less health care, higher mortality rates, and higher teen pregnancy rates. Communities experience reduced tax revenue, less economic growth, higher criminal justice costs, and increased costs for public services. 5 Over the past nine years, with the implementation of Georgia’s A+ Education Reform Act of 2000, the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools and school systems are more focused on those items which are measured and reported. Since graduation rates are the second indicator for Georgia high schools in their pursuit of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status, understandably, many schools and school systems are interested in increasing their graduation rates. Also, interested stakeholders are focusing on keeping students in school through graduation. Most states, including Georgia, have developed new programs and have renewed emphases on existing efforts to increase the graduation rate. The state of Georgia has extensive school improvement efforts underway, from working with low performing schools in continuous improvement efforts to implementing a new standards-based curriculum to adopting more rigorous course requirements for graduation. Efforts are paying off - Georgia’s graduation rate is increasing. However, the problem remains, and thousands of students drop out of Georgia high schools each year. Georgia’s graduation rate must be a focus of stakeholders who are interested in the State’s future. “This is not my job, this is my life’s work.” Georgia has several high schools with varying demographics that graduate relatively large percentages of students and have done so over a comparatively short period of time. Do they have commonalities? How did they improve their graduation rate? To what do they attribute their success? Does the middle school contribute to their accomplishments? Could other Georgia high schools benefit from their strategies? Certainly, we believe the answer to this last question is “Yes.” The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (Refer to Appendix A for information on the organization) commissioned this research, the purpose of which is to compare and analyze the characteristics, practices, conditions, and programs of the identified schools by interviewing their leaders and other educators using a protocol developed by the researcher and state and national school improvement experts. The criteria for schools to be included are that the school must have: 1. Had a graduation rate of at least 85 percent in 2008, 2. Increased the graduation rate by at least 10 percentage points over five years, 2004 – 2008, and 3. Sustained the 85 percent graduation rate and the 10 percent improvement through 2009. Note: In this report, these schools are referred to as “85/10 schools.” Data were compared and contrasted, and analyses were documented and reported for use by Georgia educational leaders, school systems, and/or practitioners. Results will be communicated to the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education audiences and other appropriate persons and organizations. This study includes: 1. Methodology of the Research, 2. The Most Important Strategies Schools Used to Increase the Graduation Rate, 3. The Most Important Strategies Schools Used in Identified Areas to Increase the Graduation Rate, 4. Commonalities Among Georgia’s 85/10 Schools, 5. Recommendations, 5 Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, The Economics of Education, 2008; Alliance for Excellent Education, Economic Benefits of Reducing High School Drop Out Rates in America’s Fifty Largest Cities, November 18, 2009; Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, Achieving Excellence in Secondary Education: Georgia’s Unfinished Business, 2009. 13
Commonalities of Georgia‘s 85/10 High Schools 6. Conclusion, 7. Appendices, and 8. References. METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH The purpose of this research is to compare and analyze the characteristics, practices, programs, and conditions of Georgia schools that graduate comparatively large percentages of students and have done so in a relatively short period of time. The methodology of this research follows. 1. The researcher worked with school improvement leaders in the Georgia Department of Education and others to establish the criteria to be applied to schools to determine which schools would be included in this research. 2. The criteria were that the schools must have: a. Had a graduation rate of at least 85 percent in 2008 and b. Increased the graduation rate by at least 10 percentage points over the five years, 2004 – 2008. 3. Initially, 17 schools met the criteria. 4. The researcher worked with the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (OSA) to obtain graduation rate data. Refer to Appendix B for graduation rates of all Georgia schools, 2004-2008 and the amount of change for each school. 5. The researcher contacted several agencies and other entities and asked for assistance in identifying experts in the field of school improvement. Refer to Appendix C for those contacted and letter to them regarding this study. 6. The identified experts were contacted and were asked to formulate the questions to be asked of the 85/10 schools. Not all identified experts submitted questions. Refer to Appendix D for those identified experts and the letter sent to them. 7. Questions were received and organized into a meaningful, manageable format. Refer to Appendix E for a list of the questions submitted. The questions to be asked were open-ended and the responders were allowed to comment without prompts. The subtopics noted by the experts are listed under each question in Appendix E, but were not included in the questions given to the schools nor mentioned in the interviews. 8. The researcher contacted all schools that met the criteria. The researcher made an appointment for a telephone interview and asked a school leader, preferably the principal, to participate. Others could be included at the discretion of the principal. 9. The interviews were conducted during late spring and early summer 2009. Thirty-nine individuals participated in the interviews, including the principal of each school except two, one in which an assistant principal participated and the other a graduation coach. The same questions were asked of each school, and responses were recorded. The range of the duration of the telephone interviews was 45 minutes to 90 minutes with a total of 17+ hours. Two schools submitted written responses. 10. In October 2009, the Georgia 2009 graduation rates were released. The criteria of the 85 percent graduation rate and 10 percent improvement, 2004 – 2009, were again applied to the 17 schools. Two schools did not meet the criteria. In one, the graduation rate fell to 80.7 and the other to 84.2. Both schools increased the graduation rate more than the 10 percentage points over six years. However, since the schools did not met “We evaluate and color code everything.” both criteria applied to 2009 data, the responses to the questions posed to these two schools were eliminated from the research. Refer to Appendix F for the list of the schools, principals’ contact information, and the letter sent to the principals. 11. All responses from the 15 schools that met all criteria were organized into categories very similar to the categories used in the questions. 12. Responses were analyzed. 13. Results are reported. 14
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System and School ID Commonalities
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Areas of Study Commonalities of Geo
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GeorgiaPartnership For Excellence I
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