Catching Up: Impact of the Talent Development Ninth Grade Instructional Interventions in Reading and Mathematics in High-Poverty High Schools. Report No. 69

摘要

Concerns that higher standards and demanding high-stakes tests will disadvantage students who have attended weak, unsuccessful, or under-resourced schools have typically been met with the counter-claim that poorly prepared students will be provided with the extra help and support they need to succeed. Efforts to provide extra help are in their infancy, however, and very little is known about the feasibility and pace of accelerating the academic learning of students who enter high school multiple years behind grade level. This study uses multiple regression analyses of standardized test and survey data from high-poverty high schools in two large urban districts to evaluate initial impacts of the Talent Development High Schools (TDHS) ninth grade instructional program in reading and mathematics. Pre-post and match-control comparisons show that students in the TDHS schools significantly outperformed students in the control schools in mathematics and reading achievement gains, controlling for their prior achievement, attendance, age, and gender. Students in TDHS schools also passed Algebra 1 at higher rates. Achievement advantages occurred at all levels of prior achievement, and gains occurred despite less than perfect implementation and in the face of considerable implementation challenges. Supplemental surveys show a higher percentage of students in the TDHS schools reported learning new skills, strategies, and concepts.