The &quot;Oakland Accelerates&quot; Program: Final Results of a District-Wide Strategy to Increase College-Readiness and Academic Preparedness of Under-Served Students. January 2012-May 2015. i3 Development Final Report
Author: Toussaint, Danielle
Date: 2016-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: College Readiness,School Districts,Needs Assessment,Faculty Development,Specialists,Coaching (Performance),Program Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,Asian American Students,Pacific Islanders,White Students,English Language Learners,Advanced Placement Programs,College Entrance Examinations,Program Implementation,Barriers,Resistance to Change,Labor Turnover,Disadvantaged Youth,At Risk Students

The Oakland Accelerates Program, funded by an Investing in Innovation (i3) development FY2011 grant, was a collaborative process for increasing the Oakland Unified School District's (California) capacity to support each and every student to graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills to be successful in college and postsecondary courses of study. The key components of the program included: 1) a formal &quot;district diagnostic&quot; performed at the beginning of the project, 2) teacher professional development, 3) coaching support to &quot;college readiness specialists,&quot; and 3) capacity and policy guidance. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Oakland Accelerates on student academic performance and college preparation outcomes at the school-level. The students in the study schools were 37% African American, 43% Hispanic/Latinx, 16% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 3% White. Additionally, 15% of students were English language learners (ELL). The academic performance outcomes studied were: participation rates and performance levels on Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs) and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. The college preparation outcomes studied were: 1) high school graduation rates; 2) completion rates of high school coursework required by University of California and California State University systems for entering freshman students; 3) college enrollment without need for remediation; and 4) college enrollment rates. A nonequivalent comparison group design examined the effect of the Oakland intervention on high school student academic outcomes relating to academic performance outcomes compared to schools not receiving the treatment. A one-group pretest-posttest design compared outcomes at the school level for differences in college preparation outcomes. In addition, exploratory subgroup analyses of both academic and college preparation outcomes were conducted for three subgroups: African American, Hispanic/Latinx and ELL students. School impact analyses suggested that the intervention may have increased the percentage of district students taking the SAT exam, but it did not increase the percentage of students taking the AP exams. Moreover, Oakland Accelerates did not improve performance on either the SAT or AP exams, and there was no statistical evidence that the program had an impact on increasing college preparation outcomes. In exploratory subgroup analyses, the intervention may have had an impact on the Hispanic/Latinx subgroup increasing participation in AP tests; but there was no evidence that the program had a similar impact for the African-American or ELL subgroups. Results from the implementation study showed that key components of the program were not implemented fully as planned. There were several barriers to implementation related to significant turnover in program developers, project staff, and school and district leadership, and with general resistance to proposed changes in practice and approach. These barriers impeded the ability for program developers and project staff to implement all key components. Appendices include: 1) Registration Tables of Confirmatory and Exploratory Contrasts; and 2) Fidelity Analysis and Matrices. [Written by Hatchuel Tabernik &amp; Associates (HAT).]