Addressing Early Warning Indicators: Interim Impact Findings from the Investing in Innovation (i3) Evaluation of Diplomas Now
Author: Corrin, William
Date: 2016-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Dropout Prevention,Program Effectiveness,Intervention,Urban Schools,Educational Change,At Risk Students,Attendance,Student Behavior,Academic Achievement,Discipline,Middle Schools,High Schools,Grade 6,Grade 9,Middle School Students,High School Students,Student Attitudes

Diplomas Now is a partnership of three national organizations--Talent Development Secondary, City Year, and Communities In Schools--collaborating in an effort to transform urban secondary schools so that fewer students drop out and more graduate ready for postsecondary education and work. With the goal of a continuous system of support through secondary school, the Diplomas Now model seeks to help more students graduate by improving their attendance, behavior, and course performance, particularly in English/language arts and math, during the middle grades and high school. Acting as a representative for the partnership, Johns Hopkins University, home to Talent Development Secondary, was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) validation grant by the U.S. Department of Education in 2010 to support the expansion of Diplomas Now from a few schools to more than 30 middle and high schools in more than 10 school districts. The grant funds also support a rigorous random assignment evaluation of the Diplomas Now model, led by MDRC. This report discusses the early impacts of the Diplomas Now model on student and school outcomes at the end of the first and second years of model implementation. It focuses in particular on students during sixth and ninth grades, critical transition years into middle and high school. Accordingly, this report presents the &quot;first-year&quot; impacts of a &quot;multiyear&quot; program. In total, 62 high-needs schools (33 middle schools and 29 high schools) from 11 large urban school districts across the country were recruited to participate in the study starting in either the 2011-2012 or the 2012-2013 school year. Thirty-two of the participating secondary schools were randomly assigned to implement the Diplomas Now model (DN schools), and 30 were assigned to continue with &quot;business as usual&quot; (non-DN schools), either maintaining their existing practices and structures or pursuing other types of school reform. This third report focuses on the early impacts of Diplomas Now on students' attendance, behavior, and course performance measures (the ABC outcomes), separately and in combination, during their first year in middle school or high school over the course of the first two years that the model was implemented in participating schools. Does the implementation of Diplomas Now have an impact on how many students are on a path to high school graduation by the end of their first year of middle school or high school? During that first year, what difference does Diplomas Now make for attendance rates, suspensions and expulsions, and successful course completion? This report also discusses the impact of Diplomas Now on possible precursors to the ABC outcomes, such as the climate of the school, support from parents and the community, and students' attitudes and relationships. Two appendices are included: (1) Samples, Analytic Methods, and Early Outcome Measures; and (2) Supplemental ABC Outcome Findings. [For &quot;Laying Tracks to Graduation: The First Year of Implementing Diplomas Now,&quot; see ED546638. For &quot;Moving down the Track: Changing School Practices during the Second Year of Diplomas Now,&quot; see ED558491.]