The Legislature established the Graduation: A Team Effort (GATE) Advisory (originally known as Building Bridges Workgroup) in 2007 to keep all students visible and on track to graduate from high school. The state's ongoing engagement and reengagement efforts are based on the three major recommendations of the original Building Bridges Workgroup:…

This report summarizes grade-level promotion and graduation outcomes for 2,163 Austin Independent School District (AISD) students who participated in the DELTA Program in 2019-2020. Seventy-four percent of DELTA students in 9th through 11th grades were promoted to the next grade level and of the DELTA students in 12th grade, 83% graduated from…

Although high school graduation rates continue to rise in the United States, reaching 81 percent in the 2012-2013 school year (U.S. Department of Education, 2015), dropout remains a pervasive issue for education systems across the nation. In recent years, Early Warning Systems (EWS), which utilize administrative data to identify students at risk…

This report summarizes grade-level promotion and graduation outcomes for 2,646 Austin Independent School District (AISD) students who participated in the DELTA Program in 2018-2019. Seventy-one percent of DELTA students in 9th through 11th grades were promoted to the next grade level and of the DELTA students in 12th grade, 85% graduated from high…

This study analyzed data on students in three Ohio school districts who had completed grades 8 and 9 to determine which data elements were the most accurate indicators of students' failure to graduate from high school on time. The most accurate indicators varied by district and grade level, which underscores the importance of having school systems…

This report includes findings regarding demographic characteristics and academic outcomes of DELTA students; highlights emerging topics from the student, teacher, and staff surveys; and provides recommendations for future program implementation. [For the 2018-2019 report, see ED626017.]

Schools and districts have implemented many programs specifically designed to help rising freshmen successfully make the transition to high school, such as 9th-grade academies, mandatory interventions, small learning communities, summer school programs, orientations, mentoring programs, and support teams. The ultimate goal is to help students get…

As attention to ninth grade transitions has grown, so has the need to carefully gauge the impacts of efforts to improve student outcomes. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), supported by the Institute for Education Sciences at the US Department of Education, sorts interventions based on the quality and the outcomes of the scientifically based…

Too many students drop out of school, which results in economic losses and increased crime. The problem is particularly acute for black and Hispanic students. A recent study of more than 130 9th-graders in five California high schools revealed some interesting information: Most of them (three-quarters) said they liked school, and more than 80% saw…

"Exito" means "success" in Spanish, so it is a fitting name for a dropout prevention program. Set in a large neighborhood high school in a low-income, largely Latino section of Philadelphia, Exito supports ninth- and tenth-grade students who are at risk of dropping out of school by providing them with afterschool programming…

Across the nation, school policymakers are grappling with what to do about the increasing numbers of students who do not advance beyond ninth grade. National estimates put the student attrition rate before tenth grade at between 11 and 33 percent, and only about 70 percent of ninth graders make it to graduation. This policy brief focuses on one…

Researchers use many different methods to calculate the high school dropout rate, and depending on the approach, the numbers can look very different. But, no matter which method is used, the key finding is the same: too many students are leaving school without the knowledge and skills they need to meet the demands of twenty-first century…

In the 2007 edition of "Diplomas Count", "Education Week" reported that nationally more than one-third of the students lost from the high school pipeline fail to make the transition from the ninth to the 10th grade. This explains why, for more than two decades, schools and districts across the country have struggled to develop freshman transition…

The high school dropout problem has been called a national crisis. Educators, researchers, and policymakers continue to work to identify effective dropout prevention approaches. One important element of such prevention efforts is the identification of students at highest risk for dropping out and then the targeting of resources to keep them in…

The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures. This policy brief examines how some states and districts are currently easing the transition into high school for students. It focuses on five key challenges that states, districts and schools…