New Research Educatonal nonprofit releases study on high school graduation best practices

Baton Rouge, LA - A study of the best practices of Louisiana high schools that have achieved and sustained high graduation rates has been released by Education's Next Horizon, a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to improving pre-kindergarten to 12th grade education in Louisiana. The study focuses on high schools that have maintained a cohort graduation rate of at least 80 percent while increasing the graduation rate by at least 10 percentage points from 2005 to 2009. Based on 2009 -2010 data, 36 high schools met the criteria and participated in the research by responding to an online survey in the spring of 2011.

The research was done by the Picard Center for Lifelong Learning at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Education's Next Horizon sponsored the study as part of Louisiana's Promise, a statewide initiative to help solve the dropout problem.

The study identifies the characteristics and commonalities of the schools and identifies practices that worked best for them in increasing graduation rates. Study findings show that the 80/10 schools incorporated a variety of practices and methods to improve their graduation rates:

* The integration of accelerated curriculum, continuous improvement practices, community involvement, and the development and fostering of healthy adult-student relationships all helped to ultimately raise the graduation rates of these schools.

* The emphasis, whether career or technical in nature, was focused on students earning credits to advance.
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* Students who had not mastered the required standards were provided concentrated, focused, strategic remediation on those standards, and they had opportunities to earn course credit for subjects previously failed.

* The use of assessment of both students and teachers were used to evaluate student learning and improve teacher curriculum and instructional strategies.

* Schools often tried to provide a smoother and more effective transition to the 9th grade.

* The use of summer programs and increased structure within the 9th grade provided schools with the opportunity to help foster the growth of their students in one of their most critical years.

* Teachers, parents, and administrators worked together to create and use tools, including professional learning, to ensure rigor and effective instruction in each classroom and caring environment.
* Community role models and mentors were often brought in to provide more adult role models for students.

Overall, the most prominently used strategies to improve graduation rates were (1) creation of rigorous coursework and curriculum, (2) the addition of higher level coursework,
(3) increased utilization of school data to modify curriculum and instruction, and (4) use of benchmarks and assessments. Additionally, enabling students to remediate courses when struggling and to obtain grade and credit recovery contributed significantly to increased graduation rates in the 80/10 schools.

"There are a number of success stories here in Louisiana that we can all learn from," said Steven Scheurich, president and chairman of Education's Next Horizon, and vice-president of customer service and external affairs for Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC. Scheurich further notes, "The goal of this research is to capture success stories in Louisiana schools and share best practices in increasing and sustaining graduation rates."
John Warner Smith, Education's Next Horizon CEO, said, "State and local education leaders reading the report should view the findings in the context of state and district policies and procedures, and whether those policies are helping or hindering school efforts to increase graduation rates."

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Board Members of Education's Next Horizon are:
Steven Scheurich, President and Chairman
Jefferson

Greg Davis, Vice-President
Lafayette

Dan Bevan, Secretary-Treasurer
Baton Rouge

Phillip A. Rozeman, MD., Founder
Shreveport

Robert Burgess
Baton Rouge

Robbie Bush
Lafayette

Charmaine Caccioppi
New Orleans

Jon Cato
Baton Rouge

Randy Ewing, J.D.
Ruston

Curman Gaines, Ph.D.
Alexandria

Julio Galan
Lake Charles