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Middle Grade Crisis: Catching Them Before They Fall Through the Cracks

“Every 26 seconds in the United States, a teenager drops out of school.”

(America’s Promise Alliance, 2008)

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Introduction

Pivotal Year 2008

• Career & College Clubs is launched “Empowering middle grade students to succeed in high school, college, and life.”

• ACT report The Forgotten Middle “Ensuring that all students are on target for college and career readiness before high school.”

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The Forgotten Middle

Key Findings:

• Fewer than 2 in 10 eighth graders are on target to be ready for college-level work by the time they graduate from high school.

• The level of academic achievement attained by eighth grade has a larger impact on students’ college and career readiness by the time they graduate from high school than anything that happens academically in high school.

• Students’ college and career readiness can be improved when they develop behaviors in upper elementary and middle school that are known to contribute to successful academic performance.

• To maximize the college and career readiness of U.S. students, we need to intervene not only during high school but before high school, in upper elementary grades and in middle school.

(The Forgotten Middle, 2008)

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The Forgotten Middle

“The findings indicate that the situation is essentially unchanged from the 2008 report’s results.”

We are still facing the same crisis in the middle grades – students dropping out and unprepared for high school, college, and life.

2014 ACT Update:

(The Forgotten Middle, 2014)

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Middle School Moment

https://youtu.be/Pi5C6k4Zkcc

(Dropout Nation: Middle School Moment, 2012; update Omarina’s Story, 2014) (Robert Balfanz, Johns Hopkins University)

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Dropout in Middle Grade

• For most students, the process of dropping out begins in middle school, when the habits that predict whether or not a student graduates are formed, making it a critical “make or break” period.

• Although students physically drop out in high school, many initially disengage in the middle grades. This is evidenced by a combination of a declining attendance and academic performance, increasingly negative attitudes toward school, and behavior issues.

• In high-poverty schools, if a sixth grade child attends less than 80% of the time, receives an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course, or fails math or English, there is a 75% chance they will later drop out of high school — absent effective intervention.

The middle grades are the “last best chance” to catch students before the fall through the cracks.

(Dropout Nation: Middle School Moment, 2012)

(Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path: A Policy and Practice Brief, 2009)

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Dropout Continues

• In 2013, there were 1,424 schools nationwide in which 12th grade enrollment was 60% or less of 9th grade enrollment.

(Solving the High School Graduation Crisis, 2013) (Building a Grad Nation, 2015) (The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2014: Students from Low-Income Families, ACT 2015)

• In 2014, only 11% of low-income high school graduates met all four of the ACT Readiness Benchmarks indicating college readiness.

• The immediate college enrollment rate for high-income high school graduates was 80% compared to only 49% for low-income graduates.

• High school graduate rate is about 81% nationwide, but only 73% for low-income students ( vs 88% for middle- and high-income students).

High school dropout begins in the middle grades when students get discouraged, disengaged, and disruptive.

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Dropout Decision

Will they Dropout to Disappointment, or Step Up to Success?

(Forum Guide to College and Career Ready Data, 2015)

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Steps to Success

The motivation,

planning,

and perseverance

needed for

high school graduation,

college completion,

and career success

begin

in the middle grades.

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Step 1: Off-Track Indicators

ABC warning signs:

• Attendance problems

• Behavior issues

• Course failure

(Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path, 2009)

Students in the middle grades need to believe that hard work will bring life success, and that positive behavior is recognized and desired.

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Off-Track Indicators

Negative behaviors increase significantly in the middle grades, a critical time for redirecting off-track behavior into positive peer-group activities.

(Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2014)

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Indicators to Intervention

Tiered intervention:

• Whole-school prevention strategies

• Targeted supports

• Intensive supports

(Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path, 2009)

Recognize, record, and utilize student strengths when building and delivering effective interventions.

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Step 2: What Matters to Students

• Young adolescence have a strong need to belong to a group, with peer approval becoming more important than adult approval.

• When students are feeling more connected, they are better motivated, more engaged in classes, and earn better grades, even when controlling for prior levels of motivation and achievement.

Engaging students:

(Developmental Characteristics of Young Adolescents, 2014) (Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path: A Policy and Practice Brief, 2009) (Analyzing Evidence of College Readiness: A Tri-Level Empirical & Conceptual Framework, 2013)

• Students need emotional supports that foster trust, engagement, and self-esteem, including: counseling, peer groups, application of social- emotional standards, concrete feedback that supports self-assessment.

• Students must have opportunities to form affirming healthy relationships with peers. Teachers must recognize the importance of peer relationships and friendship and provide occasions for positive peer interactions.

• Students need positive alternatives that allow them to work collectively on activities that are meaningful to them.

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Step 3: Supporting Student Success

• It is important that as we define, develop, and evaluate the abilities that prepare students for college and careers, we include deeper learning skills that society increasingly demands: the abilities to collaborate successfully, communicate clearly in many forms, think critically and creatively, and especially, to learn and apply new knowledge to new problems effectively.

• Two meta-analyses found that academic self-efficacy, or the belief that one can succeed in school, predicts academic performance above and beyond traditional predictors of college success, indicating that variables related to self-confidence are important for academic success.

Best practices:

(Recognizing College and Career Readiness in the California School Accountability System, 2014) (The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2014: Students from Low-Income Families, 2015) (Broadening the Definition of College and Career Readiness: A Holistic Approach, 2014)

• Teachers need to support young adolescents' quest for identity formation through curricular experiences, instructional approaches, and opportunities for exploration. Young adolescents are also more interested in real life experiences and authentic learning opportunities.

• The behavioral habits that contribute most directly to student postsecondary success include motivation, social engagement, and self-regulation.

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Step 3: Supporting Student Success

• Support lifelong learning skills – the essential competencies and behaviors that contribute to a student’s intellectual and emotional maturity, professionalism, and good citizenship. They are also are the essential skills for learner success in college and career settings.

• Help students understand and develop essential skills and behaviors for college and career readiness through academic and mentoring programs that teach study skills, foster resilience, and reaffirm one’s commitment to college.

(Missouri Students and the Pathways to College, 2006) (The College and Career Readiness and Success Organizer, 2014) (The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2014: Students from Low-Income Families, 2015)

• To encourage the purposeful use of college and career knowledge, students must first have the knowledge of personal interests and skills, and related pathways, to be able to determine postsecondary goals and aspirations that align with their preferences.

• Students need constant encouragement and approval, particularly from their friends. Peers can be especially helpful in simply getting through the process.

College and career readiness:

They need to dream it and believe it before they can achieve it.

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Exemplar

Created in 2008 in response to a need for a pre-high school intervention program.

Based on 2006 findings from student survey groups and financial literacy workshops.

Focused on engaging at-risk middle grade students through peer-to-peer methodology.

Objectives:

• Increase student awareness of career and college options.

• Increase student academic aspirations and attitudes.

• Strengthen student confidence and leadership skills.

• Strengthen 21st century skills including the 4Cs.

• Develop academic and social-emotional preparedness.

• Provide real-world experiences and skills for global careers.

• Foster college-going behaviors among middle school students.

• Deepen the college-going culture at middle school sites.

Career & College Clubs

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Exemplar

ACT Findings:

• Students who complete Career & College Clubs have higher aspirations than their peers, including plans for taking college- ready core courses in high school, completing postsecondary degrees, and pursing STEM careers.

• There is also statistically significant schoolwide increase in percentage of students at CCC sites planning to take a core curriculum in high school, as well as the percentage of students planning to go college.

• In a 2014-15 follow-up evaluation of students who completed Career & College Clubs as eighth graders in 2009-10, there was significant impact in college enrollment. The odds of enrolling in college were 85% higher for students who complete the program compared to the control group of peers.

(Promising Results: Evaluating Effectiveness of Career & College Clubs, ACT 2013) (More Promising Results: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Career & College Clubs Participation in College Enrollment, ACT 2015)

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Discussion

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Conclusion

Karen Hall Education Coordinator Career & College Clubs

(310) 242-8809 khall@allmc.org

www.careerandcollegeclubs.org

Next Webinar: Middle Grade Mindset: Elevating Social-Emotional Skills through Peer-to-Peer Learning

Webinar On-Demand: www.careerandcollegeclubs.org