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  • Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes
9 Aug 2016
Report

Deeper Learning and Graduation: Is There a Relationship?

Findings From the Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes (Report 4 of 5)

Jordan Rickles, Kristina Zeiser, Jessica Mason, and Michael S. Garet, AIR
Suzanne Wulach Research, Alliance for New York City Schools
The Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes examines how some schools have provided opportunities for students to acquire deeper learning skills and how these opportunities are related to student outcomes.

The Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes—funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation—aimed to determine whether students attending high schools with a mature and at least moderately well implemented approach to promoting deeper learning actually experienced greater deeper learning opportunities and outcomes than they would have had they not attended these schools. In this report, the authors extend the analyses from the original study to explore the connections between deeper learning opportunities, deeper learning competencies (in the interpersonal, intrapersonal, and cognitive domains), and high school graduation.

The findings indicate that students’ opportunities to engage in deeper learning and the deeper learning competencies they developed were positively associated with graduating from high school. The ways in which deeper learning opportunities and competencies were connected to graduation differed across study locations, however.

Key findings include the following:

Students’ deeper learning competencies were positively associated with high school graduation rates, but the nature of the association differed between California and New York City.

  • A composite measure of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies was significantly related to high school graduation for students in California but not for students in New York City: California students with a value on the composite measure one standard deviation above the average had graduation rates 5 percentage points higher than students with average values.
  • Conversely, a composite measure of cognitive competencies was significantly related with high school graduation for students in New York City but not for students in California: New York City students with a value on the composite measure one standard deviation above the average had graduation rates 14 percentage points higher than students with average values.

Four of the nine individual deeper learning opportunity measures (opportunities for collaboration, learning how to learn, receiving feedback, and real-world connections) were positively associated with high school graduation in California, but none of the measures were significantly associated with graduation in New York City.

  • In California, students with an opportunity measure score one standard deviation above average had graduation rates approximately 4 to 5 percentage points higher than students with average scores.

Some, but not all, of the interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies were positively associated with high school graduation, with differences evident between students in California and New York City.

  • In California, six of the eight competency measures (collaboration skills, academic engagement, motivation to learn, self-efficacy, locus of control, and perseverance) were significantly related to graduation: students with a score one standard deviation above average had graduation rates approximately 4 to 5 percentage points higher than students with average scores.
  • In New York City, two of the eight competency measures (self-efficacy and perseverance) were significantly related to graduation: students with a score one standard deviation above average had graduation rates approximately 6 to 7 percentage points higher than students with average scores.

Two of the three cognitive competency measures were positively associated with high school graduation in New York City, but none of the competency measures were associated with graduation in California.

  • In New York City, students with a reading or mathematics score one standard deviation above average had graduation rates approximately 13 percentage points higher than students with average scores.

The general pattern of results supports the idea that there is a connection between students’ deeper learning competencies and graduation from high school. The different findings for California and New York City, however, raise questions about how state and local context may hinder or promote the connection between deeper learning and graduation.

 

Creative Commons License
Deeper Learning and Graduation: Is There a Relationship? by Jordan Rickles is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

PDF icon Report: Deeper Learning and Graduation: Is There a Relationship? (PDF)

Related Projects

Project

Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes

AIR is studying the ways in which schools provide opportunities for students to acquire complex knowledge and deeper learning skills. Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the study examines the impact of these opportunities on how students develop five dimensions of deeper learning: mastery of core content, critical thinking skills, collaboration skills, communication skills, and independent learning skills.

Related Work

Students working together
24 Jan 2017
Spotlight

Spotlight on Deeper Learning

What do today’s students really need to learn in order to succeed, not only in the classroom but also later on in college, careers, and as engaged citizens? What role can deeper learning—“a set of competencies students must master in order to develop a keen understanding of academic content and apply their knowledge to problems in the classroom and on the job”—play?
Kristina Zeiser
31 Aug 2016
Blog Post

Three Studies Show Impact of Deeper Learning

Today, success isn’t just about what you know. It’s also about how quickly you can grasp and apply new knowledge. That’s the theory behind “deeper learning,” a broad term encompassing the goals of an increasing number of U.S. schools and school systems. In a series of reports, researchers at AIR examined whether and how opportunities for deeper learning change high school graduation and college attendance rates for students. In this blog post, Kristina Zeiser, Jordan Rickles, and Mette Huberman share the studies’ results.

Further Reading

  • Three Studies Show Impact of Deeper Learning
  • Evidence of Deeper Learning Outcomes
  • Students in Deeper Learning Network High Schools Significantly More Likely to Enroll in College, AIR Study Finds
  • AIR Study Finds Persistent Graduation Advantage For Students in Deeper Learning Network High Schools
  • Providing Opportunities for Deeper Learning
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Contact

Jordan Rickles

Jordan Rickles

Principal Researcher
Kristina Zeiser

Kristina Zeiser

Senior Researcher

Topic

Education

DEEPER LEARNING STUDY PUBLICATIONS

The Shape of Deeper Learning: Strategies, Structures, and Cultures in Deeper Learning Network High Schools

Providing Opportunities for Deeper Learning

Evidence of Deeper Learning Outcomes
Update: Graduation Advantage Persists for Students in Deeper Learning Network High Schools
Update: Deeper Learning and College Attendance: What Happens After High School?

Deeper Learning and Graduation: Is There a Relationship?

School Features and Student Opportunities for Deeper Learning: What Makes a Difference?
Brief: School Features and Student Opportunities for Deeper Learning What Makes a Difference?

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

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