High School Improvement

More than one million high school students fail to graduate high school each year. This not only affects the individual and his or her education, but also takes a toll on society and the economy. Improving America’s lowest-performing high schools through the use of proven research, technical assistance, practices, and strategies has become a priority for states, districts, and schools as they work to prepare their students for success in a 21st century global economy that increasingly requires its workers to have some postsecondary training. 

Latest Work

Did School Improvement Grants Work Anywhere?
11 May 2017
Blog Post

Did School Improvement Grants Work Anywhere?

A rigorous 2017 study found no significant effect of the $7 billion federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program on student outcomes. But the story of SIG is far more complex. In this blog post, Kerstin Carlson Le Floch unpacks the story of SIG, highlighting instances in which program elements worked, and posing important questions about school improvement.
25 Jun 2015
Report

Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972-2012

Dropping out of high school is related to a number of negative outcomes, including lower median income and greater reliance on welfare. This report from the National Center for Education Statistics describes dropout trends in the United States over 40 years, beginning in 1972. Results show dropout rates are trending downward, but are still higher for Black and Hispanic students than for White and Asian/Pacific Islander students.
Class Rules book cover
30 Aug 2013
Book

Class Rules: Exposing Inequality in American High Schools

Class Rules challenges the popular myth that American high schools are “the great equalizers” and demonstrates how these schools create enduring inequality through their socialization processes.

12 Mar 2013
Brochure

Early Warning Systems: Designing Effective Interventions to Improve College & Career Readiness

The National High School Center at AIR developed an early warning systems tool that provides accurate and timely data to identify students most at risk for dropping out of high school. The center’s tool allows districts to dig deeper into their data, see patterns, and uncover the reasons behind students’ poor performance.

7 Dec 2011
Report

Turnaround Schools in California: Who Are They and What Strategies Do They Use?

This November 2011 study, written by experts with AIR for the California Comprehensive Center at WestEd, attempts to define turnaround schools in California, both what constitutes low-performing or failing schools and what constitutes turnaround or success for these schools.

8 Dec 2010
Report

Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2008

This report builds upon a series of National Center for Education Statistics reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988.

1 Nov 2009
Report

State Support for School Improvement: School-level Perceptions of Quality

Building on existing external school support literature, this brief offers a set of indicators for assessing the quality of support provided to low-performing schools, with respect to the No Child Left Behind Act.

27 Oct 2009 | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Event

AIR’s Scientific Evidence in Education (SEE) Forums Hosted Discussion on Students’ Access to College

The Scientific Evidence in Education (SEE) Forums, a project of the American Institutes for Research, will host a policy forum on improving student access and readiness for college on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 that features a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, an official of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the head of Columbia University’s National Center for Postsecondary Research.

Project

The National High School Center

Millions of high school students—particularly those with disabilities, with limited proficiency in English, or from low-income backgrounds—need additional support in order to succeed. To address this challenge, the National High School Center promotes the use of research-supported approaches that help all students learn and become adequately prepared for college, work, and life.

Project

Evaluating the Impact of Early College High Schools

Early Colleges partner with colleges and universities to offer students an opportunity to earn an associate’s degree or up to two years of college credits toward a bachelor’s degree during high school at no or low cost to their families. In partnership with SRI International, AIR evaluated the Early College High School Initiative using qualitative and quantitative data sources to document and describe the implementation of this initiative and the performance of students, particularly in comparison to other students.
1 Dec 2007
Report

Numbers and Rates of Public High School Dropouts: School Year 2004-05

This First Look presents findings on the numbers and rates of public school students who dropped out of school in school years 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2004-05.

1 Aug 2007
Report

Meeting the Needs of Significantly Struggling Learners in High School: A Look at Approaches to Tiered Intervention

This report, authored by Helen Duffy of the National High School Center, provides an in-depth look at the implementation and structural issues, as well as the needed support required to successfully institute Response to Intervention (RTI) at the secondary school level.

20 Apr 2007
Report

Changes in Rigor, Relevance, and Student Learning in Redesigned High Schools

The final report of an ongoing series of reports based on data collected for the Teacher Assignment and Student Work Study for the evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s high school grants. We first review findings on redesigned schools from our previous research and summarize key findings from our most recent research, and then describe the design of the study and present the results from our data analyses.

12 Apr 2007
Presentation

Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation High School Grants

This presentation to the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association highlights findings from the evaluation of the effects of redesigning large high schools into small learning communities. The study found that for English/language arts,rigor, relevance, and student work quality improved; for math, rigor and relevance improved while student work quality declined.
9 Jan 2007
Report

Improving Literacy Outcomes for English Language Learners in High School: Considerations for States and Districts in Developing a Coherent Policy Framework

This National High School Center research brief outlines existing barriers regarding teacher expectations, tracking, and placement of English language learners and offers key policies and useful strategies in building capacity and developing learning environments conducive for all students in obtaining academic success.

5 Nov 2006
Report

CSRQ Center Report on Elementary School Comprehensive School Reform Models

This report is intended to serve as a consumer guide that helps decision makers sort through claims about which approaches could truly meet the needs of students. It is the most extensive and comprehensive review of elementary school CSR models ever issued.

1 Jan 2005
Report

Works in Progress: A Report on Middle and High School Improvement Programs

Works in Progress: A Report on Middle and High School Improvement Programs is the Comprehensive School Reform Quality (CSRQ) Center’s initial contribution to provide reliable information and assistance to middle and high school educators and education reformers so that they can undertake effective improvement.

24 Apr 2004
Report

The Evaluation of the National School District and Network Grants Program: Year 2 Evaluation Report

The National School District and Network Grants Program is based on the premise that organizations external to the public school system can catalyze the creation of small high schools that will produce better and more equitable outcomes for students. Although it is still early to look at outcomes, the evaluation does have a growing database that can be used to examine some of the key questions.
12 Apr 2003
Report

Charting a Course: Evaluation Design of the National School District and Network Grants Program

This paper describes the framework underlying our evaluation design of a large-scale, multifaceted school reform initiative and to identify some of the methodological challenges inherent in work of this kind.