9th graders in NC's innovative schools more likely to advance 

Freshmen who were enrolled last year in North Carolina's innovative high schools were more likely to have made the crucial step to 10th grade than their peers in traditional schools statewide.

The overall promotion rate for all 9th graders in high schools supported by the North Carolina New Schools Project was 86 percent in 2007-08, compared to 82.5 percent for all 9th graders in the state, according to an analysis by NCNSP of promotion data reported to the Department of Public Instruction by all schools in the state.

Research shows that promotion from 9th grade is an especially strong predictor of student's likelihood to graduate. A 2006 study of schools in Philadelphia found that among 9th graders, non-promotion was one of three critical factors associated with students who dropped out. The other two warning signals for 9th graders were insufficient credits earned and poor attendance. A 9th grader with any one of the three factors in his or her profile was found to have a 75 percent chance of dropping out.

The results from 2007-08 indicates that North Carolina's innovative high schools are making gains on their goal of graduating all their students ready for college, career and life, beginning with success in 9th grade.

• Nearly 70 percent of the 79 innovative high schools that had sizeable 9th grade enrollments in 2007-08 promoted at least 90 percent of 9th graders.
• Almost one of every four of the innovative high schools (19 schools) helped all their freshmen advance to 10th grade. No student failed to earn promotion.
• Three quarters of innovative high schools exceeded by at least 1 percentage point the 9th grade promotion rate of their comparison school, which has a generally similar student population.
• Nearly half the innovative high schools had 9th grade promotion rates that were at least 10 percentage points better than their comparison school.

Almost one quarter of the state's innovative schools succeeded not only in promoting all their 9th graders, but also lost none of the students as dropouts. In those 18 schools, the entire class is on track to graduate on time. Based on an analysis of data from the Department of Public Instruction, NCNSP has found there is a strong, statistical relationship between 9th grade promotion and dropout rates and a school's eventual four-year graduation rate.

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When students at Nash-Rocky Mount Early College High School sit for their state End-of Course exams in a few weeks, those tests that sum up a year's or semester's work won't capture Indya Evan's creativity or Daniele Leverett's writing flair. Shay Bratcher's self-awareness about taking more responsibility for her learning will go entirely unnoticed.
 
But on Friday, with those exams looming, the more than 200 students who comprise the innovative high school on the campus of Nash Community College in Rocky Mount showed off a different dimension of what they've learned during a schoolwide student exhibition. From the morning through the afternoon, visiting parents, community members and fellow students filed past presentations every student had conceived and assembled to represent to the public a part of themselves and something about their learning during the year.

"The kids are doing this out of a sense of pride in their individual work," said Trent Mohrbutter, principal of the early college. "We all know when we've done a good job."

Even as the State Board of Education has delayed the long-planned graduation project until 2011, innovative high schools like Nash Rocky-Mount continue to stress the value of such "authentic" assessments that make clear connections between students and the real world. The exhibitions require skills such as planning and presentation that are vital in college and careers. The theory is simple: students will perform at high levels when the audience extends beyond the classroom walls.

It's also a way for students to make the kind of leap often overlooked in traditional schools but essential to the state's innovative schools. Simply, it's the students who are responsible and accountable for their own learning.

"When kids internalize their own work, the motivation becomes intrinsic," Mohrbutter said. "This lets them show their pride in learning. They can say, 'Look what I can do.' "
In all, more than 300 parents and others saw what they students can do and what the early college is doing to help students succeed.

"Our community learns more about what we're doing and what our kids are doing," Mohrbutter said. "When people walk through and see this work, they walk away with a good sense of that accomplishment."

The assignment for Friday's exhibition was largely open ended. Students were asked to select two work samples from their high school or college classes that showcased their learning. They were to write a reflection about the year discussing their strengths, weaknesses and their personal highlights of the year. And they also completed a goal-setting plan for next year, touching on behavior and academics, to which their parents also contributed and signed.

Indya Evan's vibrant pink posterboard included a sheaf of poetry, classwork, and as with each student, her self-reflection. On the 10th grader's laptop computer played a video she and a fellow classmate made for an assignment for civics and economics class intended to examine the laws of supply and demand. They created a commercial selling a line of clothing they'd designed. Indya had fashioned homemade business cards, in pink type, to hand out to visitors.

"I like being creative," she said. "I like putting it all together."

In her self reflection, Indya said the obstacles she faced in school this year were worth the effort overcoming. "This school year was like a mouse in a maze for me; it was hard to get through, but in the end that's the best American cheese this mouse will ever have."

Daniele Leverett sat behind her exhibit, which included a PowerPoint show about the benefits of zinc, which she'd produced for chemistry class, and a moving essay about life with a younger sibling with autism. The essay by the 10th grader was published in a newsletter from a New York-based organization that supports families with children with disabilities.

Daniele said the exhibition was worth the effort.

"I learned that my work is appreciated," she said. "I'm not doing it for grades."

For Justin McGeachy, a senior, the exhibition provided a chance for him to show off his art: the kind of characters who might eventually end up featured in a video game. The 19-year-old student will attend N.C. State University in the fall to study film and graphic design. He'll start at State with two years of college credit that he will have already earned at the early college.

Friday's exhibition, he said while working on a drawing, helps "showcase the individuals who make up the early college."

Shay Bratcher, a freshman, said in her year-end reflection that the early college has taught her to take charge of her own learning:

 

"Until high school I was always able to make good grades without studying or asking questions," Shay said. "I was just the quiet shy girl in the back of the class that hardly anyone knew. This year I have come out of my shell and am no longer afraid to aks lots of questions and get advice from my peers .... I know these strengths will be able to help me in the rest my high school and college education."

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