Results
Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, the district that has partnered with IRRE the longest,
saw strong gains after implementing First Things First district-wide for three years.
Because improvements at the high school level have been so difficult to obtain nationally,
the gains in the four comprehensive high schools are especially noteworthy:
- The graduation rate rose to 80 percent in 2004 from a range of 40-47 percent in the
years preceding FTF.
- Students have attended close to 100,000 more days in these same schools since FTF was
introduced.
- The percentage of students scoring at proficient or advanced levels on high stakes
reading tests increased from 25 percent to 40 percent.
- The percentages of struggling readers on these same tests decreased by 18 percent
(from 45 percent to 27 percent).
- The percentage of students reporting on confidential surveys that they are disaffected
with school dropped from nearly 50 percent to less than 25 percent over this same period.
In the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools as a whole:
- African-American and Hispanic students made dramatic gains in reading proficiency,
narrowing the racial gap with Caucasian students, who also improved their performance.
- Students from economically disadvantaged families dramatically increased their reading
proficiency, closing the economic achievement gap as well.
- The gap in reading test scores between KCKPS and predominantly rural communities in the
rest of the state has been cut in half.
Click here for a PowerPoint presentation of KCKPS outcomes.
But That's Not All
Other FTF middle and high schools are also showing strong gains. Here are two examples:
- At Lee High School in Houston, Texas, 75 percent of the 2,200 students speak English as their second language, students are:
- 50 percent more likely to stay in school.
- Scoring between 10 and 15 percent higher on national tests of reading
and math.
- Enrolling in AP classes at double the rates they did before FTF.
- Shaw High School in Shaw, Mississippi, ranks among the top 50 high schools
in the rural South demonstrating high performance in a low-income
community, according to the Rural Schools and Community Trust. Following
three years of FTF implementation:
- Shaw met NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress in all areas.
- Its 248 African-American students dramatically increased their pass rate
on high stakes exit exams in math and language arts.
- Students performed better than state average on all mandatory
assessments.
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