First Things First Among Reforms Producing "Emerging Evidence" About "Meeting Critical Challenges of High School Reform"

In a recent report, Dr. Janet Quint, Senior Associate in MDRC's K-12 Education Policy Area, distilled major lessons learned from recent research about what works for raising student achievement and increasing the number of students graduating from high school. Her insights build off of the findings from rigorous evaluations of three high school reform models, including First Things First (FTF). Dr. Quint follows the evidence from these evaluations to outline the particular "critical challenges" posed by secondary school reform and offers informed conclusions about what strategies have proven most effective in practice. Additionally, Dr. Quint and Corinne M. Herlihy (also of MDRC) recently prepared an issue brief for the National High School Center, based on Dr. Quint's report with added insights from an evaluation of one additional comprehensive high school reform. For a summary of the major points covered and access to the full report and issue brief click on the link below.

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