Children and Youth, Education and Literacy, Employment and Labor
In the United States, nearly 1.23 million public school students from the class of 2008 failed to graduate with a diploma. In Massachusetts, 91 students drop out of high school each day. Nationally, and in our state, there has been much recent attention paid to the dropout crisis. One initiative being used by states in their efforts to reduce the dropout rate is to increase the compulsory attendance age to 18. In Massachusetts, the current compulsory attendance age is 16.
The passage of a new law in August 2008 led to the establishment of a state-level Graduation and Dropout Prevention and Recovery Commission in Massachusetts. The Commission is charged with making informed recommendations on ten issues, including whether or not the compulsory attendance age should be raised from 16 to 18.
The Rennie Center's recent policy brief, entitled Raise the Age, Lower the Dropout Rate? Considerations for Policymakers, focuses on the question: Is there empirical evidence to support Massachusetts raising its compulsory school attendance age to 18?
Through an examination of research and analysis of other states' policies, the Rennie Center examines the arguments for and against raising the compulsory age of school attendance to 18 and concludes that there is no credible empirical evidence to support this policy alone as an effective strategy to combat the dropout crisis. The Center argues that prior to considering a raise in the compulsory age of attendance, the Commonwealth should focus its energy and resources on developing policies and programs that research has shown to be successful in helping at-risk students stay in school and persist to earning a diploma.
We recommend the following considerations for policymakers. Our hope is that this information will contribute to the current policy discussions focused on the issue of raising the age of compulsory school attendance in Massachusetts.
- Consider empirical evidence.
- Address student disengagement and alienation from school.
- Improve attendance monitoring and early intervention systems.
- Increase alternative education options.
- Examine and consider eliminating some of the existing exemptions that permit 14- and 15-year-olds to leave school prior to graduation.
- Examine and consider updating the current process for legally leaving school.
- Examine the fiscal impact of increasing the age of compulsory school attendance, including examination of: the cost of enforcement; funding outreach programs; increasing capacity to serve youth who would return to school; expansion and professional development of teacher workforce; expansion and professional development of school staff.
August 1970
Geographic Focus:
Arts and Culture, Education and Literacy
Questions about district leadership and capacity -- particularly in light of the new funding -- served as the impetus for this study. Through a survey of leaders in 385 districts, we assessed districts' capacity with respect to arts education, explored early spending choices, and examined the relationship between the two. We also studied changes in arts education since the new resources became available and worked to understand the barriers that continue to stand in the way of comprehensive arts education for all California students.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Western)-California
Children and Youth, Education and Literacy, Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans
Using data from GLSEN's fifth National School Climate Survey, this report documents the school experiences of 295 transgender middle and high school students and finds that these students face extremely high levels of victimization, even more so than their non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual peers.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States
Education and Literacy, Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans, Race and Ethnicity
The report documents the school experiences of over 2,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) U.S. middle and high school students of color who were African American or Black, Latino/a, Asian or Pacific Islander, Native American, and multiracial.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States
Education and Literacy;Parenting and Families
School choice is increasingly the new normal in urban education. But in cities with multiple public school options, how can civic leaders create a choice system that works for all families, whether they choose a charter or district public school?
To answer this question, CRPE researchers surveyed 4,000 parents in eight cities (Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.) with high degrees of school choice. The researchers also conducted interviews with government officials, choice advocates, and community leaders in four cities, and looked at how many different agencies oversee schools in 35 cities.
The study found that:
- In the eight cities surveyed, the majority of parents are actively choosing a school for their children.
- Parents face significant barriers to choosing schools, including inadequate information, transportation, and lack of quality options.
- Challenges facing families are not confined to the charter or district sector.
- Responsibility for schools often falls to multiple parties, including school districts, charter school authorizers, and state agencies, weakening accountability and making it difficult for leaders to address the challenges facing parents.
The report finds that a more transparent, accountable, and fair system will require action from all parties, including school districts, charter authorizers, charter operators, and states. State and city leaders may need to change laws to ensure that districts and charter authorizers oversee schools responsibly and that families do not face large barriers to choice. In some cases, formal governance changes may be necessary to address the challenges to making school choice work for all families.
December 1969
Geographic Focus: North America-United States
We compare two alternative methods to account for the sorting of students into academic tracks. Using data from an urban school district, we investigate whether including track indicators or accounting for classroom characteristics in the value-added model is sufficient to eliminate potential bias resulting from the sorting of students into academic tracks.
We find that accounting for two classroom characteristics -- mean classroom achievement and the standard deviation of classroom achievement -- may reduce bias for middle school math teachers, whereas track indicators help for high school reading teachers. However, including both of these measures simultaneously reduces the precision of the value-added estimates in our context. In addition, we find that while these different specifications produce substantially different value-added estimates, they produce small changes in the tails of value-added distribution.
December 1969
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Southern)-District of Columbia-Washington
Outlines best practices in education and recommendations for expanding India's secondary education, including a modernized curriculum utilizing technology, increased school accountability, and international benchmarking, from a March 2008 conference.
December 1969
Geographic Focus: Asia;Asia (Southeastern)-India
One of a series of guides for school district leaders on optimizing resource allocation, explains how to cut budgets with the least impact on the neediest, shift funds to effective programs and where most needed, and invest stimulus funds in improvements.
December 1969
Geographic Focus: North America-United States
