This article examines the extent to which adequate yearly progress (AYP) is a valid and reliable indicator of improvement in low-performing high schools.For a random subsample of 202 high schools, the authors investigate the school characteristics and the federal and state policy contexts that influence their AYP status. Logistic regression models reveal that the strongest predictors of AYP status in low-performing high schools are the number of student subgroups for which schools are accountable and their No Child Left Behind improvement status. Analysis of state report card data further paints a confusing landscape in which improving low-performing high schools are sanctioned whereas similar schools showing less improvement are not.

Evidence-based observations of how the juvenile justice and educational systems can work more effectively together are presented.

Little is known about the feasibility and rapidity with which the academic learning of students who enter high school multiple years behind grade level can be accelerated. This study uses multiple regression analyses of standardized test and survey data from high-poverty high schools in two large urban districts to evaluate initial effects of the Talent Development High Schools (TDHS) ninthgrade instructional program in reading and mathematics. Pre-, post-, and match-control comparisons show that students in TDHS significantly outperformed students in the control schools in mathematics and reading. Supplemental surveys show a higher percentage of students in TDHS reported learning new skills, strategies, and concepts, and TDHS teachers indicated they were able to use a more varied set of activities during extended periods, use cooperative learning strategies, engage students in group projects, and have students present multiple solutions or methods and relate their academic work to real-world experiences and examples.

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According to current estimates, more than a quarter of all students and over 40 percent of African American and Hispanic students do not graduate from high school on time. The vast majority of those young people who do not graduate with their peers drop out. The enormous costs to these individuals, their communities, and our society require us to invest in systems that accurately identify young people at risk of dropping out and provide the supports necessary to keep them on track to graduation. This chapter offers a framework for action that calls on communities to identify the scale and scope of the dropout problem and understand why students disengage from school; transform or replace low-performing schools; install early warning and multitiered response systems that provide comprehensive, targeted, and intensive supports to students in and out of school; establish supportive policies and resource allocations; and build community will and capacity so positive changes are deeply implemented and sustained.