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Julia Duncheon

David S. Knight, Pooya Almasi, Jinseok Shin, Julia Duncheon.

A stable learning environment is critical to high school reforms aimed at promoting postsecondary educational success. High teacher attrition can disrupt stable learning environments by uprooting student-teacher relationships and harming school climate. Educational leaders need greater understanding of how college readiness reforms alter learning environments generally, and teacher retention in particular. We study teacher turnover in two Texas College and Career Readiness School Models (CCRSM), called Early College High Schools and inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Academies. We find (a) CCRSM schools have lower teacher turnover compared to traditional public high schools, (b) charter versions of CCRSM schools have higher turnover, but (c) non-CCRSM charters have the highest overall teacher turnover. We discuss implications for improving high school-based college readiness reforms.     

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David S. Knight, Julia Duncheon, Kefi Anderson, Matthew Frizzell.

As the transition point between middle school and high school, ninth grade can either set a student up for long-term success or diminish a student’s likelihood of graduating high school altogether. Interventions that can help educators better meet the needs of students during this critical juncture represent powerful levers for driving school improvement. The Ninth Grade Success Initiative is a dropout prevention program, piloted in five Washington State high schools in 2019-20. We use multiple methods to evaluate effects on student outcomes and implementation processes. We find that the program led to improvements in course grades and, to a lesser degree, behavioral outcomes, with little change in student attendance. Data coaches perceived that this program led to more effective targeting of services to higher-need students and better preparation for the COVID-19 transition to virtual learning.

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