1. Exploring topics related to equity in graduation success
December GATE Equity Webinar 9th Graders On-Track: Insights from Chicago Freshman Success Institute
Exploring topics related to equity in graduation success
Thank you for joining us for the December morning GATE Equity Webinar.
Where we explore topics related to equity in graduation success.
Some housekeeping: this webinar will be recorded and will be posted in the next couple of weeks.
The PowerPoint is posted on OSPI on the GATE Equity Webinar page if you want to follow along. And We’ll get a link in the chat so you can click over.
Also, we’d like to ask that you direct the questions you want us to answer in the Q&A not the chat, so we can more easily monitor and respond to you.
I’m Kefi Andersen, OSPI Graduation Equity Program Supervisor.
Today’s topic is 9th Graders On-Track: Insights from Chicago Freshman Success Institute.
We chose this topic because OSPI has invested in having a team go to the University of Chicago’s Freshman Success Institute to learn more about the work happening at the Network for College Success. They have done extensive research on freshman on track and are providing training to schools to focus on on-track because it predicts graduation so strongly. Todays webinar will zero in on their systems approach.
If you are a small school, you might be starting to think that work happening in Chicago may not apply to you. WE want to emphasize that using teams and data purposefully is a high leverage strategy whether you’re a team of 4 or 25.
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Chris Reykdal, State Superintendent

2. Who Are We? Kefi Andersen Graduation Equity Program Supervisor OSPI
Krissy Johnson
Attendance Program Supervisor
I’m joined today by Krissy Johnson, OSPI Attendance Program Supervisor, who attended the National Freshman Success Institute with me.
We were also joined by Marissa Rathbone, Director of Operations for the Learning and Teaching Department at OSPI, so shout out to you! Today Marissa is doing the important work of acting as our 9th grade ambassador, listening with the OSPI Directors.

3. Vision: Mission: Values:
All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement.
Mission:
Transform K–12 education to a system that is centered on closing opportunity gaps and is characterized by high expectations for all students and educators. We achieve this by developing equity-based policies and supports that empower educators, families, and communities.
Values:
At OSPI our vision is that all students are prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement.

4. Office of System & School Improvement
We believe we are more likely to see school improvement across multiple measures if we:
Focus on schools identified for supports
Connect programming to specific needs
Build the health of systems
Provide professional learning on data inquiry and supportive resources and tools
This GATE webinar is brought to you through the Office of System and School Improvement.

5. Learning Targets
Understand why freshman on-track matters in Washington
Become familiar with the Network for College Success’ systems approach
Teams, framework, data
Get familiar with resources and tools to support your work
My goal for today is to convince you that Freshman On-track is a vital focus point for our students.
To do this Krissy and I are going to talk about our experiences in Chicago and what we learned and take some time to get you familiar with some strategies for team protocols, data use, and a framework to structure your roles.
We also want to provide you some resources and tools and get you thinking about the implications for your work.

6. Why 9th Grade On-Track?

7. Why 9th Graders On-Track?
A 9th grader who is on-track is three and one half times more likely to graduate from high school than an off-track student.
Stronger predictor than test scores, demographics, including poverty and race/ethnicity.
Having a sustained clear focus on a real problem is essential to establishing buy-in for a Professional Learning Network (PLN).
ESSA
*What Matters for Staying on Track

8. Met all three SQSS measures
2017 Graduation Rates Increase as More School Quality & Student Success (SQSS) Measures are Met
90%+ Attendance
9th Grade On-Track
Enrolled in Dual Credit
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) names our SQSS Measures.
They include attendance, 9th grade on track and Dual credit.
Adding each measure was purposeful because they are high leverage early warning indicators that once met make a huge impact.
For the class of 2017, As you can see from this analysis, students who met all of the measures had a 96% graduation rate. This is across student groups, including low income students.
Individually each measure can make an impact, but together they are a very powerful trifecta.
Met all three SQSS measures
Met no SQSS measures

9. of Washington Students are On-Track in 2017
State Definition
All first time 9th graders
Earns all credits attempted
During their 9th grade year
Does not include withdrawals
State data differs from the research definition due to the beauty and complexity of local control.
Our measure is a little stricter than the Chicago rate.
It includes all 9th graders, who earned all the credits they attempted, and doesn’t include withdrawals.
About 73% of Washington students were on track in 2017, but again remember that that leaves a staggering 27% who are unlikely to graduate.
73%
of Washington Students are On-Track in 2017

10. Summary of Washington’s Status
Year
% On-Track for All Students
2017
72.6%
2016
72.2%
2015
70.4%
The 2017 Data for our state show that the on-track rate is going up, although in small increments. Some of the student groups that struggle the most include Students with disabilities, Native Hawaiian, EL, and American Indian/Alaskan natives.
One important thing to note is that more than 1 in 4 students failed a course.
More than 1 in 4 students failed a course!

11. Check out Updated Report Card and WSIF
OSPI Data Sources
Check out Updated Report Card and WSIF
If you want to see your local data on 9th grade on track or any of the ESSA measures, we have recently revamped the Report Card tool so it is shiny and new, and we have the Washington School Improvement Framework that gives a useful global picture for all of the ESSA measures.
Definitely check these out for your local context.

12. Questions & Polling 1 How familiar are you with 9th grade on-track?
I’m an expert
I feel like I know enough to help my staff
I’ve never heard about it before

13. What Happened in Chicago?
Chicago Public Schools – high poverty, urban high schools
Since 2006, On-track rate went from 61% to 85% in 2015 through the NCS model.
Maintained success through multiple changes in leadership, low per-pupil expenditure, and complex external factors such as poverty and high violence in the community.
So before we get into what we learned, I wanted to preface why we went to Chicago. The University of Chicago has done extensive research on schools, and mobilized that research through the Network for College Success. They link their research with school practitioners to build capacity for Freshman Success Teams, Professional Learning Networks, and other supports that are making a huge difference in these schools. And they have seen some really stunning success.
Chicago Public Schools is characterized by high poverty, these are urban high schools. But keep in mind that their systemic approach can easily apply to smaller schools.
Since they began this work in 2006, they have seen their on track rate go from 61% to 85% in 2015, and they’ve kept that growth going, despite instability and the many factors that could have gotten in the way.

14. 9th Graders On-Track Leads to Graduation
The schools that the they worked with could see a correlation between on-track and graduation – as you can see, they are pretty closely related. These are the on track rates and then the associated graduation year.
*From Chicago Network for College Success

15. Parsimony One idea they presented to us was this idea of Parsimony.
Parsimony is the idea that the simplest answer is usually the right one.
If we can cut down all the noise and get to the highest leverage practices, it’s much easier to focus. There are a ton of other measures that contribute to on-track, but they aren’t as strong an indicator.
And as you work on On-track you’re going to find that underlying factors are chipping away at it, but you have to do some analysis to know just what those things are.
Freshman on-track is 80% predictive, so yes, you track assessment, attendance, or any number of other things, on-track is a great baseline way to measure over time if what you are doing is making a difference.

16. What Changes Between 8th and 9th Grade for Students?
Attendance
Monitoring and Support
Student-Teacher Relationships
Safety
Study Habits and Academic Effort
No evidence that academic demand changes!
*Network for College Success

17. Adolescent Brain Development
Adulthood
Childhood
All of the gas
None of the breaks
Open Mindset
Where do I belong? (peers)
What do I stand for?
(values)
Who Am I?
(identity)
Focused on themselves
They want autonomy to assume greater responsibility
But they don’t have the experience to realize when they’re getting into trouble.
*Network for College Success

18. The Myth of Failure as Motivation
What we mean to teach Freshman by giving Fs
What Freshman actually learn when they fail
I don’t belong in this community of learners
No one here wants to help me
I’m not smart enough to do the work – why try?
High school is impossible
You better step up your game
You need to show your independence
You need to work harder
High school is serious business
Failing a course undermines a student’s need to belong, and can be really damaging to their sense of identity.
*Network for College Success

19. Does the Environment Honor the Adolescent Developmental Stage?
Students are ready for increased autonomy and responsibility
Classrooms become more restrictive, and diminish choice and independence
Adolescents are sensitive to social comparison
Rewarded for ability over effort
Highlight social comparison
Adolescents develop the ability to engage in complex problem solving
Academic demand for class assignments declines
early adolescents are using peers to explore some sort of identity
At this point, students need that time to interact with peers, and take on more responsibility
They want complex problems to solve where they can see the relevance and connection to themselves.
Foundations for Young Adult Success is a report that the University of Chicago released, and they suggest:
“Creating successful contexts for early adolescents— whether inside or outside of schools—would require that we meet their developmental needs for increasing independence from adult control, extended interaction with peers, exploration with things they have interest in, and opportunities to engage in increasingly complex forms of thinking, communicating, and problem-solving.”
And where do we see these needs being met? Project teams? Internships? Apprenticeships, project based learning. There are a lot of different approaches to meeting these developmental needs.
*Foundations for Young Adult Success: A Developmental Framework

20. So… What Did Network for College Success DO?
Engage in the Research
Develop Teams
Distribute Leadership
Data for Improvement
Networked Learning
So it always takes some convincing for people to start changing their actions. Network for College Success started with engaging in the research as a way to invite in school teams, and get them really bought into the idea that this is the right work. This was followed by developing teams, which we’re going to talk about a little later. They also didn’t make these teams dependent on an outside trainer, but they trained strong teacher leads to collect and transform that data into information for their teams. Then they also created a professional learning network for job alikes so that schools could share the great things they were doing, and collectively work on struggles, with best practices and research as a foundation for solving those problems.
*Network for College Success

21. Teams

22. Meeting Components Meet regularly and follow protocol
Convert data to information before the meeting
Supplement data with student surveys, resiliency & needs assessments

23. What it Looks Like at a School
Teams with Protocols
Data
Framework as a Guide

24. Create a Freshman Success Team
Who?
Freshman Teachers
Counselor
Admin
freshman Success/ Grad Specialist
Preparation
Principal/ Counselor: Pull the relevant data and send team synopsis
Team: Reviews data
Meeting
Team: Discusses key high tier 1-tier 2 students that represent data patterns
Track interventions
Follow-up
Grad Specialist: follow up with the student and staff involved in the intervention.
When?
Once a week or once every 2 weeks.
Why freshman first? It is a high leverage point in time and a quick win.

25. Team Types Team Type Duties Senior Leadership Team
Align and monitor work at a high level school-wide
Instructional Leadership Team
To guide and support comprehensive improvement in teaching and learning
Post-secondary Leadership Team
To build a school-wide college-going culture and drive student college application and enrollment
Department Team
To monitor student progress and plan by subject
Grade Level Teams (tier 2)
To support student success at each year of high school
Freshman Success Team (tier 2)
Monitor student progress, examine school systems, structures, and policies for their effect on student success
Care Team (tier 3)
To case manage students that need individualized supports, under 80% attendance.
If you’re from a small school, you might look at this and feel overwhelmed. You don’t have to have separate teams to do all of these things, the important thing is that duties are covered. And in a small school it is a little easier to monitor than in a larger context.
Why freshman first? It is a high leverage time when we know students are struggling. It is a good way to start small. If you want to expand out to other grades or even start in elementary schools, you can look at students being on track in any grade.

26. Freshman Success Framework
Goals of Success Model
Improve grade level on-track rates
Improve student course performance as reflected in GPA
Increase college readiness and access indicators for students
Guiding Beliefs for Student Success
Children and adults can learn and achieve
Relationships are essential to student success
High and future minded expectations must be held for all students
Transition plans assist student acclimation to school culture
Opportunities for students to demonstrate success are varied and plentiful
Resulting School Culture
Data-informed decision making
Goals and solution-based orientation
Capacity development at all levels
Shared leadership
Accountability for results while supporting the work
Positive working relationships amongst staff, students, families
Increased responsible behavior from students and adults
Ways of Doing
Roles and Responsibilities for Principal, Team Lead, and Success Team
Setting Conditions, Implementation, Communication, Instruction @
Includes

27. Success Team in Action: Hancock High School
What Does it Look Like?
Success Team in Action: Hancock High School
0-2:13
Agreements: Why Norms – they are the grounding in your culture
Data Review: Looking at rates for the various groups by grade level.
5:35-7:00 Intervention Protocol: Student Strengths and talents.
13:30-14:48 problem solving
30:12 – sharing with team

28. Preparing Data

29. BAG Report *Network for College Success
In what ways do I contribute to a safe and respectful school climate?
Do my actions reflect the real me?
How am I doing academically?
Do my grades represent my true ability?
Reflective Questions
ODRs
# of days in ISS
Behavior
Days Absent
Attendance rate
Attendance
Each class
Grades and GPA
Dean of Discipline
Attendance Dean
Teachers
Who to talk to if you have questions
So how can we get ahead? If you can predict it, you can prevent it.
One strategy that NCS put into place was giving students a weekly BAG report, including behavior, attendance and grades – things we know are high leverage early warning indicators.
This report gave students a lot more agency to advocate for themselves and schools saw a significant change once they started distributing them.
*Network for College Success

30. Questions & Polling 2
Do your students get a weekly report on their Behavior, Attendance, and Grades (BAG Report)?
Yes No
We want that, we don’t have the technology
We want that, we don’t have the time

31. Defining Risk and Opportunity
8th Grade GPA
0-1.0
8th Grade Attendance
≥98%
≥95%
≥90%
≥80%
<80%
Pull GPA and Attendance for incoming freshman
50% chance of being off track
25-49% chance of being off track
10-24% chance of being off track
10% chance of being off track
A 9th grader is on-track if he/she has:
At least 5 credits by the end of the year
No more than one semester failure in a core class
*Network for College Success

32. Map On Track and Off Track Each Quarter
Where do you think you should focus your effort?
Does your data system reveal who has been doing well but is not falling?
*Network for College Success

33. Several Washington Districts Attended
Highline
Federal Way
Evergreen (Spokane)
Chelan
We had several school districts attend the National Freshman Success Institute with us from Washington, including Highline, Federal Way, Evergreen, and Chelan. Kudos to these schools, who are exploring how to better support their 9th graders, we love that you are attending and learning with us!
We’re hoping to get some of them to present on a webinar this next year to tell us how it’s going, but it is just so early in the work that we want to make sure our districts feel ready.

34. What is already working?
Implications
Teams
Data
Protocols
What is already working?
Where can you go next?

35. Questions & Polling 3
What is one major takeaway you have from today’s webinar?
Let’s learn together:
Type it in the chat box – share your thought with everyone.
Take a moment to reflect. After hearing all this great information, what is one major takeaway you have?
We want to see your thinking, so if you’re feeling brave, type it in the chat to share.
Also, feel free to type in the questions box any questions you have for our awesome presenters.

36. Resources

37. Freshman On-Track Toolkit
Understanding Research & Applying Data
Preparing to Lead
Setting Conditions for Success
Implementing School-Based Teams
Includes

38. Visit the 9th Graders On- Track page
2/17/2019
9th Graders On Track
Visit the 9th Graders On- Track page

39. Resource: System Improvement Guides

40. Evaluation Tell us how we’re doing: GATE Evaluation
Please take our evaluation. It helps us improve our content.
We are trying to constantly improve our performance. In an effort to capture your comments over time we’ve created a quick survey. Please help us by taking a minute to fill it out. If the webinar closes out, this link is also available in our Zoom reminders so you can always let us know your thoughts. We appreciate our audience and want to improve this experience for all of you.
We’ll put this link in the chat for you also.

41. Strategy for Students with Disabilities
Building Inclusion Into Culture: Mentoring Students with Disabilities
Mentor Washington will share essential best practices when starting a mentoring program and Melissa Charette, ESD 113's Teacher of the Year, will outline how her peer-mentoring program for students with disabilities changed the school culture for Washington Middle School and supported students into high school.

42. Next Month
January 9, 2018 Mentoring 101: Continuum of Mentoring 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Mentoring 201: Culturally Responsive Connections 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Join us next month as we take a look at Mentoring 101 and culturally responsive connections.

43. Many of our images come from Canva.com and TheNounProject.com.
Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this work by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License.
Many of our images come from Canva.com and TheNounProject.com.
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