![]() The Power and Limits of Urban Small School Reform “We’re looking for ways to understand and communicate the impact of our work and to fight against standardized tests which don’t show anything relevant about anyone’s work.” ![]() “We’d like to do a study in the spirit of the Eight Year Study and really track students’ social, leadership, and intellectual experiences in in-depth ways that you can’t get by looking at transcripts,” says Feldman. Tracking students who don’t go to college is a lot more difficult, and getting a comparison group is challenging.”ĭespite the obstacles, Feldman hopes that CES can embark on a more comprehensive longitudinal study of CES graduates. Acknowledging that not all Essential school graduates, even if ready for college, enroll in higher education institutions directly after high school, Feldman says, “College is seen as a valid experience for graduates, so it makes sense to look at college first. Feldman is collecting transcripts and monitoring students’ progress to understand rates of college matriculation and persistence. While past research from CES demonstrates increased college attendance among graduates of Essential schools nationwide (Principles at Work, 2001), Feldman is conducting an updated, more comprehensive research effort among college-going graduates of Small Schools Project-associated schools, with results available in 2007. They will be able to look back at high school and see what did and didn’t prepare them well, and that information is a helpful component of knowing how to best to structure the high school experience.” In a good study we’ll get an understanding how students experience their freshman year-a time that is especially challenging for low-income students and students of color-and how and why they persevered. When you just take a slice of data as opposed to following students over time, the slice gives you information, but it doesn’t show you the changes that people experience. “Longitudinal studies are the gold standard in research that actually provides relevant information to schools. Jay Feldman, Director of Research at CES National, describes why longitudinal studies are crucial for grasping the long-term impact of schools. What is emerging from the research literature about the effects of Essential school practices on graduates’ pursuit of and persistence in higher education and other aspects of post-secondary school life? This article focuses on several graduate follow up studies, some in the works and some completed, that provide data about graduates from Essential schools and other small schools with similar structures and philosophies. Of course, because most schools don’t have the resources to conduct such long-term studies (though all thoughtful school communities would seize fiercely upon the resulting data) they need to rely on available research conducted with similar schools and student populations. ![]() To find out what’s happening with all of a school’s graduates-whether they stay in college, find work, form successful relationships, and participate as community citizens and leaders-and to assess how a school’s environment may have affected those outcomes, schools need to conduct long-term longitudinal research with as many of their graduates as possible over a substantial period of time. But schools can’t get a full understanding of the impact of their work from this kind of feedback, nor from more extensive measures such as alumni surveys. Schools often gather graduates’ feedback informally, gleaning what they can when alumni show up for reunions or Alumni Day or stay in touch via casual visits, email, phone calls, and chance neighborhood encounters. Graduates are among the most valuable sources of information for schools committed to developing educational programs that make an enduring difference in students’ lives.
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