Most students needing Algebra I credit recovery failed multiple ninth-grade courses and few were on track to graduate¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2021: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? About three of every four students who failed an Algebra I semester also failed three or more semesters of core courses, and only 13% were on track to graduate versus 91% of students who passed Algebra I. → Rickles 2016

Evidence¶

Rickles 2016¶

Rickles, J., Heppen, J., Taylor, S., Allensworth, E., Michelman, V., Sorensen, N., Walters, K., & Clements, P. (2016). Getting Back on Track: Who Needs to Recover Algebra Credit After Ninth Grade? (Research Brief 3). American Institutes for Research & University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://www.air.org/CreditRecovery

q2 · i? · associational · r?

Course-failure analysis of ninth-grade records for 36,423 CPS students. Average core semester courses failed was five for students who failed Algebra I versus less than one for students who passed; by year's end 13% versus 91% were on track to graduate.

"About three of every four students who failed an Algebra I semester credit also failed three or more semesters of their core courses (see Figure 4), and 28% of students failed more than six semesters of their ninth-grade core academic courses"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Before expanded options, only 13% of CPS freshmen who failed spring Algebra I recovered the credit over the summer — related
• Non-core course failures in ninth grade were associated with decreases in four-year graduation rates similar to core course failures — related
• The first two semester course failures in ninth grade are associated with a 30 percentage point decrease in the probability of graduating — related
• Ninth graders who fail Algebra I are demographically similar to those who pass, but are more likely to be male and African American — related
• Three freshman warning indicators—off-track status, any course failure, and attendance below 85 percent—identify 70 percent of eventual non-graduates — related
• Students who fail Algebra I show far more signs of ninth-grade disengagement, including higher absenteeism and suspension rates — related
• Students who fail Algebra I more often enter ninth grade with preexisting math and reading deficits, though many enter with average or higher achievement — related
• Improvements in ninth-grade course performance—credits earned, pass rates, and attendance—account for most graduation improvements beyond student background changes — related
• Students who fail algebra are significantly less likely to graduate on time, and algebra failure rates are consistently high in urban districts — related
• Freshman on-track students are over three times as likely to graduate in four years as off-track students in CPS — related
• Freshman failures clustered in math more than English, and many students failed both core subjects — related
• Ninth-grade on-track status (at least five credits and no more than one semester F) makes students almost four times more likely to graduate — related