Use cross-sector data-driven strategies — housing affordability, green space, restorative discipline, and civic engagement curricula — to reduce retention and raise graduation¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief's policy and practice takeaways direct educators, city leaders, policymakers, and advocates to act across education, neighborhood, and housing policy. Recommendations include "Using data-driven discussions to understand what additional supports students need to avoid being retained in grade," increasing housing affordability and green space, building teams of social workers and counselors, supporting high-poverty schools, and building supportive climates via restorative practices and civic engagement curricula.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Coordination across education, neighborhood, and housing policy areas at federal, state, and district levels

Constraints¶

• Grounded in observational associations from one district (Chicago Public Schools, 2012-15 cohorts), not tested interventions

Target Learners¶

• K-12 students in urban public school districts, particularly students at risk of grade retention

Target Learning Goals¶

• High school graduation; preventing grade retention and overage-for-grade status

Related Strategies¶

• Apply the neighborhood-centered grouping approach in other cities for research, policy decisions, and service allocation

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Irsheid, S. (2023). Beyond the Student: Structural Factors that Affect Grade Retention. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/beyond-the-student