Middle School Experiences, High School Readiness

Essential Question:
What aspects of middle school predict that a high school student will be promoted to the 10th grade, without repeating 9th grade?

National research shows that by the end of the 9th grade, students who lack adequate credits and are "off track" for on-time graduation are those most at risk of dropping out. Given the importance of 9th-grade, efforts to improve graduation rates must begin before students enter high school. We examine the middle-school experiences of a cohort of students to explore what aspects of grades 6, 7 and 8 predict success in high school.

Looking through the lens of our cohort's success in 9th grade.

We use 9th-grade students' promotion to the 10th grade, on schedule, as a measure of how well the middle-school years set students up for early high-school success. Our cohort includes Rhode Island's public-school 6th-graders in SY2007-08. Four years later our cohort either completed 9th grade, or they did not.

By the 10th grade our cohort has split into two groups:

  • Completers -- 8,751 (90%) students who were promoted, on time, into 10th grade.

  • Non-Completers -- 959 (10%) students who
    began 9th grade on schedule but either stayed back or dropped out.

    • DATA NOTE: In K-8 students who fail repeat the entire grade. In high school, students may be promoted even if they fail one or more courses. Consequently, some of our official "completers" may have failed a course or more.

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