Using Real-Time Data to Help Students in Need

A district provided universal in-school administration of the PSAT to every high school sophomore and junior and the SAT to every senior.

While U.S. students are graduating from high school at the highest rate in history, according to the U.S. Department of Education, still huge numbers of students from low-income neighborhoods are being left behind. What extra support can school districts use to help those in need succeed?

In some places, community partners are working in conjunction with public school leaders to use data they already collect to better target services to the students who need them most.

One such example is the three-year-old connection between the Albany, N.Y., city schools and The Albany Promise, a community education partnership, which focuses on the many low-income students who aren’t attending college. After the partners reviewed the local data, they pointed to a root cause: Many students from low-income neighborhoods graduated high school without an SAT score — a key milestone for pursuing postsecondary education.

The district and community leaders noticed many students without college-entrance exam scores were otherwise college-ready according to other academic indicators, particularly grade-point average. Yet they were still left behind after high school. Only 49 percent of students from Albany’s three lowest-income neighborhoods were attending any form of postsecondary institution, compared to 79 percent of students who lived outside those neighborhoods.

Albany’s Promise

The Albany Promise, a member of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network, examined reasons for the SAT access gap. Traditionally, the SAT is available to students who register, pay out of pocket or complete a payment waiver and have weekend transportation to take the exam on Saturday. These are barriers for low-income students. With 66 percent of Albany’s public school students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunch, it was obvious some students needed extra support.

To level the playing field, The Albany Promise and the district provided universal in-school administration of the PSAT to every high school sophomore and junior and the SAT to every senior. The two partners shared the costs, roughly $25,000, and created a College Readiness Day at Albany High School. This is what resulted:

 500 additional students completed the PSAT in 2014-15 over the year prior;

 29 percent more students completed the SAT in 2014-15 compared to 2013-14;

 The number of minority students taking the SAT increased from 46 percent to 61 percent during the same period.

After Albany’s second annual College Readiness Day in October 2015, there was another 5 percent increase in SAT participation.

FAFSA Completion

District leaders throughout the country have similar challenges with achievement gaps. Students from low-income households face difficulty accessing quality preschool, preparing for kindergarten, reading on grade level, achieving in math, graduating high school and accessing postsecondary opportunities — all of which are crucial steps in success after school.

In school districts elsewhere, collective impact partnerships are focusing on specific educational outcomes, and they work closely with educators to support needy students.

Shelby County Schools in Memphis, Tenn., partner closely with Seeding Success, another nonprofit in the Cradle to Career Network, on completion of the federal financial aid forms, known as FAFSA. In 2012-13, only 45 percent of students completed the FAFSA. After examining disaggregated data, the two partners conducted events for students and parents to seek help in completing the forms and set up a districtwide reporting system to monitor completion rates weekly.

Because of their one-on-one work with students, high school counselors owned the initiative. The district started requiring each high school to host at least one day-time and one evening FAFSA support session. Seeding Success created and implemented a public awareness campaign through church services and distributed information to neighbors.

The weekly reporting on FAFSA completion on a school-by-school basis enabled better targeting of students who needed additional support.

Since focusing on students who needed help completing their FAFSA, Shelby County Schools have seen a tremendous increase in completion. Last year, 88 percent of students districtwide completed FAFSAs. With the Tennessee Promise, a new statewide policy, FAFSA completion may guarantee free community college tuition, which can be life-changing for a student from a low-income household.

Districts and community partners can achieve greater impact by intentionally focusing on the pressing needs of vulnerable students. This can limit random acts of programming and help achieve greater impact with resources already available.