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Graduation Really Achieves Dreams (GRAD) 


File number :
PPEE-ISC-09e

Bibliographic reference :
Opuni, K.A. (1999). Project GRAD: Graduation Really Achieves Dreams. 1998-1999. Program Evaluation Report. TX: Houston Independent School District, 90 pages.

Abstract :

Program Description
Launched in Houston in 1988 by James Ketelson, the project Graduation Really Achieves Dreams (GRAD) was based on a global approach involving families, communities, students and schools. It aimed at instilling in students from ethnic minority groups and the most underprivileged social classes educational aspirations similar to those of students from more privileged classes. The objective was to attain a 80% secondary school completion rate and have 50% of these graduates at schools where the project was implemented enter college.

Nowadays, the project applies to all teaching levels from kindergarten to college and includes 135,000 students in 217 schools across eight states in the United States. The project involves using several programs, primarily MOVE IT Math (mathematics), Success for All (reading), Consistency Management and Cooperative Discipline (class management and discipline), Communities in School (parental involvement) and the Scholarship Program (post-secondary transition).

Study Objective
The purpose of this assessment report was: i) to determine the factors facilitating implementation of the project and support systems; ii) to assess the effectiveness of the project towards improving reading and mathematics skills; iii) to assess the effectiveness of the project towards improving discipline; iv) to document college attendance rates of students from participating high schools; v) to document factors that could jeopardize implementation of the project; vi) to provide constructive feedback for improving implementation of the project.

Assessment
The past five years of implementation of the GRAD project was assessed. It involved two educational pools including primary and high schools, with 6200 students in one pool and 9100 in the other. The control schools selected for the assessment were similar in terms of demographics, performance, promotion rates from one grade to another and teacher characteristics.

The analysis was both quantitative (Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised (WRMT-R) and Texas Assessment of Academic Skills) and qualitative (student and teacher demographics data, archives, interviews).

Main Findings
Four aspects were studied.
1) Effect of the project on college attendance: In the first pool, the college enrolment rate of graduated students rose from 12% in 1989 to an average 50% in 1999; this rate doubled during the first year of implementation in the second pool.
2) Effect of the project on student behaviour and discipline: The report underscores a significant drop, notably a 74% reduction in disciplinary cases reported to principals’ offices by the end of the fourth year of implementation in elementary schools for the first pool and 22% in all the schools of the second pool by the end of the second year of implementation.
3) Effect of the project on teaching time: After five years, an important daily increase in time devoted to learning (from 10.5 to 15.5 more days per year) was observed by teachers in the targeted primary and secondary schools.
4) Effect of the project on student performance: Most of the targeted schools experienced increased performance of first cycle secondary school students in standardized reading and mathematics tests.

For more details on the project, log on this Website: http://www.projectgrad.org/



Key Words :
Discipline, At-risk Students, Mathematics, Parental Involvement, Underprivileged Environments, Reading, School-Family-Community Partnership, Post-secondary Transition, School Environment, Behavioural Problems, Preschool, Elementary School, Primary School, Secondary/High School

Monitored Countries :
United States