Talent Development’s emphasis on teacher training and development, excellent curricula, and creation of a supportive learning community yields consistent results. Multiple longitudinal studies show that schools using Talent Development significantly and substantially outgain control schools in achievement. These gains are not limited to one type of student: most student subgroups measurably benefit from richer and more demanding curriculum, better trained and supported teachers, and an improved teaching and learning environment. The results also suggest that schools that adopt comprehensive reforms do better than those choosing narrower reforms (e.g. reforms that focus just on academic excellence) because improved classroom instruction and assessment must be combined with improved relationships, support systems, effort, behavior, and attendance to obtain the highest gains in student achievement. TDMG’s commitment to teacher support and training create a climate of success. A decade before the No Child Left Behind Act called schools to provide “sustained, intensive, classroom-focused” professional development, TDMG was providing ongoing support linked to the curriculum. TDMG has been recognized as one of six Comprehensive School Reform models by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. The National Staff Development Council recently identified Student Team Literature as one of only seven language arts programs out of the 450 programs reviewed that consistently improves teacher effectiveness and student learning in the middle grades. For more information about the success of the Talent Development Middle Grades Program, please view the following summaries and articles. - Which Bets Paid Off? Early Findings on the Impact of Private Management and K-8 Conversion Reforms on Achievement of Philadelphia Students
- Comparing Achievement between K-8 & Middle Schools: A Large Scale Empirical Study
- Privatizing Education in Philadelphia: Are Educational Management Organizations Improving Student Achievement?
- Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in Urban Middle Schools: Early Identifiers and Effective Intervention
- Middle Grades Intervention that Works: Keeping Middle Grades Students On Track for Graduation
- Developing Adolescent Literacy in High Poverty Middle Schools: The Impact of Talent Development’s Reforms Across Multiple Years and Sites
- Closing the Mathematics Gap in High Poverty Middle Schools: Enablers and Constraints
- Making a Difference in High Poverty Middle Schools
- The Implementation and Impact of Evidence Based Mathematics Reforms in High Poverty Middle Schools: A Multi-Site, Multi-Year Study
- Removed From the List: A Comparative Longitudinal Case Study of a Reconstitution-Eligible School
- Improving Science Achievement at High-Poverty Urban Middle Schools
- The Talent Development Middle Grades Model: A Design for Improving Early Adolescents' Developmental Trajectories in High-Poverty Schools
This paper reports initial findings from a study of middle grades educational reforms in Philadelphia. The authors used multilevel change models to analyze the impact on student mathematics ahievement of privatization through the use of educational management organizations (EMOs), taking account of the structural reforms (creation of new K-8 schools to replace selected middle schools) occuring simultaneously within the district. Overall, mathematics achievement gains for students in EMO-managed schools were not larger than those for students in district-managed schools. In contrast to other EMOs, Edison-managed schools did outperform the district significantly with a small number of students in K-8 schools in one of the two cohorts. But Edison middle schools, serving many more students, did not outperform the district. While students in long-established K-8 schools generally outgained students in middle schools, such gains were not quite as large in newly-established K-8 schools. link to pdf 2. This paper compares middle schools to established K-8 schools and newly formed K-8 schools in the Philadelphia School District to determine if the different school structures effect student achievement. The sample includes over 40,000 8th grade students from 95 schools across five cohorts from the 1999-2000 to the 2003-04 school years. The results indicate that older K-8 schools performed significantly better than middle schools. Newer K-8 schools outperformed middle schools but not as significatly as did older K-8 schools, despite having smaller grade sizes and lower rates of school transition. The authors conclude that while K-8 schools do perform better in terms of student achievement, the advantage exists for several reasons and may not be easily replicated or represent a solution to the problem of low-achieving schools and students in large urban public school districts that serve high-minority and low-poverty student populations. link to pdf
This paper reports initial findings from a study of middle grades educational reforms in Philadelphia. Using multilevel change models, the authors analyze the impact on student mathematics and reading achievement of privatization through the use of educational management organizations (EMOs), taking account of the structural reforms (creation of new K-8 schools to replae selected middle schools) occuring simultaneously within the district. Overall, the longitudinal mathematics and reading achievement gains for students in EMO-managed schools were not larger than those for students in schools managed by the district. While students in long-established K-8 schools generally outgained students in iddle schools, newly-established K-8s did not consistently outperform middle schools. The authors note that broader systemic reforms--such as district-wide increases in the quality and coherence of curriculum and professional development--are fueling gains in middle schools and K-8 schools, in privately-managed and district-managed schools. link to pdf Many students in urban schools become disengaged at the start of the middle grades, which greatly reduces the odds that they will eventually graduate. This study follos 13,000 students from 1996-2004 to demonstrate how four predictive indicators reflecting poor attendance, misbehavior, and course failrues in sixth grade can by used to identify 60% of the students who will not graduate from high school. Fortunately, by combining effective whole-school reforms with attendance, behavioral, and extra-help interventions, graduation rates can be substantially increased. link to paper This paper shows that students at high risk for failing to graduate from high school on time can be identified as early as the sixth grade. This study followed all students enrolled in the 6th grade in the Philadelphia School District in 1996-97 through 2003-2004 (one year beyond standard time to graduate). The study also examined more recent cohorts of sixth grade students to verify findings. The study found four powerful sixth grade predictors of “falling off track”: poor attendance; poor marks for behavior; failing English; or failing math. Students with one or more of these risk factors have only a 10% chance of graduating on time, and a 20% chance of graduating one year late. The study calls for early intervention, including school-wide preventive measures, focused supports for students most at risk, and intensive individual supports for small numbers of students with multiple risk factors.
link to PowerPoint presentation link to pdf This study examines the efforts a comprehensive school reform model to improve the literacy levels and motivational attitudes of students attending high-minority and high-poverty urban public schools, where such outcomes tend to fall well below national and international standards. The analyses follow two cohorts of students from three such schools that were implementing the Talent Development Middle Grades Program, and compare against three demographically matched and comparable middle schools. The study found that students at the schools implementing Talent Development outperformed students at the control schools in terms of reading comprehension achievement gains. These gains had practically important and relevant impacts for the students and the schools. Further regression models then show that parallel to students’ achievement levels, their personal academic attitudes and motivations also improved. Published in Motivating Students, Improving Schools, Advances in Motivation and Achievement, Volume 13, 185-207 link to pdf National and international comparisons have found that the mathematics achievement levels of American students fall far behind those of other developed nations during the middle school years, and that within the U.S., the students who are falling behind come predominantly from high poverty and high minority schools. This paper reports on a series of analyses that followed four cohorts of students from three such schools through the middle grades. The cohorts followed attended schools that were implementing Talent Development Middle Grades reform model. The results show that students at these schools made greater progress in closing the mathematics achievement gap than did students at the other 23 high poverty, high minority schools in their district. The results also show that, in all the schools, while a significant proportion of students were successfully closing the achievement gap, the majority of students were still falling further behind. The paper then shows which factors were key in enabling or constraining a students’ ability to close the achievement gap during their middle school years. The paper concludes that various student, classroom, and school level factors are all key in helping students to close the gap and that whole-school reform models, while often time and cost intensive, address issues at all of these levels and may be more able to effect the achievement gap than other simpler reforms. (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL, April, 2003.) link to paper This third-party evaluation by MDRC, a New York-based nonprofit research firm, found that the Talent Development Middle Grades program successfully raised achievement and attendance in some of the nation's most challenging and impoverished middle schools. For a copy of the MDRC report, please contact knelson@csos.jhu.edu. link to press release This article reports on the first four years of an effort to develop comprehensive and sustainable mathematics education reforms in high poverty middle schools. Four related studies examine the levels of implementation achieved and impact of the reforms on various measures of achievement in the first three schools to implement the Talent Development Middle Grades mathematics program that combines coherent research-based instructional materials from the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project with a multi-tiered teacher support system of sustained professional development and in-class coaching. The results of the analyses found that a medium-high level of implementation was achieved in the schools and that TDMG students outgained students from control schools on multiple measures of achievement. The average effect size by the end of middle school was .24. (Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2006, Vol. 37) link to paper This case study profiles a high-poverty and high-minority urban middle school that was flagged for failing to make adequate yearly progress and targeted for possible reconstitution. The school implemented the TDMG program. The results show that students at the TDMG school had significantly different classroom experiences, and outperformed students at the control site in math, reading, and science achievement gains, as well as promotion rates, which led to the school’s removal from the reconstitution-eligible list. The article describes the research-based reforms that were instituted and compares two cohorts of students from the TDMG school to two cohorts of students from a demographically matched comparison site. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, Spring 2003, 18(3), 259-289. The full article can be purchased for $3 from the Journal's online store at: http://www.ascd.org/infocon/, or you can link to pdf here. A large percentage of U.S. students attending high-poverty urban middle schools achieve low levels of science proficiency. The Talent Development Middle Grades program's teacher-support model addresses hindrances to science achievement, including initial low levels of proficiency, variations in science curricula, and underprepared teachers. The model includes a common science curriculum based on NSF-supported materials commercially available, ongoing teacher professional development built around day-to-day lessons, and regular in-class support of teachers by expert peer coaches. One cohort of students at three PHiladelphia middle schools using the model was followed from the end of fourth grade through seventh grade. Their gains in science achievement and achievement levels were substantially greater than students at three matched control schools and the 23 district middle schools serving a similar student population. Using widely available materials and techniques, the model can be adopted and modified by school partners and districts. link to paper The Talent Development Middle Grades program's standards-based curricula, extensive teacher support and professional development, extra-help labs, and organizational programs help keep students in poverty on a trajectory to high school graduation. These structures and supports are key in raising attendance, reducing misbehavior, and marshalling and coordinating the efforts of teachers, families, and other commuity members to prevent student failure and disengagement. Published in the Handbook of Research on Schools, Schooling, and Development. link to chapter 13. This paper is based on more than a decade of research and development work at the Center for Social Organization of Schools (CSOS) at Johns Hopkins University as well as direct field experience in more than 30 schools implementing comprehensive reform and a long-standing collaboration with the Philadelphia Education Fund and several schools that serve high-poverty populations in Philadelphia. Our research and fieldwork illuminate key policy and practice implications of the role the middle grades play in achieving our national goal of graduating all students from high school prepared for college, career, and civic life. Published by the National Middle School Association in June, 2009. link to brief or link to executive summary
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