Massachusetts Race to the Top College and Career Readiness Initiatives
September 2012
From the brief's introduction:
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) was awarded a federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grant for the years 2010-2014. The college and career readiness (C&CR) components of the grant were designed to help students develop "knowledge and skills necessary for success in postsecondary education and economically viable career pathways." The RTTT initiatives are intended to provide students with opportunities to participate in quality, upper-level high school coursework and new approaches to assist them with high school completion and transition to higher education and the workforce. These programs are part of a broader effort, as specified in the Delivery Plan of ESE's College and Career Readiness group, to increase the Massachusetts 5-year high school graduation rate to 88.3% and the number of students who complete the MassCore program of study to 85% statewide.
The UMass Donahue Institute is conducting an evaluation of three of the C&CR components of the Massachusetts RTTT efforts – the Pre-AP Training and Alignment Program, the STEM-focused Early College High Schools (ECHS), and the MassCore Policy and Implementation initiative. For each of these three programs, this executive summary provides a brief program description, followed by evaluation findings for the period ending September 30, 2012 (referred to as Year 2). Strategic considerations are also presented for some programs. The full report that follows the executive summary incorporates findings from all evaluation activities conducted to date, including a synthesis of the three previous quarterly evaluation briefings. A companion document, the Technical Supplement – RTTT C&CR 2012 Annual Evaluation Report, presents tables and figures that provide a more complete summary of baseline graduation and dropout data.
