MassGrad Summary Brief: Adult Advocates for Student Support
March 2016
From the report's introduction:
This brief shares promising practices, successes, and challenges from the “adult advocates” programs implemented in 14 high schools during the 2011–12 through 2014–15 school years. It is one of five briefs based on evidence-based strategies for dropout prevention utilized by schools that received “Implementation Awards” through the MassGrad initiative.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and implemented by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), MassGrad’s primary goal was “to substantially increase the number of students who earn a high school diploma.” MassGrad targeted the 133 schools from 76 districts that exceeded the statewide annual dropout rate of 2.9 percent during the 2008–09 school year.
In its MassGrad Implementation Award materials, ESE described the adult advocates strategy as “two types of counseling/professional staff to support positive student outcomes through supporting prevention, intervention, and recovery efforts at the local level: 1) graduation/readiness coaches and 2) reengagement/recovery coaches. These staff and associated programming assist students in meeting personal and academic needs through a meaningful and sustained personal relationship with a trained adult.”
