Stated Briefly: A comparison of two approaches to identify beating-the-odds high schools in Puerto Rico

Title:	Stated Briefly: A comparison of two approaches to identify beating-the-odds high schools in Puerto Rico
Description:	This "Stated Briefly" report is a companion piece that summarizes the results of another report of the same name. The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands conducted this study using data on public high schools in Puerto Rico from national and territory databases to compare methods for identifying beating-the-odds schools. Schools were identified by two methods, a status method that ranked high-poverty schools based on their current observed performance and an exceeding-achievement-expectations method that ranked high-poverty schools based on the extent to which their actual performance exceeded (or fell short of) their expected performance. Graduation rates, reading proficiency rates, and mathematics proficiency rates were analyzed to identify schools for each method. The identified schools were then compared by method to determine agreement rates—that is, the amount of overlap in schools identified by each method. The report presents comparisons of the groups of schools—those identified by each method and all public high-poverty high schools in Puerto Rico—on descriptive information. Using the two methods—ranking by status and ranking by exceeding-achievement-expectations—two different lists of beating-the-odds schools were identified. The status method identified 17 schools, and the exceeding-achievement-expectations method identified 15 schools. Six schools were identified by both methods. The agreement rate between the two lists of beating-the-odds schools was 38 percent. The analyses suggest that using both methods to identify beating-the-odds schools is the best strategy because high schools identified by both methods demonstrate high levels of absolute performance and appear to be achieving higher levels of graduation rates and percent proficiency than might be expected given their demographics and prior performance.
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (183KB)
Cover Date:	January 2017
Web Release:	January 10, 2017
Print Release:	January 10, 2017
Publication #:	REL 2017168 General Ordering Information
Center/Program:	REL
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	Coby Meyers: University of Virginia, American Institutes for Research; Yinmei Wan: American Institutes for Research
Type of Product:	Stated Briefly
Keywords:	States Students • at-risk
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Stated Briefly, please contact: Amy Johnson.