Diplomas Now is an educational model developed by the Talent Development Secondary, City Year, and Communities In Schools. Urban secondary schools across the country have implemented the model to identify students at risk of dropping out and providing individual support. This study worked with 62 secondary schools in 11 school districts to examine the impact and implementation of Diplomas Now.

Study Goals

This report discusses the early impacts of the Diplomas Now model on student and school outcomes at the end of the first and second years. Two previous evaluation reports focused on the first two years of Diplomas Now. This third report shares short-term impact findings for those years. It looks at the first year of middle school or high school to report on:

  • Attendance.
  • Behavior.
  • Course performance outcomes.

Research Questions

This report will address two primary questions:

  • Does the implementation of Diplomas Now have an impact on how many students are on a path to high school graduation by the end of their first year of middle school or high school?
  • During that first year, what difference does Diplomas Now make for attendance rates, suspensions and expulsions, and successful course completion?

Results

The study surveyed administrators, teachers, and students and reported the following outcomes:

  • The Diplomas Now model had positive and statistically significant impacts on teachers’ perceptions of the school climate during the second year of implementation.
  • Students at schools using the Diplomas Now model reported participating more in academically focused afterschool activities.

The evaluation team also analyzed data on student performance to determine the following:

  • Diplomas Now did not produce a statistically significant impact on students’ attendance rates, percentage of days suspended or expelled, or percentage of core courses passed.
  • Diplomas Now had more success keeping students whose academic performance was reported as stable above the stability threshold than moving the less stable students above that threshold.

Download the final report to see all the information from the evaluation.

Full report

Full Report
CityYearInc_17AC190158_Study_508.pdf

Further information

Program/Intervention
Diplomas Now Model
Implementing Organization
City Year, Inc.
Intermediary(s)

City Year, Inc.

AmeriCorps Program(s)
AmeriCorps State and National
Age(s) Studied
6-12 (Childhood)
13-17 (Adolescent)
Outcome Category
K-12 success
Study Type(s)
Implementation
Outcomes
Study Design(s)
Quasi-Experimental (QED)
Level of Evidence
Moderate
Researcher/Evaluator
MDRC
Published Year
2016