SRI Authors: Wei-Bing Chen, Caroline Zamora, Ryan Grimm Abstract: In this report, we summarize the initial 23 Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) renewal states’ (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington) […]
Wei-Bing Chen
SRI Author
Evaluation of the Oakland Health Pathways Project: Final Report
This final evaluation report presents findings from the Oakland Health Pathways Project (OHPP), a joint initiative of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), Alameda Health System, and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The initiative is designed to improve educational and long-term employment outcomes for youth of color in Oakland (Alameda County), California, while expanding and diversifying the local health care workforce. It applies Linked Learning, an approach to college and career preparation that combines classroom learning with real-world work experiences. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the implementation and impact of the OHPP initiative, including lessons learned from the partnership. It also documents the implementation of the OHPP in OUSD, including efforts to expand and enhance health pathways. The report also draws on student survey and focus group data to describe students’ experience in health pathways and their perceptions of their college and career readiness. Finally, the high school and early postsecondary outcomes are compared for health pathway students and their peers in traditional high school programs and other career-themed pathways.
Student Outcomes in Health Pathways
This brief presents findings from the Oakland Health Pathways Project (OHPP), a joint initiative of Oakland Unified School District, Alameda Health System, and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The initiative is designed to improve educational and long-term employment outcomes for youth of color in Oakland (Alameda County), California, while expanding and diversifying the local health care workforce. It applies Linked Learning, an approach to college and career preparation that combines classroom learning with real-world work experiences. This brief compares health pathway students’ outcomes with those of students who had similar demographic characteristics and prior achievement but were in two other programs of study: 1) traditional high school programs, and 2) other career-themed pathways. The study found health pathway students significantly outperformed traditional high school students on the high school course credits earned, high school graduation, college eligibility requirements met, and college enrollment. There were no differences in health pathway student outcomes in high school English Language Arts and math achievement, and dropout rates when compared to students in traditional high school programs and other career-themed pathways. In addition, health pathway students were no different in completion of college eligibility requirements and, among those who enrolled in college, were no more likely to enroll in a 4-year (rather than 2-year) college when compared to students in traditional high school programs and in other career-themed pathways.
Student Experiences in Health Pathways. Findings from an Evaluation of Oakland Health Pathways
This brief presents findings from an evaluation of the Oakland Health Pathways Project (OHPP), a joint initiative of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), Alameda Health System (AHS), and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency (ACHCSA). OUSD applies Linked Learning, an approach to college and career preparation that combines classroom learning with real-world work experiences, to its health pathways. Through the initiative, OUSD aimed to expand and enhance health pathways for students and worked with AHS and ACHCSA to improve work-based learning experiences. Based on interviews with key school and pathway personnel, as well as focus groups and surveys of participating students in their senior year, this brief describes the health pathway student experience and the perceived impact of participation on college and career readiness. The brief concludes with key takeaways for those creating curricula that integrate rigorous academics and career-themed coursework, as well as those designing work-based learning experiences. The key takeaways are as follows:
Connecting Classrooms to the Real World
Consider student interest when selecting pathways themes and course content
Integrate technical and academic content through projects
Embed dual enrollment courses connected to pathway themes
Providing Work-based Learning Experiences
Offer a range of work-based learning opportunities and intentionally target harder€“to€“reach students
Take time to understand the barriers students face to participating in internships and target supports to mitigate those barriers
Prepare students for work-based learning experiences and integrate them into the curriculum
Who gets what? Describing the non‐supervisory training and supports received by home visiting staff members and its relationship with turnover
The early childhood home visiting field lacks a basic understanding of home visiting program staff members’ receipt of on‐the‐job training from experts outside of their programs who are not their immediate colleagues or supervisors. To address this gap, we created a unique dataset by asking program leaders to log the external technical assistance (TA) that staff members received, and we collected a survey from 288 of the same staff members. We performed descriptive analyses to learn how many hours of TA staff members were receiving, what topics the TA most commonly addressed, and what formats (e.g., in‐person or virtual/remote, individual, or group) the TA was most commonly provided in. We then associated characteristics of the TA received with staff and program characteristics, as well as with staff members’ turnover. Multilevel analyses showed the TA supports that home visiting staff members received differed by role (home visitor or supervisor) and program characteristics, including home visiting model—Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) or Parents as Teachers (PAT)—program size, and maturity. About 23% of the home visiting staff members left their programs over the course of 18 months. PAT staff members were more likely to leave their programs than NFP staff members. We did not find that characteristics of TA received were predictive of staff members’ turnover. Implications and the need for further research are discussed.
How Education and Industry Partner on Work-Based Learning. Lessons Learned from an Evaluation of Oakland Health Pathways
This brief presents findings from the Oakland Health Pathways Project (OHPP), a joint initiative of Oakland Unified School District, Alameda Health System, and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The initiative is designed to improve educational and long-term employment outcomes for youth of color in Oakland (Alameda County), California, while expanding and diversifying the local health care workforce. It applies Linked Learning, an approach to college and career preparation that combines classroom learning with real-world work experiences. This brief draws on interviews with key personnel from the three partner organizations to distill lessons learned on effective cross-sector partnerships and delivery of authentic work-based learning. These lessons are timely as the health care industry is projected to account for about a third of total U.S. job growth through 2026, and includes 20 of the 30 fastest growing occupations nationally. Findings from this Oakland initiative can help other communities better align K-12 education and student experiences with projected local labor needs.
Pathway Schools Initiative: Fundamental evaluation summary
This report summarizes the progress made by the schools that participated in the Pathway Schools Initiative through the 2017–18 school year on a fundamental set of outcome indicators: continuity in the PreK–3 enrollment pipeline, literacy instructional practices, teaching quality, effective school leadership, and student reading achievement.
Findings for the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood: Evaluation of Minnesota’s Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Access Strategies: Scholarships and Title I PreK Incentives Summary for Years 1–3.
This report provides a brief summary of evaluation findings about the implementation and impacts of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Scholarships and Title I PreK Incentives in the Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood Transformation Zone across the three years of the evaluation (2012–2015). It also summarizes the long-term successes and lessons learned from implementing these two initiatives.
Findings for White Earth Nation: Evaluation of Minnesota’s Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Access Strategies: Scholarships and Title I PreK Incentives Summary for Years 1–3.
This report provides a brief summary of evaluation findings about the implementation and impacts of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Scholarships and Title I PreK Incentives in the White Earth Transformation Zone across the three years of the evaluation (2012–2015). It also summarizes the long-term successes and lessons learned from implementing these two initiatives.
