March 8, 2004. Volume II. No. 9 

Project GRAD: Helping Students and Teachers
Close the Achievement Gap in the Nation's
Lowest-Performing Schools

The Education Innovator
U.S. Department of Education
Office of Innovation and Improvement
Nina S. Rees, Deputy Under Secretary

Shockingly, the average 12th grade African-American student is reading and doing math at approximately the same level as the average 8th grade white or Asian student.  Hispanic students are not faring much better. This four-year learning gap leaves African-American and Hispanic students at a great disadvantage when they enter postsecondary programs, where they obtain college degrees at half the rate of white or Asian students. 

Enter Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), a K-16 school reform program of professional development, classroom management, and social services with the goal of increasing high school graduation rates and preparing graduates to be successful in college. Founded by former Tenneco CEO James Ketelsen, Project GRAD's roots go back to1988 with a Tenneco-funded, four-year college scholarship program for Davis High School students in Houston. At the time, Davis was Houston's lowest-performing high school.

The scholarship program was straightforward: students were told that if they graduated from high school with good marks and sustained their academic performance in college, they were guaranteed a full ride.

The program was a success: by 1991 the number of Davis students heading for college had quadrupled. However, Ketelsen wanted a program that could have an even greater impact on the success rates of low-performing schools, so he developed a program that started with kindergarten and continued reforming the entire system.

Since its inception Project GRAD has incorporated specific program components aimed at improving student achievement and academic success in a cost-effective way. The Project GRAD program includes professional development for teachers, administrators and parents, who learn to implement strategies to teach math, reading, and language arts, and strategies to effectively manage the classroom. In addition, Project GRAD brings social services to schools and additional resources to teachers.

The results? The project has contracted with Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation to conduct a five-year evaluation of the program. Begun in 2000, preliminary data from the study show that "by the end of two to three years of implementation, ... Project GRAD produces significant evidence of measurable impact on student achievement."

At the high school level, Project GRAD's academic program focuses on three related elements: ensuring ninth grade readiness; supporting all students to complete their ninth grade year; and promoting academic rigor from grades 9 to 12, with an emphasis on pre-AP and AP coursework. Beyond the academic work, at the center of the high school effort is the guarantee of a college scholarship for all students who qualify-a continuation of the Tenneco scholarship legacy.  

To maximize the number of students who qualify for the scholarship and go on to enter college, the program works to ensure that students have a rich curriculum experience, obtain scholarship information, and sign a contract laying out what is required for them to receive the scholarship (e.g., graduate from high school in four years, complete college prep coursework, graduate with at least a 2.5 GPA, and attend summer institutes at participating colleges). In addition to the work surrounding the scholarship, Project GRAD continues the classroom management and social service components that were available in elementary and middle school.  

Project GRAD has expanded rapidly and now serves 217 schools and more than 135,000 students nationwide. The program has been replicated in Akron, Atlanta, Brownsville (TX), Cincinnati, Columbus, Kenai Peninsula (AK), Knoxville, Lorain (OH), Los Angeles, Newark, and Roosevelt (NY).

Project GRAD has received grants from the U.S. Department of Education, including a recent grant from OII's Advanced Placement Incentives program.

Note: The featured innovation is a description of one example of a school management program. The program is innovative and interesting but does not necessarily have evidence of general effectiveness from rigorous evaluation. The information provided should not be regarded as an endorsement.