Post-Secondary Outcomes of Newark High School Graduates

• Newark students, families, and residents

• K-12 districts and schools (traditional public, charter, vocational-technical, parochial, and private)

• Local colleges and universities

• Workforce development organizations and education-adjacent non-profit organizations

• City government

• Student demographic and administrative data from K-12 school sectors (traditional, vocational-technical, charter, parochial)

• Post-secondary enrollment and graduation data from the National Student Clearinghouse

• Post-secondary institutional demographic, geographic, and selectivity data from the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System 

1. More students were going to college, completing their first year, and graduating from college than in past years. However, we also identified a need to better support students from comprehensive high schools in attending college and supporting all students once they enroll. Despite increases in completion, graduation rates were still low relative to the number of students enrolling in college. The latter finding was discussed in several of the community presentations, resulting in suggestions for how to better prepare students for college (e.g., beginning conversations earlier and focusing on ninth-grade performance), and support students after enrolling (e.g., follow ups from K-12 schools and partnerships with local universities).

2. Most graduates remained in New Jersey and close to Newark for college, reinforcing the importance of local postsecondary partnerships and a community-based approach to support students through college. 

1. Building trust: Some schools and school sectors were apprehensive about participating in the study and sharing data outside of their organization. Through regular conversations, meetings, and negotiations, I secured data-sharing agreements with four different school sectors, representing about 85 percent of Newark high school students. 

2. Funding challenges: My organization sought out alternative funding sources following a disagreement in project scope between a donor and community partners. Organizational leadership and I met with additional funders to discuss the project and secured funding for the report, its printing, and the hosting of five community roundtables. 

Due to the multi-sector involvement in the project and its alignment with a citywide initiative, the project and results received a considerable amount of attention in Newark. 

• Post-Secondary Outcomes of Newark High School Graduates (2011-2016): College Enrollment, Persistence, & Completion. Authored report: conducted analyses, created visualizations and maps, performed literature reviews, and wrote and edited narrative. 

  • Media Coverage: Chalkbeat Newark, TAPinto Newark, NJ Spotlight, The Newark Times, New York Amsterdam News, NJ TV, News 12, Civic Story, City of Newark’s Edu-Talk, WMBC-TV, New Jersey’s Black Legislative Caucus. 

• Community Presentations: 

  • Five community roundtables in each Ward of the city, hosted at schools and places of worship. I presented an overview of the report and findings at each roundtable and met with community stakeholders to answer questions and discuss concerns. Each roundtable began with a panel of students and school staff from the Ward, discussing their post-secondary experiences and approaches, followed by my presentation, and an open session to discuss the report and community needs. 

  • School & district data partners. Ahead of the report release, I presented findings to data partners from each school or school sector to receive feedback, gain additional insights/nuance to observed trends, and refine visualizations. I simplified visualizations and provided additional context to the report narrative as a result of this feedback. 

  • Organizational advisory board, which consisted of executive-level personnel from 10 local universities and colleges, several local non-profit and community-based organizations, corporations like Audible and Prudential, the mayor’s office, and executive-level personnel from K-12 schools and school sectors. I provided quarterly updates on the report and previewed findings with our advisory board ahead of publication. 

  • Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger León. I briefed the newly appointed Superintendent ahead of publication, providing an overview of data trends and a chance to discuss the Superintendent’s strategic vision for the district. 

  • Newark Public Schools (NPS) Guidance Counselors Meeting. I presented an overview of the report and findings to all guidance counselors in NPS as a prompt for roundtable conversations about how findings fit with counselors’ experiences, what additional questions counselors had, and how might findings be used in their practice. The session was convened by NPS and one example of how the research impacted practice and conversations within the largest K-12 school sector in the city. 

• International Connections: 

  • My organization and I were invited to Mamelodi, South Africa to share project details and talk through potential local research projects. I presented findings and a report overview at the inaugural meeting of the Mamelodi Community Learning Collaborative (MCLC), attended by faculty of the University of Pretoria-Mamelodi, Mamelodi community organizations and non-governmental organizations, and a representative from the United Nations. While there, I also met with MCLC members to discuss their available data and strategize how they could undertake a similar study. 

• School Sector Collaborations: 

  • KIPP + Newark Public Schools (NPS) – KIPP began a partnership with NPS to discuss their KIPP Through College approach to postsecondary data analysis, feedback loops between those data and guidance counselors, and hands-on communications with recent high school graduates. 

  • KIPP / St. Benedict’s – St. Benedict’s had an informal approach to postsecondary support and communications. After publication of the report and subsequent conversations, KIPP met with St. Benedict’s to discuss their systematic approach to collecting data and ongoing communication with recent high school graduates.

  • Essex County Vocational Technical Schools had been growing in enrollment and programmatic offerings over the study period. Its inclusion in the report garnered greater attention to the district, its offerings, and academic successes.

• Grants:

  • Turrell Fund ($10,000)

  • Prudential Foundation’s Newark Vitality Fund ($26,250)

• Partnerships:

  • My organization had 10 postsecondary partnerships prior to the report, each with varying levels of participation in the organization’s activities. After the report release – and, in particular, the finding about students attending local colleges – two of higher education institutions recommitted to a partnership with the organization and increased their attendance and participation in advisory boards and working group meetings.