Raising the Bar: Impacts and Implementation of the New Heights Program for Expectant and Parenting Teens in Washington, dc

and secure experience for students. 
The study also closely examined program implementation. 
We learned that the coordinators 
are 
the program and they have the autonomy to implement and 
integrate the core components as necessary. In other words, the coordinators are expected to do 
what it takes to support each student in making progress and graduating. Often this involves 
dealing with significant personal issues for the students, such as housing insecurity, 
transportation, child care, and the courts. Becoming so intricately involved in their students’ lives 
can bring an overwhelming amount of work and stress, and the coordinators receive a great deal 
of support and guidance from one another and their managers. They also collaborate within their 
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This approach can account for the effects of other policy changes, assuming that (1) those improvements are due 
to other policy changes and (2) the impact of those other policy changes on parenting females is the same as on 
nonparenting females. 
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RAISING THE BAR: IMPACTS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW HEIGHTS PROGRAM
 
schools, offering teachers and administrators a free and valuable resource while in turn often 
receiving support and cooperation from teachers and administrators. Coordinators also draw 
upon the numerous community-based resources that are prevalent in Washington, D.C. 
The current and past participants of New Heights we spoke with perceive their coordinator 
as providing a “home”, bringing security and support while helping them to imagine improved 
outcomes and fostering their own motivation to achieve those outcomes. Participants spoke 
about how the program has benefitted all aspects of their lives, including their academic progress 
and achievement. And with the support of their coordinators, they improved significantly 
academically, as demonstrated by this study.