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

Table IV.3. Interpreting main impact results 
. 
Days attended 
per semester 
Credits per year 
Semester 
graduation rate 
(percentage) 
Pre-expansion average among nonparenting 
females 
73.92 
5.93 
24 
Pre-expansion average among parenting females 
58.21 
4.51 
16 
Pre-expansion gap 
15.71 
1.42 
8 
Impact on New Heights participants 
4.4*** 
1.4*** 
4* 
Percentage of gap closed 
28 
99 
50 
Sources: DCPS and DOH administrative data. 
Note: 
The pre-expansion averages are regression adjusted. Regressions include school- and semester-fixed 
effects, racial and ethnic indicators, and an indicator for being over age when entering 9th grade. 
p
-values 
are based on standard errors made robust to serial correlation within students. Statistical significance is 
based on a two-tailed t-test. 
*Significantly different from zero at the .10 level. 
**Significantly different from zero at the .05 level. 
***Significantly different from zero at the .01 level. 
21 

---

This page has been left blank for double-sided copying. 

---

RAISING THE BAR: IMPACTS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW HEIGHTS PROGRAM
 
V. PERSPECTIVES ON NEW HEIGHTS PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION 
The New Heights program made a positive impact on academic outcomes for parenting 
females in DCPS, improving school engagement, credit accumulation, and possibly graduation 
rates. New Heights also closed the gap between parenting and nonparenting students, and in 
particular in the number of credits earned per year. In this chapter, we provide insights into how 
the program might have achieved these outcomes. In particular, we describe the activities of the 
coordinators in implementing the program model and the nature of the relationships the 
coordinators built within the schools and with the students. 
Data were gathered through interviews with DCPS administrators, New Heights program 
leadership, and most of the coordinators working in the expansion schools, who were the focus 
of this report. To verify what we learned, we observed three coordinators in the schools, spoke 
with 29 New Heights participants, and reviewed the case files of 28 additional participants.
12
This data collection effort sought to describe the delivery of the New Heights program in 
spring 2015. This study component was not designed to identify the relative effectiveness of any 
particular components of the New Heights program or whether the program, as implemented in 
DCPS, could be similarly replicated and effective elsewhere.
13
In DCPS, some combination of 
the program model, its implementation, and a highly dedicated team of program leaders and 
coordinators came together to improve the academic outcomes of parenting students in the 
expansion schools.