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

New Heights: Supporting parenting students before they drop out 
Similar to the dip in the nationwide teen birth rate, Washington, D.C., has also seen its teen 
birth rate cut in half in recent years (Martin et al. 2015). Still, teen births continues to be a 
significant issue for Hispanic and African American females in the District, with birth rates 
nearly 25 times that of non-Hispanic white females (CDC 2015). These births primarily occur 
among females living in the neighborhoods with the highest rates of poverty and violence (Perry-
Undum 2013), making it especially difficult for these young mothers to access the services they 
need (Rolland 2006; McCoy 2015). 
The poorest neighborhoods are also home to most of the city’s large, comprehensive high 
schools. In these large high schools, nearly 10 percent of females are parenting.
1
These schools 
represent a convenient location for expectant and parenting students to receive services in 
support of their educational attainment, and the well-being of themselves and their children. 
With a 2010 PAF grant, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) central office staff refined and 
expanded a program—New Heights—that previously existed in just two high schools, making it 
available as of the 2011–2012 school year in all of the district’s large comprehensive high 
schools. New Heights is a voluntary, school-based program of supports designed to help 
expectant and parenting students in DCPS navigate the challenges of pregnancy and parenthood 
and complete high school. Recognizing that expectant and parenting students can feel 
overburdened, embarrassed, and discouraged, the program seeks to reorient students toward 
thinking about achieving immediate educational and longer-term future goals and identifying 
clear pathways for achieving them. 
Under contract from OAH, Mathematica Policy Research conducted this evaluation of New 
Heights. The evaluation addresses three primary questions related to program impacts and 
implementation: 
1.
What are the core components of the New Heights program model? 
2.
What is the impact of New Heights on academic outcomes, such as school engagement, 
credit accumulation, and graduation? 
3.
How is New Heights implemented, and what are students’ and staffs’ perceptions of the 
program? 
This report presents the findings from the study of the New Heights program. In the next 
chapter, we describe the New Heights model. Chapter III discusses the impact study design, 
which makes use of data from three Washington, D.C. public agencies, and Chapter IV shares 
the findings on academic outcomes. Chapter V presents program implementation through the 
eyes of the dedicated staff who run it and the students who have been affected by it. The report 
ends with a brief conclusion. 
1
This statistic was compiled using data for this study for the nine large public high schools included in the study. 
2 

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RAISING THE BAR: IMPACTS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW HEIGHTS PROGRAM