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

II. THE NEW HEIGHTS PROGRAM 
The overarching goal of New Heights is to support expectant and parenting students and 
help them achieve educational success. Informed by multiple theories of youth development, the 
program highlights the importance of addressing systemic and individual factors (Lyons et al. 
2013). New Heights treats expectant and parenting students as active decision makers in their 
lives and aims to draw upon their strengths to overcome adversity and reduce an emphasis on 
problems and barriers.
The New Heights model is also grounded in 
reducing school-based discrimination. Federal law 
(Title IX) requires that schools must not discriminate 
against expectant and parenting students (U.S. 
Department of Education 2013). This consists of 
making allowances, arrangements, uniform rules, and 
attendance policies to accommodate students who 
need additional assistance to participate fully in a 
school’s programs and activities. 
Through this evaluation, OAH sought to better 
understand the New Heights program goals and 
structure, and the ways in which the program supports 
expectant and parenting students in addressing the 
challenges they face when they have not yet 
completed high school. In this chapter, we describe 
the program model that was refined and rolled out to 
11 additional District of Columbia public high schools 
with the 2010 OAH PAF grant.
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 We also present the 
role of the school-based coordinators in implementing 
the program. 
Structured, yet flexible, approach 
New Heights is a system of integrated school-
based components designed to be flexible in its 
approach and address multiple dimensions of a teen 
parent’s life. Any expectant or parenting student, male 
or female, enrolled in a school that offered New 
Heights can voluntarily enroll in the program and