Project ACHIEVE partnership with Cleveland Elementary School started at the beginning of the 1993-94 school year. At the time, Cleveland Elementary drew its students from a neighborhood of public housing complexes in one of the most dangerous sections of Tampa. In fact, it was in this area where a series of serious racial disturbances and unrest occurred in 1987. Located in the Hillsborough County School District, the 12th largest school system in the country at the time, serving more than 165,000 students, Cleveland Elementary’s staff was trained in most of the Project’s components over seven years through the 1999-2000 school year.
Demographically, Cleveland Elementary’s enrollment averaged 500 students per year with an approximate racial make-up of 20% Caucasian, 62% African-American, 17% Hispanic, and less than 1% other minority students during the five years of on-site implementation. Cleveland Elementary also had an average mobility rate of new and withdrawn students of 66%, and a poverty level that encompassed 97% of its student body. Student attendance averaged 92%, while teacher attendance was not been tracked.
Cleveland Elementary School’s Project ACHIEVE Results in Brief
The data from seven years of Project ACHIEVE implementation at Cleveland Elementary School have been analyzed both by themselves, and as contrasted with available data from the two years prior to implementation (1991-92 and 1992-93). Recognizing that school reform and/or improvement often takes up to five years to accomplish, the outcome data were analyzed by clustering the first five years (1993-1998) of Project implementation together, and then comparing them to the last two years (1998-2000) of continued implementation.
Student Discipline Outcomes
The outcome data here were analyzed by clustering the first five years (1993-1998) of Project implementation together and comparing them to the last two years (1998-2000) of continued implementation. Other analyses contrasted the implementation results with “baseline” data taken during the two years prior to implementation. Some of the discipline data is best understood by noting that the total number of reported incidents occurred across a 180-day school year.
Overall, results here indicated that:
- Total discipline referrals to the Principal’s Office dropped from an average of 45.0 referrals per 100 students for the two years prior to Project implementation, to 34.5 referrals per 100 students for the next five years (approximately one referral per school day over an entire year), to 21.3 referrals per 100 students for the last two years (approximately one referral every two school days over the year).
- The number of different students referred to the Office, regardless of how many times they went to the Office during the school year, dropped from an average of 20.9 different students per 100 students for the two years prior to Project implementation to 16.6 per 100 students for the next five years, and up slightly to 17.6 students per 100 students for the last two years of the Project.
- In-School Suspensions dropped from an average of 21.0 suspensions per 100 students for the two years prior to Project implementation to 16.4 suspensions per 100 students for the next five years to 11.0 suspensions per 100 students for the last two years.
Academic Outcomes
Relative to academic achievement, Cleveland Elementary’s Scholastic Aptitude Test scores (SAT) were analyzed in cohorts reflecting the first two years of Project implementation (1993-95), the next four years (done to accommodate the SAT changing from Version 8 to Version 9 in 1995), and the last year of Project implementation (done to reflect a building at a “mature” level of school reform with over five years of planning and involvement).
Overall, results here indicated that:
- Grade 2 through 5 students taking the SAT-8 Reading section between 1993 and 1995 scored, on average, at the 22nd percentile; the Grade 2 through 5 students taking the SAT-9 from 1995-1999 had a median percentile rank at the 43rd percentile—indicating significant academic improvements.
- Grade 2 through 5 students taking the same test during the 1999-2000 school year also had a median percentile rank at the 43rd percentile—thus, sustaining these academic increases.
- In math, students taking the SAT-8 between 1993 and 1995 scored, on average, at the 29th percentile; the students taking the SAT-9 from 1995-1999 had a median percentile rank at the 51st percentile; and the students taking the same test during 1999-2000 had a median percentile rank at the 52nd percentile—the latter two cohorts both scoring above the national average, and significantly higher than the 1993-1995 cohort.
- The number of different students receiving an In-School Suspension, regardless of how many suspensions they received during the school year, dropped from an average of 12.8 different students per 100 students for the two years prior to Project implementation to 10.3 per 100 students for the next five years to 8 students per 100 students for the last two years of the Project.
- Out-of-School Suspensions dropped from an average of 5.9 suspensions per 100 students for the two years prior to Project implementation to 4.3 suspensions per 100 students for the next five years to 1.8 suspensions per 100 students for the last two years.
- The number of different students receiving an Out-of-School Suspension, regardless of how many suspensions they received during the school year, dropped from an average of 3.7 different students per 100 students for the two years prior to Project implementation to 2.9 per 100 students for the next five years to 1.6 students per 100 students for the last two years of the Project.
Special Education Outcomes
- The special education outcome data were analyzed by clustering the first five years (1993-1998) of Project implementation together and comparing them to the last two years (1998-2000) of continued implementation. To provide a context for these special education data, it should be noted that approximately 12% of all students nationwide are currently receiving such services.
Overall, the results indicated that:
- The annual number of special education referrals averaged 4.2 referrals per 100 students for the first five years of the Project (about 34% of these referrals were for gifted assessments) and then decreased slightly to 3.9 referrals per 100 students for the next two years (about 25% of these referrals were for gifted assessments).
- Special education placements averaged 2.5 placements per 100 students for the first five years versus 1.6 placements per 100 students for the next two years.
