In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools can’t seem to shake chronic absenteeism, behavioral challenges, and lowered student achievement. Research consistently points to solutions like relationship-building and early-warning systems, yet many efforts fail to combine these approaches into a comprehensive strategy. A new report examines one model for connecting targeted supports for at-risk students with broader efforts to improve school climate.
Developed using feedback from several hundred educators, students, and community members, the GRAD Partnership is a coalition of twelve organizations in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center. It works with schools, districts, states, and local communities to implement systems to help students stay on track for high school graduation and postsecondary success. These systems are comprised of (1) strong, supportive relationships; (2) real-time, actionable, and holistic data; (3) strategic improvement actions; and (4) student-centered mindsets. At the core of this approach are Student Success Teams: school leaders, educators, and staff who meet regularly to monitor key indicators like attendance, behavior, grades, and well-being. Using these data and student/family input, they identify root causes of problems, take targeted action, and refine strategies to keep students on track.
As a follow-up to last year’s initial report, this latest impact report evaluates the impact of the GRAD Partnership’s student success systems on course failure and chronic absenteeism in the program’s second year. The researchers compared de-identified, grade-level data to baseline data from the year before implementation. The data come from middle and high schools that began implementation in 2023–24 (first-year group) or 2022–23 (second-year group). Course failure data are available for eighty-four grade-level groups across fifty-three first-year schools and forty-five groups across thirty-four second-year schools. Chronic absenteeism data are available for seventy-one grade-level groups in forty-seven first-year schools and thirty-three groups across twenty-nine second-year schools across the country.
The researchers assessed the program’s implementation using a ten-question multiple-choice survey administered to coaches working with GRAD Partnership schools to determine overall implementation fidelity levels across ten key system components in the areas of data use, interventions, and relationships/mindsets.
The report describes three main findings. First, both first- and second-year participating schools saw declines in students failing one or more courses. Among first-year schools, the mean course failure rate dropped from 33 percent to 27 percent. Ninth-grade effect sizes were especially large, with mean failure rates declining from 30 percent to 23 percent. In second-year schools, mean course failure rates dropped from 31 percent before participation to 20 percent after year two. Middle school, high school, and ninth-grade results were comparable to these overall second-year trends.
Second, both first- and second-year groups saw significant reductions in chronic absenteeism. Among first-year schools, the overall average chronic absenteeism rate declined from 34 percent to 30 percent, with ninth-grade rates falling from 37 percent to 32 percent. In second-year schools, chronic absenteeism declined from 29 to 21 percent. For ninth grade, however, the 14 percent improvement seen after year one did not improve further in year two, signaling a potential plateau.
Third, the survey results show that 82 percent of reporting schools achieved either solid or strong levels of implementation as reported by affiliated coaches, while 18 percent ended year one with only partial implementation. From year one to year two, schools saw further improvements in key areas, including the use of predictive data and human insights (48 percent to 70 percent), access to holistic data (48 percent to 75 percent), and efforts to develop student-centered mindsets (14 percent to 30 percent).
The results are promising in addressing both chronic absenteeism and course failure—two major barriers to student success. However, the use of course failure as a primary measure of program effectiveness raises concerns. With grade inflation increasing over the past decade, course failure rates may present a skewed picture of student success and may falsely portray student gains. Future research should consider incorporating alternative indicators such as standardized test scores, student belonging, or school climate—or at minimum, control for grading trends. Determining which components of the student success system are most effective in improving outcomes is also important, especially given the plateau in ninth-grade chronic absenteeism.
While the GRAD Partnership’s student success systems show real potential for reducing course failure and chronic absenteeism, the long-term impact depends on targeted support, continued refinement, and better metrics to capture student progress.
SOURCE: Robert Balfanz and Vaughan Byrnes, “Delivering Success: The GRAD Partnership Year Two Impact Results,” Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University (June 2025).
