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Proof that YES Prep is Transforming Houston

June 23, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

Transform Houston: 10,000 students, college ready.

We came up with this tagline at a YES Prep leadership retreat during a long, hot summer day in the gym of YES Prep East End a few summers ago. Since then, it has been a rallying cry for our team and our community. Its sets the bar high: by preparing 10,000 students for college graduation, we will triple the number of low-income students from our city that finish a four-year college, making YES Prep uniquely positioned to alter the future life prospects of our students and the future prosperity of an entire city.

Our hope is to literally transform Houston and it is our belief that education is the way to get there. Right now, the achievement gap is egregious and apparent. While Houston houses the largest density of medical brainpower and facilities in the country, a sixth grader in a traditional Houston school only has a 7% chance of graduating from college. While myriad oil and gas companies call southeast Texas home, we are last in large urban centers in the number of college educated adults. Its imperative that we recreate the status quo, that a generation from now, we look back on this paradigm incredulously and wonder how we survived the calamity of the achievement gap. There are some promising signs that transformation is happening, albeit slowly and painfully, some highlights give me hope that by expanding to serve 10,000 students in Houston, we will transform this city.

We recently began to use a series of tests that allow us to measure the academic progress of our students over time. MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) is a test developed by Northwest Evaluation Association to better understand where students are along their “academic path.” So far we have administered three of batteries of tests: fall, winter and spring. Reviewing the data reveals some unique numbers that compelled me to theorize on the differences we found. yes prep district MAP scores for 6th grade reading

Our students are behind. The NWEA benchmark scores compare our students relative to students across the country and is unique to each testing season. For example, we are able to compare a YES Prep student in 6^thgrade with a random 6^thgrader performing at the median level at any other place in the country. After assessing the data, the gap is apparent. Our 6^thgraders, on average across YES Prep, scored a 209 in reading while the national average was 213. We were four points behind. While that doesn’t seem significant, 5^thgraders should end the fifth grade year scoring a 211. So it is clear that our students are coming in, on average, at least one grade level behind.
We are seeing growth. At the end of their 6^thgrade year, the NWEA benchmark score in reading is 216. Students at YES Prep, on average, completed their 6^thgrade year with a score of 217. So, while we came in below the national average, after just one year with us, our students reading skills grew significantly, even out pacing the benchmark. Even more promising are two additional data points. First, our 6^thgraders at YES Prep Southeast finished the year in reading scoring a 221 which is almost at a 9^thgrade level! Additionally, we can see that our 9^thgraders are scoring above an 11^thgrade level. So, not only are we closing the gap, but pushing students well beyond the grade-level benchmarks.
Some data indicates that we can transform neighborhoods. Of course, this is just a theory based on empirical evidence and not tested scientifically, but it does provide some hope for the work we do. If we look across the YES Prep system, we see a range of scores for incoming sixth graders in reading skills. Our newest campuses, North Forest and Brays Oaks have a very wide achievement gap in 6^thgrade reading scores: our 6^thgraders at North Forest scored a 202 in reading just above the expectation for 4^thgraders and our 6^thgraders at Brays were at a 207 just slightly above a fifth grade level. On the flip side, however, our Southeast campus has the highest scores with a 214 average on their first administration of the test in the fall which is one point above the NWEA benchmark! YES Prep Southeast is our flagship campus. It was founded in 1998 and has had 11 graduating classes with 100% of our students being accepted into a four-year college or university. It’s been around for more than a decade and has had plenty of time mature and refine practices. Siblings, cousins, and friends of former students have reaped the benefits of the trailblazing students that came before them. Families understand the rigorous academic and behavioral expectations. Elementary schools in the neighborhood have seen their former students have tremendous success and those expectations for academic rigor have filtered down to impact younger students.

With the addition of our 9^thand 10^thcampuses this coming school year and our commitment to grow to at least 13 campuses in Houston combined with our ability to continue learning from our experiences, we hope that it doesn’t take ten years to transform these other neighborhoods, but we do want to celebrate the success of our flagship campus. In fact, we can’t wait for our campuses to have a transformative impact ten years into their maturity. The stakes are simply too high. We cannot afford to continue sacrificing the future opportunities for our students.

To learn more about how we are Transforming Houston, please visit our Y Houston blog. To help us prepare more students for college graduation, please apply on our job board. Remember to follow us on Twitter and become a Fan on Facebook.

yes prep senior director of recruitment and selection and teach for america alumn jeremy jones Jeremy Jones is the Senior Director of Recruitment and Selection, ensuring that every student has access to an excellent teacher and school leader. Jones graduated from Texas A&M in 2004 where he studied Political Science and he is a Teach For America Alum.