Report Highlights Effective Interventions For Struggling Students

A new report lauds nine school districts in the state for progress in lowering the high school dropout rate programs that researchers hope can be duplicated across Massachusetts.

WBUR's Monica Brady-Myerov reports.

The report by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy highlights 11 high schools and nine districts that are using multiple strategies to help struggling students.

Jill Norton, Executive Director of the Rennie Center, says these are model programs of effective interventions.

JILL NORTON: And all the schools and districts that we looked at have multiple strategies so it's not that they just have one program that seems to be making all the difference, they're trying different things for different kinds of students.

Some of the interventions are creating smaller learning communities within schools, allowing students who fall behind to catch up with credit recovery programs and supporting students' non-academic needs.