Expectations and high school change: Teacher-researcher collaboration to prevent school failure

Describes the multilevel outcomes of a collaborative preventive intervention for ninth-graders at risk for school failure using qualitative and quasi-experimental methods. Teachers, administrators, and researchers implemented innovative practices communicating positive expectations for low-achieving adolescents in their transition to high school. Changes were made in the practices of curriculum, grouping, evaluation, motivation, student responsibility, and relationships (in the classroom, with parents, and in the school). Both implementation and evaluation evolved as a function of collaboration. Change was promising but not uniform. Project teachers became more positive about students and colleagues, expanded their roles, and changed school tracking policies. The 158 project students, in contrast to the 154 comparison students showed improved grades and disciplinary referrals post-intervention and increased retention in school 1 year later, but their absences rose and improved performance was not maintained. The implications of this analysis for school-based interventions and its evaluation are discussed.