Ninth grade is a critical juncture for students. Students who make a good transition to high school are likely to graduate within four years. Those who do not--who fail to earn as many credits as they should in ninth grade--face an elevated risk of dropping out of high school. To understand how well they are supporting ninth graders, more school…

Over the past decade, national initiatives have shifted States' attention to the challenge of turning around low-performing schools. The lack of consistent, dramatic improvements in the lowest-performing schools reflects the severity of the school turnaround challenge, but also suggests the need to continuously evaluate and refine turnaround…