Despite being a template for remedial education programs across the country, the Hopkins-initiated Talent Development High School did not receive the top ranking in a report by the Institute of Educational Sciences.
Instead, the program was given second place. Despite this, students participating in the Talent Development program were still higher-achieving than their peers not in comparable programs. The What Works Clearinghouse of the Department of Education reports that while the Talent Development program is fairly efficient, the program does not do enough to address the issue of students who fail to complete their education.
The report itself rated a variety of programs on a six-level scale with a highest rating of six. According to the report published on the What Works Clearinghouse Web site, it considers the factors of "quality of the research design, the statistical significance of findings, the size of the difference between participants in the intervention and the comparison conditions and the consistency in findings across studies."
Primarily influencing Hopkins' program was the lack of emphasis on not only completing the high school program, but continuing on with higher education. All the studies used by the What Works Clearinghouse found that the Talent Development program to meets the remaining standards for staying in high school and progressing through successfully, and because the Talent Development program reaches these goals satisfactorily, the program will not implement any additional changes.
Co-founder of the Talent Development High School programs and research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools Robert Balfanz was not available for comment, but has expressed pleasure on seeing that the program was rated initially as validation of past success in other publications.
The first Talent Development High School was created when Johns Hopkins' Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk, a division of the Hopkins Center for Social Organization of Schools (CSOS), and Baltimore's Patterson High School collaborated to radically change the curriculum for students in need of remedial education. The original purpose was realized when the Center "formed a partnership to go into [Patterson High School] to improve it - that was the immediate impetus," said Mary Maushard, Communications Administrator for the Center for Social Organization of Schools.
The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk provided a significant part of the initial push, recognizing the need for a specialized curriculum, but with the current program underway and evolving the majority of control has been moved under the umbrella of the Center for Social Organization of Schools.
The major initiative of the program is to re-write the high school curriculum for freshmen while creating supplemental programs for 10-12 graders. What Works Clearing House refers to the participating high schools as "small learning communities" aiming to "reduce student isolation and anonymity" within schools, while preparing such students for college level work or careers.
Talent Development High Schools also provide additional support for teachers and administrators, assisting them in both setting and reaching goals for their students, as well as policy development and staff relations. The overarching goal of the programs is to help students who are significantly behind their peers catch up to the accepted level of achievement in their district.
Since the program's inception in 1994, more than 100 schools in 15 states are using the curriculum and support systems. Significant emphasis is placed on developing new skill sets for teachers and administrators. Once a school enrolls in the Talent Development program, there is a year long training period for teachers, staff and principals.
"Support is fairly significant for teachers," Maushard said. She explained that each school has a "corps" of coaches, typically retired or veteran teachers who don't have classrooms of their own. These coaches assist teachers one-on-one and are available to co-teach particularly difficult classes. These coaches never evaluate the teachers, not are they obligated to report to administrators. Principals only train during the first year of pre-installment, but participate every other year in a principal-specific support conference sponsored by the Center for Social Organization of Schools. This conference is designed to act as a forum for discussing schools' progress and innovations.
Along with supplying staff for an initial first-year consultation period, as well as continued support networks, Hopkins plays a key role in the curriculum used by the program itself. The majority of courses were developed by Hopkins, based upon a combination of government studies and additional ones conducted by the CSOS itself.
Students are selected for enrollment in the program based on standardized test scores taken at the end of eighth grade. A student's scores must indicate that his performance is at least one grade level below his peers to be considered eligible for the program's enrollment. In some schools, 80 or 90 percent of the incoming freshman class qualify for the Talent Development program.
A vital aspect of the Talent Development Program is the "freshman academy" where enrolled ninth graders are placed in separate classes aimed at helping with the adjustment to high school. The academy hosts seminars on study habits as well as courses that are designed as preparatory classes for more challenging material. Upperclassmen are offered courses geared towards career skills. Eleventh graders who remain in the program continue in assisted math and reading courses, while science curricula are currently under development by Hopkins. Seniors can also take writing courses geared towards developing college writing skills. By senior year, the goal is to have students up to the standard where they can integrate into non-Talent Development classrooms.
The program strives to prepare its students both for college and the workforce, but while doing so, aims to make such programs obsolete. The aspiration is to create more students who are able to return to regular classes following freshman year in a Talent Development program.
The program was developed to provide at-risk students with the necessary tools to adjust to the high school environment so they become productive members of society after graduation.
