City Connects dramatically lowers the likelihood that a student will drop out of high school. In grades 9 through 12, students who attended City Connects elementary schools beginning in kindergarten are about 50 percent less likely to drop out than students who never attended a City Connects school.
The graph below shows that students who attended City Connects schools are less likely to drop out at every grade level, as well as cumulatively. The difference at grade 9 — a key year for predicting high school graduation — is particularly notable: 3 percent for City Connects students, and almost 6 percent for others.
Source: The Impact of City Connects: 2014 Progress Report from the Boston College Center for Optimized Student Support. Methodology: Reducing High School Dropout through Elementary School Student Support (Policy Brief)