• Data reported is for 2021 and reports the percentage of Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) high school graduates who complete postsecondary education within 6 years.
• To protect student privacy, the CMSD Data Clearinghouse does not identify outcomes where there are fewer than 10 students reaching the benchmark. Because of that policy, reports are not available for the following student populations: 1) American Indian or Native Alaskan and 2) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

• These are students entering college, so this would be in the middle of the pandemic
• Almost half of the Asian students persist to postsecondary
• Latino students persist in a small percentage
• Surprisingly, White students are persisting at a very small percentage, period
• Both are graduating more than Black students
• Multiracial students are persisting at a significantly higher rate
• Every racial group other Asian and multiracial saw declines in their graduation rate
• The volume of Black youth exacerbates the impacts of not graduating, that reverberates for families
• For perspective the numbers for Asian populations and mutiracial populations are small, so we have to be careful about making generalizations

What factors are creating disparities amongst different racial and ethnic student populations in Cleveland with regards to completing postsecondary education in 6 years? What underlying conditions are responsible for the factors?

• Academic success gap between Black or African American students at 4-year Predominantly White Institution (PWI)
  • Lack of institutional programs (in Higher Education) that are focused on identity of race such as Multicultural Centers, Affinity groups, and Mentors.
    • Connected to this, how are the high schools preparing students for this kind of experience?
  • Discrimination, Social experience at school–Alienation
• Access to mentors
• Access to post secondary prep/support programs (Minds Matter, etc.)
  • Some of these programs’ criteria speak to higher achieving students. As such, some minority students may not have the standardized test scores or grade point averages and cannot partake. Hence, the disparity.
• Challenges with mental health/lack of support
• College/Program match - small school/certain schools may provide more support but may not offer same scholarship/financial support
• Disillusionment about the benefits of postsecondary education and seeing options in the workforce that provide more immediate benefit
• The shutdown of schools in response to the pandemic co-occuring with increased wages for non-degreed jobs persisted to a degree that some students, and perhaps significant numbers of students, may have a sense of disconnection between postsecondary education and higher earning potential
• Family economics, i.e., students that need to provide income for the family
  • Low wage jobs, more income to support the family, family may not understand the longer term benefit of postsecondary education, which could significantly increase one’s earning potential-student could conceivably be better poised to help the family after earning the credential 
• First-generation college attendees
• High rates of educational disabilities and lower support for students with disabilities in postsecondary settings 
  • Assuming CMSD’s data aligns with national data, Black students are overrepresented in some educational disability categories that are also likely to need significant support in a postsecondary environments
• Higher education policies or procedures that are barriers to students enrolling, persisting, or even completing
  • Transcript blocks - can’t register for final classes
  • Inflexibility for helping students
  • Freshman forgiveness (students can get their first year grades *expunged* - well kept secret)
  • If admissions policies that consider race are struck down, how will institutions ensure equitable representation for underrepresented students?
  • Inadequate access to professors/instructors with shared lived experience, racial, and cultural identities
• Inadequate peer support and sense of belonging and communityInstitution is the wrong fit; thus, inability to adapt to environment
• Inadequate advising and mentoring
• Incorrect major
• Internalized oppression and a lower sense of self-efficacy, agency, and confidence
  • Students often times don’t know how much they know and what they bring to the tableLack of/inadequate information to navigate the postsecondary process
• Lack of funding (scholarships, grants, etc.)
  • Not being aware of opportunities available. Maybe scholarship opportunities are shared late with students, maybe counselor/advisor may have received the items last minute.
• Lack of academic rigor in high school
  • Lack of rigor for higher level curriculum, i.d., AP or IB at the middle elementary and middle grade levels
  • Not enough good teachers
• Lack of financial and cultural capital
  • Students’ familial background/first generation sometimes lack the knowledge, wherewithal-unable to advise or support student accordingly
• Lack of a post education and career pathway plan
  • The PACE (Planning and Career Exploration) program was created, with community partners, to provide early exposure to career paths which began phasing in this school year.  This will focus on grades 6 through 12….with the intent to extend from Kindergarten through 12 in the near future 
• Low expectations - lethargy/apathy
  • Students from lower SES demographics but also from a racial/ethnic perspective, their genius are not measured by academic metrics… which leads to a perception that this as far as these students will go without creating stretch expectation
• Life events that would cause a student to drop out
  • Students or their families may not have embodied the resilience, resources, support, etc. needed to overcome life challenges-students may need to stop out to help support the family
• May be coached into a decision that isn’t actually in alignment to student interests/goals
• New life opportunities or changes in priorities
• Student supports in selecting affordable options
  • Caring and knowledgeable mentors, school counselors, teachers, community programs, etc.

• Area school districts
• City government
• Greater Cleveland Career Consortium
• United Way of Greater Cleveland

What solutions can help address factors creating disparities amongst different racial and ethnic student populations in Cleveland with regards to completing postsecondary education in 6 years?

• Access to higher-level curriculum at earlier grades, i.e., pre-AP and pre-IB curriculum as well as Algebra
• Changing adverse mindsets of those who educate, interact with, coach, mentor, and advise students, through cultural competency and and like professional development-have educators show evidence via annual evaluation 
• Co-locate HS (and upper middle?)  classrooms/cohorts on local university campuses with culturally-respectful supports
• Create more opportunities for students (and earlier on) to experience connections to post-secondary options
• Ensure new teachers have professional development regarding the Cleveland community
• Educate parents and caregivers, early and often-partners in the holistic secondary, postsecondary educational process, and career aspirations, regarding their children, thereby ensuring that all students graduate with an achievement plan 
• Embed Racial Equity Institute into teacher preparation and professional Increased funding and support to HBCUs
• Engage community learning centers to focus on education for the whole family, including academic and S/E learning (e.g., Say Yes Cleveland)
• Ensure we are tracking data for all Cleveland HS students i.e., CMSD, charter, and private.
• Evaluative procedures for educators that ensure accountability for lesson planning and instructional practices that are culturally-responsive, use authentic assessments, and amplify student potential
• Expand mentorship opportunities.
• Increase the recruitment of a diversified instructional staff i.e., Teachers and Principals. This should include incentives to live in the city of Cleveland.
• Institute a planning and career exploration, postsecondary education and career pathway plan for students at the onset of their secondary education tenure
• Marketing and promotion of HBCUs and other types of educational opportunities that center the experiences of BIPOC students
• More training for educators–high school and college faculty–on culturally competent education techniques and strategies
• Partner with community partners i.e., City of Cleveland and after school partners to ensure the investment of after-school programming is funded for the future, similar to Say Yes.
• Rethink the number of schools in the Cleveland area, particularly at the PK-8 level and reconfigure PK-8 to ensure middle grade students are being prepared for the HS experience
• Review of IHE’s institutional barriers that exacerbate inequities
• Very intentionally lift up researchers and authors of Color in the PD we offer to teachers and in the curricular offerings provided for students

What strategies can make a difference in addressing systemic racism in education systems advancing postsecondary education completeion, based on scoring highest across four criteria: Impact, Feasibility, Specificity, and Equity?

• Engage parents and caregivers, early and often, as partners in the holistic secondary, postsecondary educational process, and career aspirations, regarding their children, thereby ensuring that all students graduate with an achievement plan
• Institute a planning and career exploration, postsecondary education and career pathway plan for students at the onset of their secondary education tenure
• Change adverse mindsets of those who educate, interact with, coach, mentor, and advise students, through cultural competency and and like professional development; also, have educators show evidence via annual evaluation