New Report will Assess the State of High School Success

What is high school success? Oftentimes, adults simplify this complicated concept into easy metrics, like suspension rates, absenteeism and high school completion. Yet for our youth, success goes far beyond these simple statistics.

That’s why Milwaukee Succeeds and Youth Forward MKE are embarking on a new report to explore what success means for our students and how we can measure it accordingly. The State of High School Success, which is currently slated for release in late 2023, will provide youth-informed data on how Milwaukee stacks up. It will also serve as a tool to teach the community how they can advocate for change.

“High school success looks like equity no matter the school, your ZIP code, or how much you make,” said Ambassador Amaya Bauldwin during the youth-led discussion on March 22. “And it’s somewhere where youth voice is implemented and acted on.”

“I believe that high school success means to be fully equipped with knowledge and discipline, to know what you’re capable of and what you’re doing,” added fellow Ambassador Deh Nee.

Tailus Rush, one of the five new ambassadors joining the four returning youth, agreed. “I believe high school success is the ability to use knowledge you learned inside of high school in the outside world.”

In addition to defining high school success, youth also took the lead in determining what data, research and information could be collected as we begin to measure success in Milwaukee’s schools.

Attendance rates surfaced as a valuable source of information, although ambassadors recommended using the data as a starting point to explore why students don’t want to – or aren’t able to – attend.

“It’s always best to understand the problems that are happening with students at home to understand what’s affecting them all in school,” Ambassador Delonta Henderson explained. “What’s affecting their grades? Do they have time to study? Those should be the key things people should be looking into.”

Data on suspension rates, why students are getting sent home and the existence of alternative forms of disciplinary action also arose as potential areas to explore, in addition to students’ plans beyond high school and their participation in activities outside of the classroom.

Director of Research Kristin Kappelman and the extensive data workgroup will utilize feedback from this discussion to refine what the report looks like and how student voice can be incorporated into its development. Stay tuned for more information, including opportunities to help us collect more youth voice! (If you’re interested in joining the data workgroup, contact Kristin to learn more.)