Making the Move: Transition Strategies at California Schools with High Graduation Rates

AIR, as a partner in the California Comprehensive Center at WestEd, worked with the K-12 Innovation and Improvement Office (formerly the Middle Grades Improvement Office) at the California Department of Education to conduct a study on student transitions from the middle grades to high school. AIR contacted nine California high schools with higher-than-predicted graduation rates and three of their feeder middle grades schools to determine what strategies they use to help students transition into and graduate from high school. This paper summarizes these key transition and graduation strategies and discusses the implications for practitioners and policymakers across the state.