Bridge to High School

Overview

In the District of Columbia, students and families have numerous high school options. However, this choice landscape presents logistical challenges for high schools that may enroll students from dozens of different middle schools – across District of Columbia Public Schools and public charter school campuses – and often lack important quantitative and qualitative information before school starts to serve incoming ninth graders well.

Created by schools, for schools, the Bridge to High School Data Exchange and Kid Talk equip educators with key student-level information and opportunities to connect with one another to better serve students transitioning to high school.

Bridge to High School Data Exchange

In summer 2016, a network of collaborators, the Ninth Grade Counts Network (9GCN), with leadership from OSSE, launched the Bridge to High School Data Exchange to equip participating high schools with key student-level data for their incoming ninth-graders quickly, securely and consistently. Now in its fourth year, the Data Exchange has served as a launch pad for members to scale effective practices, develop middle-to-high school partnerships, and elevate to key citywide leaders specific infrastructure and policy barriers that need to be addressed. As the Data Exchange continues to evolve during the 2018-19 school year, the Bridge to High School Data Exchange saw participation from 95 percent of the eligible middle and high school campuses, representing more than 5,000 enrolling ninth graders.

Kid Talk

In response to local education agency (LEA) feedback from Bridge to High School Data Exchange surveys, Raise DC and OSSE launched an annual event called “Kid Talk” in August 2017. As an extension of the data exchange, the Kid Talk event offers middle schools and high schools an opportunity to connect in-person to:

Review eighth grade data and offer insights to guide student-specific planning for rising ninth graders.
Launch ongoing working relationships between middle and high schools to continue to support shared students throughout their freshman year.