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Using administrative data from the Houston Independent School District (HISD) for the 2007–2008 through 2018–2019 school years, the study compares newcomer students who attended Las Americas with those who did not. Attending Las Americas increased English end-of-course (EOC) exam scores and reduced the likelihood of disciplinary actions, mainly by lowering in-school suspensions. Other outcomes were broadly similar to peers, followed by discussion of analysis limitations and potential policy implications.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-effect-of-attending-las-americas-middle-school-on-early-high-school-outcomes/584875/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-effect-of-attending-las-americas-middle-school-on-early-high-school-outcomes/584875.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Sophia Brooks","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-26","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the brief study examine?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The brief examines the causal effect of attending Las Americas Middle School on newcomer students’ academic performance, course-taking patterns, and school engagement early in high school.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What data and comparison approach does the study use?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study uses administrative data from Houston Independent School District (HISD) covering the 2007–2008 through 2018–2019 school years, comparing newcomer students who attended Las Americas with those who did not.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What were the main effects of attending Las Americas?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Attending Las Americas increased newcomer students’ English end-of-course (EOC) exam scores and decreased students’ likelihood of receiving disciplinary actions, primarily through reduced in-school suspensions. Other outcomes were largely similar to peers at other middle schools.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},584875,1792062036,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":52,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962084925636,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Building Better Cities Building Better Lives  \nThe Effect of Attending Las Americas Middle School on Early High School Outcomes  \nJee Sun (Jasmin) Lee, Camila Cigarroa Kennedy, Brian Holzman* and Aimee Chin  \nResearch Brief  \n* [Corresponding author: bholzman@tamu.edu](Corresponding author: bholzman@tamu.edu) January 2024  \nSuggested citation: Lee, J. S., Kennedy, C. C., Holzman, B., & Chin, A. (2024).“The Effect of Attending Las Americas Middle School on  \nEarly High School Outcomes.” Houston, TX: Houston Education Research Consortium, Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University.  \nNote on the authors. Brian Holzman is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University. Camila Cigarroa Kennedy is a researcher at Education Northwest. Aimee Chin is a professor at the University of Houston.  \nFunding acknowledgment. This research was supported by the Brady Education Foundation and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 1842494.  \nAbout HERC. Focusing on the most pressing challenges facing the region, the Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC) is a research-practice partnership between the Kinder Institute for Urban Research and 11 Houston-area school districts. HERC research is developed directly alongside district leaders with findings shared with decision-makers—culminating in long-term, equity-minded solutions, opportunities and growth for Houston and beyond.  \n[DOI: ](DOI: doi.org/10.25611/0HHY-7028)[doi.org/10.25611/0HHY-7028](DOI: doi.org/10.25611/0HHY-7028)  \nResearch Brief  \nThe Effect of Attending Las Americas Middle School on Early HighSchool Outcomes  \nThis brief evaluates the causal effect of attending Las Americas Middle School on  \nnewcomer students’ early high school outcomes. Using administrative data from the Houston Independent School District (HISD) spanning the 2007–2008 through 2018–2019 school years, the study examined the academic performance, course-taking patterns, and school engagement of newcomer students who did and did not attend Las  \nAmericas. Attending Las Americas increased newcomer students’ English end-of-course (EOC) exam scores and decreased students’ likelihood of receiving disciplinary actions. Newcomer students who attended Las Americas fared similarly to their newcomer peers at other middle schools on all other outcomes. The brief concludes with a discussion of the limitations of the analysis, as well as potential implications for policy and practice.  \nKey Findings  \n1. Attending Las Americas had a positive effect on students’ scores on the English 1 end-of-course (EOC) exam.  \n2. Attending Las Americas did not affect newcomer students’ ninth-grade course-taking patterns or their choice of a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) endorsement.  \n3. Attending Las Americas impacted school engagement: it decreased a student’s risk of receiving disciplinary actions, which was primarily driven by a reduction in in-school suspensions.  \nThe Effect of Attending Las Americas Middle School on Early High School Outcomes ~~  ~~1~~  ~~  \nBackground  \nNewcomer students are English learners (EL) who  \nhave recently immigrated to the United States (U.S. Department of Education, 2016) . Because many newcomer students experience interrupted formal education,1 limited literacy in their home language, psychological trauma from their migration journey, and unfamiliarity with the American education system, they often need support beyond what is provided in traditional English as a Second Language classrooms (Custodio, 2011; Custodio & O’Loughlin, 2020; Hos, 2020; Jaycox et al., 2002; Short & Boyson, 2004) . Designed to meet the needs of this unique population of students and ease their transition to mainstream schools, newcomer programs are instructional models that aim to promote accelerated English language acquisition, help students develop literacy in their home languages, provide content-based learning, and facilitate cultural integration (Short","cbCaice69GFCslI6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaice69GFCslI6","pdf",465711,"English","# Key Findings\n# Background\n## Newcomer Students\n## Las Americas Middle School Program\n# This Study\n## Outcomes and Measurement","[{\"question\":\"What does the brief study examine?\",\"answer\":\"The brief examines the causal effect of attending Las Americas Middle School on newcomer students’ academic performance, course-taking patterns, and school engagement early in high school.\"},{\"question\":\"What data and comparison approach does the study use?\",\"answer\":\"The study uses administrative data from Houston Independent School District (HISD) covering the 2007–2008 through 2018–2019 school years, comparing newcomer students who attended Las Americas with those who did not.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main effects of attending Las Americas?\",\"answer\":\"Attending Las Americas increased newcomer students’ English end-of-course (EOC) exam scores and decreased students’ likelihood of receiving disciplinary actions, primarily through reduced in-school suspensions. Other outcomes were largely similar to peers at other middle schools.\"}]","The Effect of Attending Las Americas Middle School on Early High School Outcomes | PDF",1792052787,25]