← Sample schools · Sample Urban Middle School (demo)
Root cause analysis
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Our MI School Index Growth value was 47.3 in 2024-25; the middle school median was 80.0. Current: 47.3 (2024-25); desired: the middle school median, 80.0; student group: all students. We analyzed this under Removing barriers: achievement and access because this finding describes a barrier that limits what students can access or achieve.
We used a fishbone to sort 6 possible causes into leadership, time, and structures, student connection and supports, teaching and adult collaboration, spotting and responding to risk, and getting to school, then asked "why" up to five times for the causes we control or influence. We recorded many students enter grade 6 two or more years below grade level as context outside our control and did not treat it as a root cause.
1. Root cause: our master schedule has no intervention period, so students below benchmark get no added math or ELA time (time, schedule, and school structures, RC11). Supporting evidence: Master schedule, 2025-26: no intervention period and 0 minutes of added math or ELA time per week; fall 2025 benchmark screening: 58% of grade 7 and 8 students below benchmark in reading and 64% in math. This is within our control. Our confidence: high. 2. Root cause: we have no shared schoolwide behavior expectations, and each teacher handles referrals differently (behavior systems and discipline practices, RC7). Supporting evidence: Discipline records, 2024-25: out-of-school suspension rate 14.2%, and 61% of suspensions were for classroom disruption; staff survey, fall 2025: 23 of 41 teachers said they handle disruption with their own classroom rules. This is within our control. Our confidence: medium.
Causal theory to test: students who are removed from class come back without a conversation with an adult (student engagement and belonging, RC1). We will gather a student climate survey item on belonging and on having a trusted adult at school, given to grades 6 to 8 in January to confirm it.
If we address our master schedule has no intervention period, so students below benchmark get no added math or ELA time, then students below benchmark get added reading and math instruction every day without missing a core class, so that our MI School Index Growth value moves from 47.3 toward the middle school median, 80.0.
Problem: Our MI School Index Growth value was 47.3 in 2024-25; the middle school median was 80.0
Teaching and adult collaboration:
- Math and ELA teachers have no common planning time to look at student work together (Our control)
Courses, credits, and pathways: no causes yet
Leadership, time, and structures:
- Students below benchmark in math and reading get no added instruction during the school day (Our control)
Why 1: Intervention happens only when a teacher pulls students out of an elective or a core class
Why 2: Our master schedule has no intervention period, so students below benchmark get no added math or ELA time
Why 3: The district sets the length of the student day for every building
Spotting and responding to risk:
- We have no Tier 2 reading or math program for students below benchmark (Our control)
Student connection and supports:
- Students lose class time to out-of-school suspensions for classroom disruption (Our control)
Why 1: Teachers send students out for different behaviors, and consequences differ from room to room
Why 2: We have no shared schoolwide behavior expectations, and each teacher handles referrals differently
- Many students say they do not feel they belong at school (We can influence it)
Why 1: Students who are removed from class come back without a conversation with an adult
Getting to school:
- Students who miss the first bus arrive after first-hour math has started (We can influence it)
Context outside our control:
- Many students enter grade 6 two or more years below grade level2 confirmed root causes (RC11, RC7) will be passed on.
Last handed off 11/5/2026, 12:00:00 PM. Saving again replaces it with your current analysis.
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