Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That Counts

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts
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Guiding Questions

• How well prepared are our students for the world
  after high school?
• What does it mean to be prepared for college and
  work?
• Do we expect all of our students to be prepared?
• Closing the expectations gap what will it take?

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Too many Oklahoma students drop out of the
education pipeline
Source National Center for Public Policy and
Higher Education, Policy Alert, April 2004. Data
are estimates of pipeline progress rather than
actual cohort.
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ADP Network 22 states committed to improving
student achievement
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College instructors/employers confirm high school
graduates lack of preparation
Average estimated proportions of recent high
school graduates who are not prepared
45
42
High school graduates not prepared for
college-level classes
High school graduates not prepared to advance
beyond entry-level jobs
Source Peter D. Hart Research Associates/Public
Opinion Strategies, Rising to the Challenge Are
High School Graduates Prepared for College and
Work? prepared for Achieve, Inc., 2005.
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American Diploma Project Benchmarks

• The American Diploma Project (ADP)
• Benchmarks and Oklahomas Priority
• Academic Student Skills (PASS) are aligned
• with the knowledge and skills required for
• college and workplace success.

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American Diploma Project Benchmarks

• The English and mathematics
• American Diploma Project benchmarks
• were identified and refined over 18 months
• of research conducted in postsecondary
• institutions and high-performance
• workplaces.

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ADP expectations ensure high school graduates are
prepared to succeed

• The English benchmarks are organized in eight
  strands
• Language
• Communication
• Writing
• Research
• Logic
• Informational text
• Media
• Literature

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ADP expectations ensure high school graduates are
prepared to succeed

• The mathematics benchmarks are organized in five
  strands
• Number Sense and Numerical Operations
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Data Interpretation, Statistics and Probability
• Mathematical Reasoning

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To be college and work ready, students need to
complete a rigorous sequence of courses
Oklahoma College Preparatory/Work Ready
Curriculum (default for all students beginning
with 2006-2007 ninth grade students) provides

• Mathematics
• Three courses from Algebra I, Algebra II,
  Geometry, Trigonometry, Math Analysis, Calculus,
  and Advanced Placement Statistics

• English
• Four courses with content equivalent to four
  years of grade-level English or higher (i.e.,
  honors or AP English)

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To be college and work ready, students need to
demonstrate mastery of academic content standards
on end-of-instruction tests
Oklahoma Achieving Classroom Excellence (ACE)
Act of 2006 requires every student demonstrate
mastery of the state academic content standards
on end-of-instruction tests in order to graduate
from a public high school with a standard diploma
for the graduating class of 2012. These tests
are Algebra I English II and Two of the
following five Algebra II, Biology I,
English III, Geometry, and United States
History.
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Oklahomas State Action Plan for American Diploma
Project Network

• STANDARDS

• COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• ASSESSMENTS

• .

• ACCOUNTABILITY

• .

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we?
• Where are we going?
• How can you be involved?

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we?
• Oklahoma American Diploma Project Plan
  Standards, Course Requirements, Assessments,
  Accountability

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we?
• American Diploma Project Team of secondary and
  postsecondary faculty have attended national
  meetings and met with workgroups to align ADP
  Benchmarks and Oklahoma state standards with
  postsecondary and workplace tasks

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we?
• ADP Workgroups
• Workplace Tasks
• Postsecondary Tasks

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Postsecondary Sample Oklahoma Tasks English
  Benchmarks
• Introductory English Composition
• Principles of Management Course

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Postsecondary Sample Oklahoma Tasks Mathematics
  Benchmarks
• Applications of College Algebra and Trigonometry

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Workplace Sample Oklahoma Tasks Mathematics
  Benchmarks
• Industrial Engineering Technician
• Dietician/Nutritionist

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Workplace Sample Oklahoma Tasks English
  Benchmarks
• Production and Planning Coordinator

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we going?
• Workgroups of content specialists and
  representatives from public education, higher
  education, and work force have met and
  established that the Oklahoma state standards are
  aligned to work- and college-readiness benchmarks.

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we going?
• The workgroups in English and mathematics have
  gathered tasks, assessments, course syllabi that
  exemplify these benchmarks.

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• Where are we going?
• We will be creating an Oklahoma document that
  includes the alignment of the ADP benchmarks with
  our Oklahoma state academic content standards and
  postsecondary tasks and workplace tasks,
  available on the SDE Web site and the Regents Web
  site.

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Creating an Oklahoma High School Diploma That
Counts

• How can you become involved?
• You can view information about the ADP Project on
  the Achieve, Inc. Web site including the book
  Ready or Not
• We invite you to submit, review and validate the
  alignment of the Oklahoma standards and the ADP
  benchmarks to postsecondary and workplace tasks.

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Contact Information

• Dr. Cindy Koss, Assistant State Superintendent
• Office of Standards and Curriculum
• Oklahoma State Department of Education
• 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, Suite 315
• Oklahoma City, OK 73105
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• cindy_koss_at_sde.state.ok.us
• For additional information, visit www.achieve.org.