A CALL TO ACTION: Transforming High School for All Youth

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A CALL TO ACTION Transforming High School for
All Youth

• Presentation for the
• National Association of State Directors of Career
  Technical Education Consortium
• Washington, DC
• March 2007

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National High School AllianceWho We Are

• A trusted, impartial voice in the national
  dialogue on secondary education
• A partner-driven alliance of education
  organizations representing a broad range of
  expertise on high school and youth issues
• A network of networks for mobilizing collective
  action through each partners stakeholder networks

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National High School Alliance Vision

• A national commitment to fostering high academic
  achievement, closing the achievement gap, and
  promoting civic and personal growth among all
  youth in our high schools and communities

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National High School Alliance Goals

• Create opportunities for shared learning and
  concerted action about practice, policy, and
  research among organizations interested in
  high-school-age youth
• Inform policy, practice, and research at the
  local, state, and federal levels
• Increase public awareness and engagement to
  support the development of effective practices
  and policies.

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What We Do

• Map the Field
• Continually scanning the field in order to
  provide critical syntheses and analyses of
  national dialogues, positions, and practices
• Convene and Facilitate
• Creating forums for critical discourse on big
  picture issues that impact policy and practice
  among leaders representing diverse perspectives
  and stakeholder groups
• Broker Resources
• Building spaceboth through meeting agendas and
  electronic mediathat provide Partners and the
  field at large with access to the most current,
  relevant resources for the work of policy,
  practice, research, and public engagement

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The CrisisWhy We Exist

• Nationally
• 68 graduate high school
• 51 African-American
• 52 Hispanic graduate
• 32 graduate with college ready transcripts
• 20 African-American
• 16 Hispanic
• (Greene and Forster, 2004)

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The Crisis-Why We Exist

• Nearly half of students entering college take
  remedial courses
• 63 at two-year institutions
• 40 at four-year institutions
• Attrition after first year of college
• 50 at two-year institutions
• 25 at four-year institutions
• Attainment
• 23 obtain a bachelors degree
• (Venezia, Kirst, Antonio, 2003)

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A CALL TO ACTION Transforming High School for
All Youth
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Key Messages of the Call to Action

• Engage leaders at all levels to connect top-down
  and bottom-up policies/practices
• Comprehensive approach, not tinkering the core
  principles are non-negotiable
• No silver bullet programs context matters
• For sustainability, ownership and capacity must
  be developed at the school community levels
• Rigor and supports are inter-dependent
• Change requires major investment of time,
  resources

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Contact Information

• Naomi Housman, Director
• The National High School Allianceat the
  Institute for Educational Leadership
• Washington, D.C.
• housmann_at_iel.org
• [phone] ext. 131
• www.hsalliance.org