Case for action

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Case for action

• The global economy is changing the nature of work
  and the kinds of jobs young people will enter.
• Students need higher levels of knowledge and
  skills than ever before to succeed in todays
  workplaces.
• Few states require high school students to take
  courses they need to succeed in college and the
  workplace.

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• What knowledge and skills do students need to
  succeed after high school graduation?

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A high school diploma is not the last educational
stop required
Share of new jobs, 200010

• Jobs that require at least some postsecondary
  education will make up more than two-thirds of
  new jobs.

Source Carnevale, Anthony P. and Donna M.
Desrochers, Standards for What? The Economic
Roots of K16 Reform, Educational Testing
Service, 2003.
5
In todays workforce, jobs require more education
than ever before
Change in the distribution of education in
jobs 1973 v. 2001
-9
-23
16
16
Source Carnevale, Anthony P. and Donna M.
Desrochers, Standards for What? The Economic
Roots of K16 Reform, Educational Testing
Service, 2003.
6
Many Employers Cite Difficulties in Hiring
Skilled Workers
Source Manpower, Inc., Talent Shortage Survey
2008 Global Results. 2008.
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ADP Identifying knowledge and skills students
need to succeed in college and careers

• Achieve, Inc. The Education Trust and the
  Thomas B. Fordham Foundation launched the
  American Diploma Project to identify knowledge
  and skills students need in English and math to
  be college and work ready.
• Partnered with Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts,
  Nevada and Texas.
• Involved wide variety of K12, higher education
  and business representatives.

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To be college- and career-ready, students need to
complete a rigorous sequence of courses
To cover the content American Diploma Project
research shows students need to be college and
work ready, high school graduates need to take

• In math
• Four courses
• Content equivalent to Algebra I and II, Geometry,
  and a fourth course such as Statistics or
  Precalculus

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

Research, analysis, and logic and reasoning
skills are critical elements of the math and
English benchmarks
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Whether graduates are going to college or
careers, they need the same skills

• Research by the American Diploma Project and ACT
  found high degree of convergence.
• The knowledge and skills that high school
  graduates will need to be successful in college
  are the same as those they will need to be
  successful in a job that
• pays enough to support a family well above the
  poverty level,
• provides benefits, and
• offers clear pathways for career advancement
  through further education and training.

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Even blue-collar jobs requirehigh-level skills

• Requirements for iron workers
• Recommended high school courses include Algebra,
  Geometry and Physics.
• Requirements for electricians
• Recommended high school courses include Algebra,
  Geometry, Trigonometry and Physics.
• Requirements for sheet metal workers
• Four or five years of apprenticeship
• Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and technical
  reading
• Recommended high school courses
• Requirements for draftsmen
• include Geometry and Trigonometry.
• Draftsmen may wish to seek additional study in
  mathematics and computer-aided design to keep up
  with technological progress within the industry.

Sources American Diploma Project, 2002 The
Associated General Contractors of America (AGC)
http//www.agc.org/page.ww?sectionAboutAGCname
AboutAGC.
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Students who take advanced courses are more
likely to earn a college degree
Bachelors degree attainment by highest level of
math reached, high school classes of 1982 and 1992
Source Adelman, Clifford, The Toolbox Revisited
Paths to Degree Completion from High School
through College, Table 5, U.S. Department of
Education, 2006.
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And more education means more earning power
Source College Board, Education Pays, 2004.
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How prepared are our students?
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Only about half of African American and Latino
students graduate from high school in four years
On-time high school graduation, 2002
Source Manhattan Institute, Public High School
Graduation and College-Readiness Rates
19912002, February 2005, http//www.manhattan-ins
titute.org/html/ewp_08.htm.
15
High school graduation rate United States trails
most developed countries
Source Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development, Education at a Glance 2004, 2004.
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Standards Alignment
Source Closing the Expectations Gap, 2008.
Achieve, Inc. / Achieve Research
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Most state testing systems do not assess college
and career readiness

• NCLB requires every state to administer reading,
  math science assessments to high school
  students at least once during grades 10-12.
• 26 states require students to pass an exam before
  they graduate high school.
• Yet most states have testing systems that do not
  measure college and career readiness.

Source Center on Education Policy, State High
School Exit Exams States Try Harder, But Gaps
Persist, August 2005. Source Achieve
Survey/Research, 2006.
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States with high school exit exams
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What does it take to pass state tests?

• Achieve conducted a study of graduation exams in
  six states to determine how high a bar the tests
  set for students.
• The results show that these tests tend to measure
  only 8th, 9th or 10th grade content, rather than
  the skills students need to succeed in college
  and the workplace.

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The tests Achieve analyzed
Source Achieve, Inc., Do Graduation Tests
Measure Up? A Closer Look at State High School
Exit Exams, 2004.
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Students can pass state math tests knowing
content typically taught in 7th and 8th grade
internationally
Grade when most international students cover
contentrequired to pass state math tests
FL MD MA
NJ OH TX
Source Achieve, Inc., Do Graduation Tests
Measure Up? A Closer Look at State High School
Exit Exams, 2004.
22
Students can pass state English tests with skills
ACT expects of 8th and 9th graders
ACT (11th/12th)
ACT PLAN (10th)
ACT EXPLORE (8th/9th)
FL
MD
MA
NJ
OH
TX
Source Achieve, Inc., Do Graduation Tests
Measure Up? A Closer Look at State High School
Exit Exams, 2004.
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Postsecondary remediation offers a second chance,
but it comes with a steep price tag

• The nation loses more than 3.7 billion a year
  because of the high rate of college remediation,
  including
• The 1.4 billion needed to provide remedial
  education to students who have recently completed
  high school and
• Almost 2.3 billion that the economy loses
  because remedial reading students are more likely
  to drop out of college without a degree, thereby
  reducing their earning potential.

Source Alliance for Excellent Education, Paying
Double Inadequate High Schools and Community
College Remediation. Issue Brief, 2008.
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Too many students need remediation in core
subjects
Percentage of U.S. first-year students in
two-year and four-year institutions requiring
remediation

• Nearly three out of 10 first-year students are
  immediately placed into a remedial college course.

Source National Center for Education Statistics,
Remedial Education at Degree-Granting
Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000, 2003.
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And most U.S. college students who take remedial
courses fail to earn degrees
Percentage of college students not earning degree
by type of remedial coursework
Many college students who need remediation,
especially in reading and math, do not earn
either an associate or a bachelors degree.
Source National Center for Education Statistics,
The Condition of Education, 2004.
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The result U.S. also lags behind most developed
countries in college graduation rates
Source Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development, Education at a Glance 2004, 2004.
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• What do recent high school
• graduates tell us about the
• expectations they faced?

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Most high school graduates were moderately
challenged
All high school graduates
College students
Students whodid not goto college
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.
29
Many high school graduates cite gaps in
preparation
How well did your high school education prepare
you for college or the work/jobs you hope to get
in the future?

• Very well generally able to do whats expected

• Somewhat well some gaps

• Not well large gaps/struggling

• Extremely well prepared for everything

61
53
46
39
High school graduates who did not go to college
High school graduates who went to college
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.
30
College instructors/employers confirm high school
graduates lack of preparation
Average estimated proportions of recent high
school graduates who are not prepared
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.
31
Knowing what they know today, high school
graduates would have worked harder
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.
32
Had high schools demanded more, students would
have worked harder
If your high school had demanded more of
students, set higher academic standards and
raised the expectations of how much coursework
would be necessary to earn a diploma, would you
have worked harder?

• Wouldnt have worked harder

82
80

• Would have worked harder

• Strongly feel I would have worked harder

High school graduates who went to college
High school graduates who did not go to college
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.
33
Majority of graduates would have taken harder
courses
Knowing what you know today about the
expectations of college/work
Would have taken more challenging courses in at
least one area Math Science English
Would have taken more challenging courses in
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.
34
Closing the expectations gap requires states to
take action

• Align high school standards with the demands of
  college and careers.
• Require students to take a college- and
  career-ready curriculum to earn a high school
  diploma.
• Build college-and career-ready measures into
  statewide high school assessment systems.
• Hold high schools and postsecondary institutions
  accountable for student preparation and success.