October 5, 2006 Mike Hudson, President National Center for Educational Accountability www'just4kids'

1
October 5, 2006Mike Hudson, PresidentNational
Center for Educational Accountabilitywww.just4kid
s.org

• Using Data To Gauge College Readiness
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Summit
• Dallas, TX

2
NCEA Guiding Principles - Inform, Inspire and
Improve

• Without data, youre just another person
• with an opinion.
• Data should be used as a flashlight,
• not a hammer.
• Data are the first step in the Just for the Kids
  District and School Services.

3
Representative State Partners
New York University at Albany - State University
of New York The Business Council of New York
State Oklahoma Oklahoma Business Education
Coalition Oklahoma Department of Education
Texas Texas Business and Education Coalition
Texas Education Reform Caucus The University of
Texas at Austin Washington Just for the Kids
Washington Washington Business Roundtable Other
Business Roundtable US Chamber of Commerce The
Education Trust  
Arkansas Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce
Arkansas Department of Education University of
Arkansas California Just for the Kids
California Business for Education Excellence
Foundation California State University System
Florida Council for Educational Change
Illinois Illinois Business Roundtable
Illinois State University School of Education
Michigan Michigan Business Leaders for
Excellence in Education Michigan State
University New Jersey New Jersey Chamber of
Commerce Business Coalition for Excellence in
Education Rutgers University  
4
DQC Building Support and Political Will Among
Policymakers to

• Fully develop high-quality longitudinal data
  systems in every state by 2009
• Increase understanding and promote the valuable
  uses of longitudinal and financial data to
  improve student achievement
• Promote, develop, and use common data standards
  and efficient data transfer and exchange

5
DQC 10 Essential Elements for State Data
SystemData Elements Required for College-Ready
Graduation Rates(Highlighted below)

• A unique statewide student identifier
• Student-level enrollment, demographic and program
  participation information
• The ability to match individual students test
  records from year to year to measure academic
  growth
• Information on untested students
• A teacher identifier system with the ability to
  match teachers to students
• Student-level transcript information, including
  information on courses completed and grades
  earned
• Student-level college readiness test scores
• Student-level dropout and graduation data
• The ability to match student records between the
  pre-K12 and higher education systems
• A state data audit system assessing data quality,
  accuracy, and reliability

6
NCEA College Readiness Principles

• School systems should target higher than minimum
  levels of college readiness.
• P-8 achievement strongly predicts college
  readiness.
• Preparing students for college is a P-12 process.
• Credit for advanced courses is not sufficient
  to identify whether a student is ready for
  college.
• State NCLB proficiency standards are likely to
  be too low to provide much assurance that a
  student is well prepared for college.
• Growth standards should aim for higher than
  minimum levels of college readiness.

7
Grade 8 Proficiency Strongly Predicts Grade 11
College Readiness
Failing
College Ready
Passing
Percent College Ready in Grade 11
Grade 8 Achievement Level in Grade 11 Equivalent
Scores
8
Inform Opportunity Gap Analysis

• JFTK School Reports Opportunity Gap Analysis
• Poe Elementary, Houston ISD
• 2006 Opportunity Gap Bars for Grade 3 MATHAMATICS

9
Inform Opportunity Gap Analysis

• JFTK School Reports Opportunity Gap Analysis
• Poe Elementary, Houston ISD
• 2006 Scatter Plot for Grade 3 MATHAMATICS

10
College Readiness
11
Research Current Reports on High Schools and
College Readiness

• The Relationship of Advanced Placement to College
  Graduation
• Passing AP exams, not just getting credit for AP
  courses, is the best AP indicator of college
  readiness.
• Orange Juice or Orange Drink? Ensuring that
  Advanced Courses Live up to Their Labels
• Course completion data, without achievement data,
  is a weak indicator of college readiness.
• Identifying Appropriate College Readiness
  Standards for All Students
• School systems should target higher than minimum
  standards to have confidence that students are
  well prepared for college

Related Research Evaluation of the UT System
Teacher Preparation Programs -- Evaluating
teacher preparation based on student results.
12
Inspire Best Practice Framework

• High-Quality Instruction
• The placement of high-quality instruction across
  all school levels at the top of the Framework is
  significant and deliberate.
• The Big Picture
• The interconnectedness of practices is critical
  in the NCEA Framework.
• Flexible Application
• The Framework represents the general principles
  found in higher performing school systems the
  NCEA Framework should not be interpreted as a
  prescriptive list of programs to adopt or
  strategies to employ.

13
High School Initiatives

• Planned College Readiness Papers
• How One District Has Targeted College Readiness
  for All
• The ABCs of High School Reform
• Academic Growth and On Track to College
  Readiness
• Towards a System of High School Indicators
• Is It Harder to Find Consistent High Performance
  in Middle and High Schools?
• National High School Center
• High School Best Practice Studies
• Math Science Best Practice Studies
• Texas High School Project