Opportunity and Educational Priorities

1
Opportunity and Educational Priorities

• Dr. William G. Tierney
• University Professor,
• Wilbur Kieffer Professor of Higher Education
• Director,
• Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis
• Rossier School of Education, WPH 701
• University of Southern California
• Los Angeles, CA 90089-4037
• 213-740-7218
• http/www.usc.edu/dept/chepa/

2
Definition of an Optimist
3
SWM, 87, lkg for travel companion to Tuscany,
possible LTR.
4
Societal Problems
5

• High school graduates earn 260,000 more than
  a high school dropout.

6
Median income of workers with a bachelors degree
or higher is about double the income for those
with only a high school degree.
7
In todays dollars, bachelors degree recipients
can expect to earn about 1 million more during
working careers than high school graduates.
8

• 80 of students in the upper
• quintile enroll in college after
• high school.

9

• 44 of students in the lowest
• quintile enroll in college after
• high school.

10

• Attrition, Graduation and Earnings

11

• 68 of all high school Freshmen
• graduate on time.

12

• Graduation Quick Facts

13
Students at-risk of dropping out
14
Drop-Out Quick Facts
15
CausesAcademic experiences

• Has poor academic achievement
• Has failed numerous courses
• Lacks mastery of basic skills

16

• Socio-emotional experiences
• Behavioral problems (delinquency)
• Low self-esteem
• Poor attitudes about school
• Low aspirations

17

• At-Risk At-Risk Groups
• Foster Care and Homeless Youth

18

• There are 600,000 foster care youth in the US.
• Of these youth

19
There are 1.35 million homeless youth in the USA.
20

• Are they ready for college?
• Remediation

21
Remediation Quick Facts
22
Academic Problems
23
K-12/Postsecondary Firewall
24
Institutional Mimicry
25
Academic Reward Structures
26
For-profit/ Non-profit Cold War
27
Public Board Hostility
28
Lack of Strategic Focus
29
Academic Solutions
30
Institutional Differentiation
31
Incentives rather than Sanctions
32
Transparency Regulatory Oversight
33
Strategic Focus Communication 
Internal and External
34

• Guarantee free tuition to a two-
• or four- year public institution to
• all 8th graders who qualify for the
• free or reduced lunch program,
• graduate on time from high school
• with a standard diploma, and enroll
• full-time within two years of
• high school graduation.

35

• Ensure access to at least 12 units
• of college credit for all eligible
• high school students prior to
• graduation.

36

• Provide summer and inter-
• session seminars for all high
• school students who are not
• reading/writing or doing math at
• grade level beginning in the
• 9th grade.

37

• Require all high school graduates
• who have been admitted to a
• postsecondary institution and are not
• reading/writing or doing math at the
• college-level to participate in an
• intensive summer of writing and/or
• math classes prior to their freshman
• year.

38

• Require that any postsecondary
• institution that receives state
• funding establish and maintain
• intensive partnerships devoted to
• academic preparation and
• mentorship with at least two
• low-college-going high schools.

39
Slide Sources Detail

• Slide 3 Barrow, L., Rouse, C. E. (2005).
• Slide 4 National Center for Education
  Statistics, (U.S. Department of Education, 2002)
• Slide 5 Tinto, V. (2004).
• Slide 6 National Center for Education
  Statistics, (U.S. Department of Education, 2003
• Slide 7 National Center for Education Statistics
  (U.S. Department of Education, 2003).
• Slide 9 Orfield, G., Losen, D., Wald, J.,
  Swanson, C. B. (2004).
• Slide 10 Orfield, G., Losen, D., Wald, J.,
  Swanson, C. B. (2004). Losing our future
• Slide 12 Neild, R. C., Stonery-Eby, S.,
  Furstenburg, F. F. (2005).
• Slide 13 Rumberger, R. (1987), Mann, D. (1986).
• Slide 14 Mann, D. (1986), National Center on
  Secondary Education and Transition (2006),

40

• Slide 16 American Institutes for Research.
  (2000), Barbell, K., Freundlich, M. (2001),
• California Department of Education. (2000),
  Wolanin, T. R. (2005).
• Slide 17 National Law Center on Homeless and
  Poverty (2004).
• Slide 19 California Legislative Analysts Office
  (2008, May), California State University (CSU).
  (2008), Parasad, B., Lewis, L. (2003),
  University of California (UC).

41
Sources

• American Institutes for Research. (2000).
  Educating California's
• foster youth. Sacramento, CA California
  Department of Education.
• Barbell, K., Freundlich, M. (2001). Foster care
  today. Washington,
• DC Casey Family Programs.
• Barrow, L., Rouse, C. E. (2005). Does college
  still pay? The
• Economists Voice, 2(4), 1-9.
• California Department of Education. (2000).
  Foster youth services
• programs (Education code section 42923). Report
  to the governor
• and legislature. Sacramento, CA California
  Department of
• Education.
• California Legislative Analysts Office (2008,
  May). Are entering
• freshmen prepared for college-level work?
  Policy Brief.
• Sacramento, CA Author.
• California State University (CSU). (2008).
  California State

42

• Ekstrom, R. B., Goertz, M. E., Pollack, J. M.,
  Rock, D. A. (1986). Who
• drops out of high school and why? Findings from
  a national study. Teachers
• College Record, 87(3), 356-373.
• National Center for Education Statistics, The
  Condition of Education,
• NCES 2003-067 (U.S. Department of Education,
  2003), table 18-1.
• National Center for Education Statistics, Digest
  of Education Statistics
• (U.S. Department of Education, 2002), table 382.
• National Center on Secondary Education and
  Transition (2006).
• Essential toolsIncreasing rates of school
  completion Moving from policy
• and research to practice Retrieved on January
  26, 2007 from
• http//www.ncset.org/publications/essentialtools/
  dropout/part1.2.asp.
• National Law Center on Homeless and Poverty
  (2004). Legal tools
• to end youth homelessness. Washington, DC
  Author.
• Neild, R. C., Stonery-Eby, S., Furstenburg, F.
  F. (2005). Connecting

43

• Mann, D. (1986). Can we help dropouts Thinking
  about the undoable.
• Teachers College Record, 87(3), 307-323.
• Orfield, G., Losen, D., Wald, J., Swanson, C.
  B. (2004). Losing our future
• How minority youth are being left behind by the
  graduation rate crisis.
• Boston The Civil Rights Project at Harvard
  University.
• Parasad, B., Lewis, L. (2003). Remedial
  education at degree-
• grantling postsecondary institutions in fall
  2000 (NCES Publication No. NCES 2004-010).
  Washington, DC National Center for
• Education Statistics, United States Department
  of Education.
• Rumberger, R. (1987). High school droupouts A
  review of issues and
• evidence. Review of Educational Research,
  57(2), 101-121.
• 3)Mann, D. (1986). Can we help dropouts
  Thinking about the undoable.
• Teachers College Record, 87(3), 307-323.
• Tinto, V. (2004). Student retention and
  graduation Facing the truth, living
• with consequences. Pell Institute, Occasional
  Paper No. 1.

44

• University of California (UC). (n.d.). University
  of California
• analytical writing placement exam data.
  Retrieved on January 16, 2008, from
  https//uasother.ucop.edu/cgi-bin/awpe/results.pl.
  
• Wehlage, G. G., Rutter, R. A. (1986). Dropping
  out How much do
• schools contribute to the problem? Teachers
  College Record, 87(3), 374-392.
• Wolanin, T. R. (2005). Higher education
  opportunities for foster
• Youth A primer for policymakers. Washington,
  DC The Institute for
• Higher Education Policy.

45
Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis

• Rossier School of Education, WPH 701
• University of Southern California
• Los Angeles, CA 90089-4037
• [phone]
• www.usc.edu/dept/chepa