Resources: Preparing All Graduates for College and Careers
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Here is an annotated list of major reports from national organizations that provide data, evidence and arguments to transform America's schools and prepare more high school graduates for college and the workplace.
Raising Graduation Rates in an Era of High Standards: Five Commitments for State Action
Jobs for the Future & Achieve, February 2008
Jointly published by Jobs for the Future and Achieve, this paper offers recommendations to states as they support the dual agenda of raising high school graduation rates and college and career readiness for all students. Drawing on lessons from innovative programs and a growing body of research, the authors suggest a framework centered on key outcomes – such as equal access to a consistent, rigorous course of study and an accountability system that encourages schools to provide the necessary supports for all students to graduate on-time and prepared – that will help states gain traction in preparing all students for college and careers.
ACT, May 2007
In this report, the ACT analyzes the gap between the rigor of high school and expectations for success in postsecondary education and careers. They find that few states require students to take rigorous core courses associated with success after high school and that academic sequences in most states are not aligned with postsecondary expectations. Their research shows that students who take rigorous math and science courses perform better on the ACT college entrance examination, especially when they attend high schools where their peers are also enrolled in those challenging courses. Policy recommendations offered in the report include raising graduation requirements, improving course content standards, providing effective support to teachers, and continually monitoring students’ academic progress.
Academic Interventions to Help Students Meet Rigorous Standards: State Policy Options
National High School Alliance, April 2007
This report provides an overview and analysis of interventions to support struggling students in achieving high standards, synthesizes current research findings, and presents an array of strategies specific to state policymakers, focusing primarily on accelerated learning options, extended learning time, personalized learning environments, dropout prevent and recovery programs and literacy instruction.
Toward A More Comprehensive Conception of College Readiness
Education Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), March 2007
This paper commissioned by the Gates Foundation and published by the Education Policy Improvement Center, and organization that frequently works with federal agencies, state education departments, non-governmental organizations, private foundations and school districts to support research on a range of education issues, seeks to develop a new operational definition of “college readiness.” Going beyond high school and college course-taking and achievement as the primary measures of college readiness, this paper offers a broader perspective on this concept and identifies four concentric levels of what it take to be college ready: habits of mind, key content, academic behaviors, and contextual skills and awareness.
Business Education Partnerships in the United States: Committed to the Future
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Spring 2006
Published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, this paper highlights the work that twelve business organizations have done to promote education excellence. The report offers case studies on a full range of successful programs and demonstrates the importance of business involvement in improving the quality and competitiveness of American public education.
Results That Matter: 21st Century Skills and High School Reform
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, March 2006
This report, from a coalition of not-for-profit and for-profit organizations formed to assess and advocate for the skills needed to prepare Americans for the global economy, outlines its framework for implementing 21st century results-focused learning into high schools. The report argues that in order for state policymakers and educators to create high schools that truly prepare students for the demands of 21st century workplaces, they must include 21st-century skills in their state goals, standards, and curricula. The group defines 21st-century skills as core academic areas, content encompassing global and civic awareness, and learning and thinking skills such as competency in critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.
Reinventing the American High School for the 21st Century: Strengthening a New Vision for the American High School through the Experiences and Resources of Career and Technical Education
Association for Career and Technical Education, January 2006
This position paper, from a national membership organization focused on career preparation, outlines the organization’s vision on the role of career and technical education in current high school reform and redesign efforts and emphasizes the need to better prepare students for both postsecondary education and the workplace
Cracks in the Education Pipeline: A Business Leader’s Guide to Higher Education Reform
Center for Economic Development, May 2005
This paper, published by a nonprofit organization committed to sustaining America’s economic strength, uses data collected by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education for Measuring Up 2004: The Nation Report Card on Higher Education to discuss trends in college preparation, participation, completion, affordability, and benefits. The report provides actions that business leaders can take to help launch change in their own states and nationally to renew the commitment to higher education. Specifically, this report promotes advocacy and outreach to policymakers and higher education officials to develop better financial aid packages, more efficient management systems, and public-private partnerships to exchange ideas and workplace skill requirements.
Redesigning America’s High Schools. Getting It Done: Ten Steps to a State Action Agenda
National Governors Association, February 2005
This guidebook for action, prepared by the national association of state governors, lists ten steps for state and local actors, including policymakers, educators, and business people, to develop and implement successful high school reform plans. These recommendations range from establishing a permanent education roundtable to defining a college- and work-ready curriculum. Each recommendation is accompanied by a working case study and a list of considerations for states when adopting the reform proposal.
Call to Action: Transforming High School for All Youth
National High School Alliance, April 2005
This paper provides stakeholders at the national, state, district, school, and community level with a common framework to build and sustain partnerships that develop comprehensive high school reforms.
The Link Between High School Reform and College Access and Success for Low-Income and Minority Youth
American Youth Policy Forum & Pathways to College Network, 2005
This report identifies and analyzes the existing body of high school reform efforts, from targeted programs to whole school reforms, to determine how each is meeting its stated goal of increasing college access and readiness. It finds that academic rigor and strong social and academic support are the best predictors of a student enrolling in – and completing – a postsecondary education. Academic rigor and support include raising graduation requirements, aligning K-16 curriculum, standards, and assessments, offering dual enrollment opportunities, and expanding Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses and exams. The authors offer recommendations for the future of high school reform, based on the successes and failures of existing initiatives.
2005 Skills Gap Report – A Survey of America’s Manufacturing Workforce
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), 2005
This report, based on an annual survey conducted for NAM, a trade association representing America's manufacturers, finds that over 80 percent of the 800 surveyed employers are experiencing difficulties hiring qualified workers. Another half of employers are dissatisfied with the skills of their current employees. Finding that employers believe these shortages directly impact their ability to meet customer needs, this report stresses the importance of science and math instruction at all levels of education, lifelong learning and training, measurable and more rigorous K-12 standards, and public-private partnerships that encourage education and workforce trend awareness.
Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work
ACT, October 2004
ACT, a national college admissions testing company, examines how prepared high school graduates are to succeed in the postsecondary and workplace environments. Using “ACT College Ready Benchmarks,” a predictor of whether a student will pass a college-level course, this report finds that only 40 percent of ACT test takers are prepared for a college algebra course and only 68 percent are ready for college coursework in English composition. The report concludes that students who have completed a rigorous core curriculum in high school are more adept at meeting challenges both in higher education and the workplace. The document also includes ACT’s recommendations for specific course content and sequences for high school students.
Ready or Not? Creating a High School Diploma That Counts
The American Diploma Project: Achieve, Inc., Education Trust, & Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 2004
This report, published by the American Diploma Project, finds that high school graduates are being prepared inadequately by their schools for college and the workforce, as evidenced by high remediation and low retention rates in college and low employer and faculty satisfaction with recent graduates’ skills and knowledge. Based on both a statistical analysis of employment data and extensive research involving more than 300 faculty members from two- and four-year postsecondary institutions, front-line managers, and high school educators, this report offers the twelfth grade benchmarks in English and math that will prepare high school graduates to succeed in credit-bearing college courses and high-performance, high-growth jobs.
Ready for Tomorrow: Helping All Students Achieve Secondary and Postsecondary Success (A Guide for Governors)
National Governors Association, 2003
This report from the national association of state governors identifies flaws in the existing K-16 education pipeline, such as the stagnant 70 percent four-year graduation rate and the outdated one-size-fits-all high school model that often sets low coursework and assessment expectations for its students. The report offers a series of recommendations for developing higher standards, aligning K-16 systems, and creating diverse learning options and comprehensive data systems, as well as a plan for improving achievement for students in low-performing high schools.
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