Every Child a Graduate

2. Every Child a Graduate Presented by Susan Frost, Executive Director Scott Joftus, Policy Director

3. The Alliance for Excellent Education Huge numbers of students are failing to graduate from high school on time. The problem is especially severe in some urban districts. Source: Jay Greene, High School Graduation Rates in the United States, November 2001

4. The Alliance for Excellent Education Of those who fail to graduate with their peers, what is the ultimate result? • About a quarter ultimately graduate from high school • About a quarter receive a GED • Almost half neither complete high school nor receive a GED

5. The Alliance for Excellent Education If nothing changes, the drop out rate is likely to increase in coming years. • By 2002, 10 states were withholding diplomas based on exit exams • By 2008, 24 states will do so • High-stakes exams typically affect minority students disproportionately Source: State High School Exit Exams: A Baseline Report. Center on Education Policy, August 2002

6. The Alliance for Excellent Education A bad education is a million-dollar mistake.

7. The Alliance for Excellent Education What are the causes of the failure? • Low literacy levels among adolescents • Under-prepared teachers for poor and minority students • Inadequate planning and support for students • Impersonal learning environments that fail to emphasize high standards

8. The Alliance for Excellent Education Low literacy levels among adolescents • 26 percent of eighth graders and 23 percent of twelfth graders read below basic levels. • Extrapolating, 6 million students in grades 6 through 12 are reading below basic levels. • These students represent two-thirds of all drop outs.

9. The Alliance for Excellent Education Poor quality of teachers for poor and minority students Source: Craig Jerald and Richard Ingersoll. All Talk, No Action: Putting an End to Out-of-Field Teaching. The Education Trust, August 2002

10. The Alliance for Excellent Education Inadequate planning and support for students • 40 percent of high school youth and nearly 50 percent of middle school youth report feeling disengaged from school • Rates higher for adolescents attending urban schools • Most of these students do not have a meaningful relationship with an adult and do not receive high-quality support services Source: Peter Scales. Boxed in and Bored: How Middle Schools Continue to Fail Young Adolescents – and What Good Middle Schools Do Right, Search Institute, 1996

11. The Alliance for Excellent Education Impersonal learning environments that fail to emphasize high standards • Over the last 50 years, school enrollments have increased five-fold on average and even more in low-income neighborhoods. • Approximately 70 percent of American high school students attend schools with enrollments of 1,000 or more students, and nearly 50 percent of high school students attend schools in which the student population is over 1,500. Source: U.S. Department of Education, www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SLCP/overview.html

12. The Alliance for Excellent Education In Texas, 53 high schools with large concentrations of poor students are among the highest achieving (top 25 percent) in the state. Of these 53 schools, 48 have fewer than 600 students. Source: Alliance analysis of data from The Education Trust: Dispelling the Myth – Online. http://www.edtrust.org/main/main/DTM.asp#report

13. The Alliance for Excellent Education THE ALLIANCE CALLS FOR: A Framework for an Excellent Education for All Middle and High School Students

14. The Alliance for Excellent Education Framework for an Excellent Education • Adolescent Literacy Initiative • Teacher and Principal Quality Initiative • College Preparation Initiative • Small Learning Communities Initiative

15. The Alliance for Excellent Education ADOLESCENT LITERACY INITIATIVE • Every high-needs middle and high school will have a literacy specialist who trains teachers across every subject area to improve literacy skills of students. Teachers learn to identify reading problems and ensure that students receive extra help.

16. The Alliance for Excellent Education TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL QUALITY INITIATIVE • Provide incentives to educators to work in high-needs schools, mentoring for new teachers, and ongoing professional development for all teachers and principals.

17. The Alliance for Excellent Education COLLEGE PREPARATION INITIATIVE • Students must have a clear plan that assesses their needs and identifies coursework, additional learning opportunities, and necessary health and social services.

18. The Alliance for Excellent Education SMALL LEARNING COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE • Small schools personalize and contextualize students’ educational experience and facilitate the implementation of other effective strategies.

19. The Alliance for Excellent Education An investment in the Framework for an Excellent Education will pay for itself. Reducing the numbers of adults in the lowest literacy levels by two-thirds would: • Increase the U.S. gross domestic product by $463 billion • Add an additional $162 billion to federal, state, and local tax receipts Source: Anthony Carnavale and Donna Desrochers. The Missing Middle: Aligning Education and the Knowledge Economy, Educational Testing Service, U.S. Department of Education, 2002

20. The Alliance for Excellent Education The Framework for an Excellent Education seeks to harness Americans’ belief that every student deserves access to a high-quality education and should graduate from high school prepared for college and/or a meaningful career.