 The Progress of Education Reform: Credit Recovery and Proficiency-Based Credit  PDF - This issue of The Progress of Education Reform will address the following questions:
- What is credit recovery? What is proficiency-based credit?
- How is credit recovery different from traditional remediation?
- Why does providing for these options matter for high school completion?
- How widespread are these options across the states? And what do state policies look like?
- What are the challenges in implementing credit recovery and proficiency-based credit
programs?
- What does the research say on the effectiveness of credit recovery and proficiency-based
credit?
- What are the essential policy components?
(Jennifer Dounay Zinth, Education Commission of the States, June 2011) ...
Progress and Gaps in College Preparation Policy PDF - Stagnant college completion rates, high postsecondary remediation rates—and the high costs associated with postsecondary remediation—make clear that better alignment is needed between K-12 and postsecondary. This ECS Perspective sets forth four policy levers necessary for true reform to take place, and evaluates state progress to date in each of the four areas. (Michael W. Kirst, Stanford University, October 2009)...
ECS High School Resources and Services  MS Word PDF - This two-page document describes the variety of resources and services ECS offers to answer state leaders' questions about high school, transitions to postsecondary, and P-16/P-20 alignment. (Education Commission of the States, July 2009)...
Ensuring Successful Student Transitions from the Middle Grades to High School MS Word PDF - The 9th grade year is critical to students’ success in high school. This ECS PolicyBrief looks at research on the 9th-grade transition, some expert recommendations and examples of relevant policies in place in the states. (Kathy Christie and Kyle Zinth, Education Commission of the States, November 2008)...
Landmines P-16/P-20 Councils Encounter — and How They Can Be Addressed (or Avoided Altogether) PDF - Building upon the findings of the ECS database on P-16 and P-20 councils, and experience in the states, this policy brief sets forth the numerous challenges that can foil the best-laid plans of P-16 and P-20 councils, and suggests how they can be addressed or avoided altogether. These "landmines" lie in four areas: Actors, Agenda, Appropriation of Resources and Political Climate. (Jennifer Dounay, Education Commission of the States, November 2008)...
Beyond the GED: State Strategies to Help Former Dropouts Earn a High School Diploma MS Word PDF - Seventy-four percent of the high school dropouts age 16-25 report that, if they could do it all over again, they would have stayed in school. This ECS Policy Brief provides information on various state policy components that can facilitate former dropouts’ ability to earn a high school diploma. The brief also addresses finance elements state policymakers must consider when developing new education options. (Jennifer Dounay, Education Commission of the States, August 2008)...
Strengthening Parents’ Ability to Provide the Guidance and Support That Matter Most in High School MS Word PDF - The higher the expectations of parents, the steadier their guidance and support, and the greater their sense of partnership with teachers and other staff, the better their child’s chances of academic success. This ECS Policy Brief reviews: (1) Research on the types of parental involvement that positively impact high school students; (2) State and local policies and practices that reflect and reinforce a commitment to parental involvement; and (3) The parental involvement component of No Child Left Behind. (Tim Taylor and Jennifer Dounay, Education Commission of the States, August 2008)...
Dispelling the Myths About the Negative Effects of Raising High School Graduation Requirements MS Word PDF - In the last several years, a number of states have raised high school graduation requirements, particularly in mathematics and science. The negative impacts of raising high school graduation requirements are often raised by well-intentioned individuals as counterarguments to discussions in favor of raising students’ course requirements; however these counterarguments are often based on misperceptions, or "myths." This policy brief presents the potential consequences commonly raised by critics of increased high school graduation requirements. Each "myth" is followed by relevant research and/or experience, as well as guiding principles for best policy in establishing more challenging curricular expectations for all students. (Jennifer Dounay, Education Commission of the States, August 2008)...
High School Agenda: Who’s Doing What MS Word PDF - This document provides information on the projects, initiatives and products of ECS and other national education and policy organizations on the subject of high school improvement. It is designed to direct policymakers to various groups and resources that might be useful in developing and implementing effective high school policy, and highlight important resources for anyone concerned with improving high schools. This May 2008 document reflects high school-focused reports published since spring 2005 and updates the May 2005 version of this document. (Michael Colasanti, Education Commission of the States, May 2008)...
The State Role in Accelerating Student Growth in Low-Performing High Schools MS Word PDF - The goal of state intervention in a school or district designated as low-performing is not to punish. It is to help figure out how to improve student learning. The challenge, particularly for a chief state school officer or state board of education, is how best to leverage assistance to schools that have varying degrees of need. This ECS Policy Brief examines what has been learned from research and looks at the subsequent implications for state policy. It also makes suggestions for specific actions and provides examples of approaches that states have taken to amend governance and organizational structures, improve instructional conditions and increase instructional capacity. (Kathy Christie, Education Commission of the States, June 2007)...
High School Curriculum: How important is rigor? - Access related research titles from the ECS Research Studies Database. Links embedded in titles will take you to each study's major findings and recommendations....
Ninth Grade: Is it a make- or-break time for a successful high school career? - Access related research titles from the ECS Research Studies Database. Links embedded in titles will take you to each study's major findings and recommendations....
Denver and Aurora Schools: Crisis and Opportunity - This report targets two Colorado districts, but findings are broadly relevant. Though Denver(DPS) and Aurora (APS) high schools have made some progress in this last few years, this brief asserts it is too slow. A third of DPS and APS high school students still can't score high enough on the ACT to serve in the military. In this call for action, the author offers examples of good practice, some of which are known (high expectations) while others are more unusual: provide students support even when they have moved on to college; require a capstone project that includes substantial writing, project management and community connection for graduation; tie graduation to college acceptance, military, or work. (Sari Levy, A+Denver Citizens for Better Schools, April 2013)...
Reforming Underperforming High Schools - A wealth of information on Reforming Underperforming High Schools is out there and MDRC reduces it to a dense two pages. Authors tout the smaller, themed schools created in New York City that came with universal choice for ninth-graders. They add that, short of new-school creation, reform by a unified school staff is possible, citing such programs as Talent Development and Diplomas Now. They like a combined college and career model called Career Academies, but are not enthusiastic about reform that targets a specific subset of the student population. (MDRC, March 2013)
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Building a Grad Nation - For the first time the United States is on track to meet the 2020 goal of a 90% graduation rate, according to the fourth annual report, Building a Grad Nation. While the greatest gains were among student subgroups, in order to continue progress attention must be paid to supporting those same subgroups. The report offers data on graduation rates and dropout factory trends, plus evidence-based strategies for keeping kids in school. (Robert Balfanx, et al., Civic Enterprises, February 2013)...
Providing High School Feedback - Under increasing pressure to graduate more college- and career-ready students, high schools need high-quality data to analyze what's working, what's not and then to improve. According to this fact sheet, 47 states produce high school feedback reports by high school or district, but only 38 make them public and only 29 do it by individual high school. Most include data on college enrollment and remediation, but only two - Ohio and Maine - provide data on employment outcomes. (Data Quality Campaign, January 2013) ...
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Interventions that Improve High School Completion - As state education budgets continue to be cut, the authors point out cost-benefit analysis can be extremely useful. They describe the tool of cost-effective analysis, identify challenges, then compare JOBSTART, New Chance, National Guard Youth ChalleNGe, Job Corps and Talent Search.(Henry M. Levin et al, Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, October 2012)...
Identifying the Characteristics of Effective High Schools: Report from Year One of the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools - This report details findings about the importance of personalization for academic and social learning. It describes in detail the research findings from a mixed methods study conducted in Broward County Public Schools. (NCSU, September 2012)...
Cracking the Credit Hour - The basic currency of higher education — the credit hour — represents the root of many problems plaguing America's higher education system: the practice of measuring time rather than learning. This paper traces the history of this time-based unit, from the days of Andrew Carnegie to recent federal efforts to define a credit hour. The report shows the credit hour is putting our nation's workforce and future prosperity at risk. It outlines several steps the federal government can take now to shift from measuring seat time to learning. (New America Foundation and Education Sector, September 2012)
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America's Youth: Transitions to Adulthood - This report examines numerous aspects of the lives of youth and young adults, ages 14 to 24, in the United States over the last several decades. The report features status and trend data from multiple surveys on the distribution of youth and their family structure; on school-, employment-, and health-related factors; and on
future plans. (National Center for Education Statistics, Dec 2011)...
Progress Lags in High School, Especially for Advanced Achievers: State Test Score Trends Through 2008-09, Part 5 - While high school scores on state English language arts and math tests have risen since 2002 in most states, new data show smaller proportions of states making gains in high school compared with 4th and 8th grades. The data, published in the Center on Education Policy’s new report also show a striking lack of progress and widening gaps at the advanced level in many states. The study also reveals a lack of progress among high school students at the advanced achievement level. (Jennifer McMurrer and Nancy Kober, Center on Education Policy, October 2011)...
The High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09)--A First Look at Fall 2009 Ninth-Graders - HSLS:09 is the fifth in a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) high school longitudinal studies that began in 1972 and have been continued with each new decade. This report presents findings from the base-year survey of the newly launched High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. (U.S. Department of Education, June 2011)...
Helping Students Get Back on Track: What Federal Policymakers Can Learn from New York City's Multiple Pathways to Graduation Initiative - This report describes the multiple pathways to graduation (MPG) effort and its success in helping off-track students succeed, in part by acknowledging that they are a varied group that requires different educational settings in order to reach the same high standards. (Alliance for Excellent Education, June 2011)...
Eight Elements of High School Improvement - This is a self-assessment tool for the use of high schools or districts. (National High School Center, 2011)...
Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic - This report takes a critical look at the efforts that have made improvements in graduation rates, and those that have failed to do so, in our communities. While the results of the past decade have been mixed, with progress in some areas, and limited improvement in others, these efforts have laid the groundwork for more rapid and systemic progress in the next decade. (Civic Enterprises and America's Promise Alliance, December 2010)...
Coherent Approach to High School Improvement: A District and School Self-Assessment Tool - This tool, updated from the April 2010 Needs Assessment Tool with new high school improvement indicators, is designed to help districts and schools assess current high school education policies and practices, identify areas of strengths and limitations, and implement coherent and sustainable school reform initiatives. (Lindsay Fryer and Amy Johnson, American Institutes for Research, November 2010)
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Tiered Interventions in High Schools: Using Preliminary 'Lessons Learned' to Guide Ongoing Discussion - This document provides brief snapshots of how eight schools across the country implemented tiered interventions, including the essential components of response to intervention (RTI). Each of the schools viewed its implementation as a work in progress. Through visits with the schools and conversations with experts, it became clear that implementing tiered interventions at the high school level involves more than the "cutting and pasting" of the essential components of RTI from elementary to high schools. (American Institutes for Research, May 2010)...
Next Generation of School Accountability: A Blueprint for Raising High School Achievement and Graduation Rates in SREB States - Report outlines how states can make the improvement of high school graduation rates a central focus of school accountability. Beyond this, the report calls for accountabiilty policies to push for student achievement that goes beyond minimum expectations and extends to students' readiness for college and careers. All states need graduates who are better prepared for college and advanced career training. (Gene Bottoms, Dave Spence, Marna Young, Southern Regional Education Board, October 2009)...
Engaging the Voices of Students: A Report on the 2007 & 2008 High School Survey of Student Engagement - While students often are portrayed as not caring about school or learning, many are looking for something more complex than statistics can measure. The results of this survey reveal that students are looking to be interacted with, cared about, challenged and valued. Schools that listen to their students and utilize their survey data to take action have started down the path to engaging students. (High School Survey of Student Engagement, 2009)...
Still a Freshman: Examining the Prevalence and Characteristics of Ninth-Grade Retention Across Six States - This report is designed to show the potential of what we could learn if ninth-grade retention data were made readily available by states. Because retention data and unadjusted counts of first-time ninth-graders are not yet available, it is still necessary to estimate. By introducing a new approach, the first-time ninth-grade estimate, this study provides state-level estimates of ninth-grade retention and examines school-level rates of ninth-grade retention by location, size, available resource, socioeconomic and race/ethnic composition. (Thomas C. West, Everyone Graduates Center, 2009)...
Improving the Skills and Knowledge of the High School Teachers We Already Have PDF - While numerous state efforts seek to recruit, train and retain more teachers, fewer initiatives focus on developing teachers, particlarly high school teachers, once they enter the classroom. This policy brief examines seven high-leverage components to strengthen teacher professional development at the high school level and provides state policy suggestions for each. (Jennifer Dounay and Kathy Christie, Education Commission of the States, October 2008)...
Closing the Aspirations-Attainment Gap: Implications for High School Reform - While over 90% of the juniors surveyed in three predominately African American and Latino high schools said they hoped to attend a four-year college, the researcher found that only 6.5 of 100 entering freshmen in the Chicago Public Schools would graduate from a four-year college within six years. This paper identifies specific strategies likely to increase students' likelihood of achieving their stated goals. Strategies include increasing students' readiness for high school-level work, and focusing on course failure and 9th grade. The author indicates activities likely to increase students' persistence to and through postsecondary, such as requiring high schools to provide the information and academic experiences that will communicate to students and their families what "preparation" for college actually entails. (Melissa Roderick, Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago, April 2006)...
The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College - This report, following up on the seminal 1999 Answers in the Toolbox seeks to identify the factors that contribute to an individual's completing a bachelor's degree by his mid-20s, following a national sample of students scheduled to graduate from high school in 1992. The study finds that high school curriculum matters more than any other precollegiate indicator in determining a student's likelihood of finishing a bachelor's degree, and of all precollegiate curriculum indicators, highest level of math completed continues to be key. The report likewise indicates which postsecondary variables – including timing and type of institution entered, first postsecondary year history (curriculum and performance), paying for college in the first years and college attendance patterns among others – are most frequently associated with baccalaureate completion. The author notes that to close gaps in preparation, "the provision of [high school] curriculum issue has to be addressed" and the "math gap" needs to be fixed. Check out the summary in our Research Studies Database.(Clifford Adelman, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education, February 2006)...
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Selected Research & Readings
