In This Issue:
BUILDING A GRAD NATION: With High School Graduation Rate Over 80 Percent, Nation on Track to Meet 90 Percent Goal by 2020, New Report Finds
PREVENTABLE FAILURE: New Report Demonstrates How a Focus on Ninth-Grade “On-Track” Rates Has Led to Substantial Increases in Graduation Rates in Chicago High Schools
WAIVE GOODBYE: Washington Becomes First State to Lose ESEA Waiver
E-RATE EXPANSION: Nearly 3,000 Individuals Sign Alliance for Excellent Education’s Digital Petition to Permanently Expand High-Speed Internet in Nation’s Schools and Libraries
PARTNERSHIPS, NOT PUSHOUTS: Alliance Joins Education Organizations in Releasing Policy Guide for School Board Members on How to Engage Community Partners to Better Prepare Students for Success
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BUILDING A GRAD NATION: With High School Graduation Rate Over 80 Percent, Nation on Track to Meet 90 Percent Goal by 2020, New Report Finds |
The nation’s high school graduation rate is on the rise and rose above 80 percent for the first time in U.S. history while the number of “dropout factories”—schools with graduation rates lower than 60 percent—fell from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,359 in 2012, according to the 2014 Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, released April 28 by Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center, America’s Promise Alliance, and the Alliance for Excellent Education.
Building a Grad Nation is the fifth annual report on the nation’s progress toward a 90 percent high school graduation rate by 2020. Since 2006, the graduation rate has increased from 73 percent to 81 percent, marking the second year in a row that the nation is on pace to meet the 90 percent goal as measured by 2012 Averaged Freshman Graduation Rates (AFGR) from the U.S. Department of Education. The report notes that the largest gains were achieved by Hispanic students, whose graduation rate increased from 61 percent in 2006 to 76 percent in 2012, and African American students, whose graduation rate grew from 59 percent in 2006 to 68 percent in 2012.
For the tremendous progress over the last several years, the report credits students and the parents, teachers, principals, and others who support them. It also credits a greater awareness of the dropout crisis among policymakers and the public, increased accountability for graduation rates brought about by the No Child Left Behind Act and subsequent regulations from the U.S. Department of Education, and high school reform efforts targeted at dropout factories.
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PREVENTABLE FAILURE: New Report Demonstrates How a Focus on Ninth-Grade “On-Track” Rates Has Led to Substantial Increases in Graduation Rates in Chicago High Schools |
“System shifts—large, consistent improvements that create lasting change across subgroups and considerably reduce variation in outcomes across schools—are rare in education. This is one of those rare cases.”
That’s a key takeaway from Preventable Failure: Improvements in Long-Term Outcomes when High Schools Focused on the Ninth Grade Year, a forthcoming research report from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research (UChicago CCSR) examining how a focus on ninth-grade “on-track” rates lead to dramatic improvements in high school graduation rates across all subgroups, including race, gender, and achievement levels, in twenty Chicago public high schools.
In 2007, UChicago CCSR released research demonstrating that the transition between eighth and ninth grade played a critical role in shaping students’ long-term outcomes. Specifically, it found that attendance and course performance in ninth grade were highly predictive of whether a student would drop out of high school. Encouraged by the UChicago CCSR research, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began a targeted approach in 2007 to improve the transition between eighth and ninth grade and reduce course failure in the ninth grade. Preventable Failure summarizes the new strategies that CPS undertook, including new data reports for monitoring and supporting students in real time, ninth-grade coordinators, and summer transition programs. The results were dramatic: between 2007 and 2013 the CPS on-track rate rose 25 percentage points, from 57 percent to 82 percent, across all racial/ethnic groups, among males and females, and across all levels of incoming achievement.
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WAIVE GOODBYE: Washington Becomes First State to Lose ESEA Waiver |
When the U.S. Department of Education announced a new “streamlined” process for how states could request a renewal to extend their waivers from certain requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in November, some observers said the new streamlined process made it highly unlikely that a state would lose its waiver. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, however, was of a different mind and warned that the department would likely revoke “a waiver or two or three.” Duncan made good on his warning on April 24 when he pulled the state of Washington’s waiver for failing to tie teacher and principal evaluations to student learning growth on state assessments.
“As you know, Washington’s request for ESEA flexibility was approved based on Washington’s commitments to carry out certain actions in support of key education reforms,” Duncan wrote in a letter to Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn. “In return for those commitments, we granted your state and your local school districts significant flexibility. However, Washington has not been able to keep all of its commitments. Thus, although Washington has benefitted from ESEA flexibility, I regret that Washington’s flexibility will end with the 2013–2014 school year.”
Without a waiver, Washington and its school districts must resume implementing the Title I requirements outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act, including setting aside 20 percent of Title I funds for public school choice and supplemental educational services. The state will also have to revert to measuring schools based on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
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E-RATE EXPANSION: Nearly 3,000 Individuals Sign Alliance for Excellent Education’s Digital Petition to Permanently Expand High-Speed Internet in Nation’s Schools and Libraries |
On April 22, the Alliance for Excellent Education submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) names of nearly 3,000 educators, students, and citizens who support the continued expansion and modernization of high-speed broadband connections in schools and libraries across the nation. These signatures demonstrate the need for the FCC to act to reach the goal of connecting 99 percent of students to high-speed internet in five years.
“The FCC is poised to take action that would connect millions of students to high-speed internet in their schools and libraries across the country. Access to high-speed internet has the power to transform and equalize education—particularly in the lowest-performing schools—by connecting students everywhere with high-quality curriculum facilitated by high-quality teaching,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “Through this petition, the voices of thousands will be heard.”
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PARTNERSHIPS, NOT PUSHOUTS: Alliance Joins Education Organizations in Releasing Policy Guide for School Board Members on How to Engage Community Partners to Better Prepare Students for Success |
A new policy guide, developed by nine national education organizations, explores the many roles school board members can play in ensuring that every student in their district receives a comprehensive, high-quality education. The report, Partnerships, Not Pushouts: A Guide for School Board Members on Community Partnerships for Student Success, offers policy recommendations and highlights districts around the nation that have embraced a “whole-child” method of teaching and learning that engages community members to meet students where they are emotionally, physically, and academically to ensure that every student is prepared to succeed.
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Straight A’s: Public Education Policy and Progress is a free biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events in Washington, DC and around the country. The format makes information on federal education policy accessible to everyone from elected officials and policymakers to parents and community leaders. Contributors include Jason Amos, editor; Cyndi Waite; and Kate Bradley.
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