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OVERVIEW |
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HIGH SCHOOL COURSEWORK |
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STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENTS |
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POSTSECONDARY OPTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS |
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K-16 AND BROAD POLICY EFFORTS |
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CONCLUSION |
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BOX 2
NATIONAL GOVERNORS
ASSOCIATION TEN STEPS TO A
STATE ACTION AGENDA
1. Create a permanent Education Roundtable or Commission to foster coordination between early childhood, K-12, and higher education.
2. Define a rigorous college and work preparatory curriculum for high school graduation.
3. Challenge business, education, parent, community, and faith-based organizations to support initiatives that improve college awareness.
4. Give college and workreadiness assessments in high school.
5. Create statewide common course agreements so that college-level work in high school counts towards a postsecondary credential.
6. Provide financial incentives for disadvantaged students to take rigorous AP exams and college-preparatory and college-level courses.
7. Expand college-level learning opportunities in high school to minorities, English language learners, low income students, and youth with disabilities.
8. Help get low-performing students back on track by designing literacy and math recovery programs.
9. Develop and fund supports to help students pass the high school exit exam.
10. Develop statewide pathways to industry certification.
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K-16 and broad policy efforts |
It is worth noting that academic alignment issues are increasingly being
addressed as a component of broader statewide K-16 initiatives. These efforts bring together representatives from K-12 departments of education and school
districts, higher education coordinating boards and institutions, the business community, the governor’s office, the state legislature, and other
entities to work together on a common set of goals. They aim to promote student success through a more seamless educational system, addressing a series
of interrelated issues such as curriculum and assessment, early outreach, student financial aid, teacher preparation, data and accountability (including
high school feedback reports), and governance structures.
Many national organizations, including the Education Commission of the States and the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), have conducted
K-16 projects that analyze and promote promising state practices. Together, the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and the Education Trust support
a State K-16 Network helping states implement K-16 improvement strategies. The network currently has 22 state members.
Academic alignment issues also lie at the heart of recent efforts to improve the American high school. Most notably, the National Governors Association
(NGA), under its “Redesigning the American High School” initiative, recently identified ten steps governors can take to accelerate high school
reform.33 [See Box 2 at left] NGA also has developed a more extensive guidebook of promising state and local practices to help states get started.
NGA and Achieve, Inc. recently sponsored the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools and released an Action Agenda for Improving America’s
High Schools.34 At the meeting, Achieve, Inc. announced the formation of the American Diploma Project Network, a coalition of states committing
to:
• Raise high school standards to the level of what is actually required to succeed in college or the workplace.
• Require all students to take rigorous college and work-ready curriculum.
• Develop tests of college and work readiness that all students will take in high school.
• Hold high schools accountable for graduating all students ready for college and work and hold colleges accountable for the success of the students they
admit.
These efforts will be led by the governor, state superintendent of education, state higher education executive officer, business leaders, and
others. The coalition currently has more than a dozen member states. |
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33 National Governors Association, Getting It Done: Ten Steps to a State Action Agenda, (Washington, DC: author, 2005).
34 Achieve, Inc., “Achieve, Inc. Announces 13-State Coalition to Improve High Schools,” press release, February 27, 2005. |
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