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College and Career Readiness on the Rise, But Still Short

Friday, August 20th, 2010

The percentage of high school graduates that meet college- and career readiness benchmarks is slowly climbing, according to a recent ACT report.

About 24 percent of all 2010 ACT-test takers met all four benchmarks in English, reading, science and math, and 47 percent met between 1 and 3 standards in the 4 subject areas. This year’s increase is one percentage point greater than last year’s, which counts to the total of three percentage points over the last five year, according to the Condition of College and Career Readiness 2010.

However, while the trajectory is encouraging, the percentage of students who do not demonstrate college and career readiness remains significant. Among 2010 ACT-tested graduates, a combined total of 43 percent met either none (28 percent) or only one (15 percent) of ACT’s benchmarks. Further, readiness gaps remain wide across racial groups. The readiness rates underscore the nation’s struggle to prepare all students to succeed in college and career.

About 1.6 million students—about 47 percent of the nation’s 2010 high school graduates–took the ACT. As the number of and diversity of students increase, the nation will gain a better understanding of how much more work needs to be done to prepare students to succeed when they leave high school.

By Erin in News, Publications, Research
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Dual Enrollment: Programs Increase, Linked to Student Achievement

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

A recent article, Dual Enrollment: Postsecondary/Secondary Partnerships to Prepare Students, highlights the rise in high school dual enrollment programs and the positive impacts they have on student achievement. The article further states that, according to the most recent data from the 2002-2003 school year, three-quarters of high school students were participating in dual enrollments programs and that since then this number has increased. In addition, they found that dual enrollment, “…was positively related to students’ likelihood of earning a high school diploma, to college enrollment, to persistence in college and to high postsecondary grade-point average,” (Hughes, 2010).

Dual enrollment allows high school students the opportunity to take college level classes and earn college credit while enrolled in high school. While there have been ways, such as Advanced Placement (AP) classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, for students to earn college credit while in high school, dual enrollment programs provide students with an additional option.

Other statistics provided in the article include:

  • Fifty-seven percent of the college sample reported that they had high school students taking their courses.
  • Over the course of the 2002-2003 school year, more than 800,000 high school students nationwide enrolled in a college-credit course.

These types of programs are important to CTE because they not only allow students to get a head start on their college career or training program but they allow students to further explore career opportunities while still in high school. By supporting dual enrollment, we are encouraging communication between high schools and colleges to help to ensure that students are prepared to enter into a rigorous postsecondary environment.

In a time where our nation’s college completion rates have been declining, it is important to take steps toward change. With more emphasis on these programs, we are better preparing our students, the future of America’s workforce, to be college and career ready.

By Warren in Publications, Research
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Career Technical Education: A Critical Component of States’ Economic Strategy

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

The United States has declined in top rankings in international competitiveness and the nation is fighting to reclaim its spot. The hot button issue has opened a range of discussions on how the United States can best prepare its workforce to compete and excel in this dynamic global economy. That’s where career technical education (CTE) fits in the discussion.

A new issue brief, Career Technical Education: A Critical Component of States’ Economic Strategy, highlights Alabama and South Carolina as model states that transformed their programs to prepare students to compete in the global economy. This issue brief is the first of a five-part series connected with our association’s vision and action plan for CTE and preparing all students to succeed in college and ultimately their careers. Global competition is the theme of one of our five core principles that we plan to address through policy and efforts from the classroom to Capitol Hill.

Alabama and South Carolina provide examples of how states can leverage their CTE programs to attract and retain international companies – from the medical science field to high-tech. These states, realizing that their students are not only competing with their classmates or neighbors in other U.S. regions, took initiative to develop programs that prepared students to compete with students for jobs across the globe.

By Erin in Publications, Research
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Survey: Curriculum Lack Relevancy, Students Lack Engagement

Friday, July 9th, 2010

More than half of high school students are bored at least every day in class; only about a quarter of them feel like they are acquiring skills related to work after high school, according to a recent survey and report that assess the relationship between student achievement and student engagement.

Charting the Path from Engagement to Achievement, a report on the High School Survey of Student Engagement, was conducted by the Indiana University Center for Evaluation & Education Policy and offers perspective of students from a 2009 sampling of 42,754 high school students. Boredom with school and lack of relevancy in curriculum surfaced among other issues that inferred poor student engagement.

Some statistics underscore the areas in which CTE programs may provide a positive impact:

  • Of the 98 percent of students who claimed they were bored in school, about 40 percent students said there was lack of relevance in the material that they learned.
  • About 26 percent of students said they were acquiring skills related to work after  high school.
  • About 23 percent said they were solving real-world problems.

There are schools that have made it a priority to address these issues of engagement. The report highlights model schools in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii to Richmond, Virginia that provide examples of how to deal with this pressing problem. While the schools implement a range of strategies, they all recognize that student engagement is key to student achievement.

By Erin in Publications, Research
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Dunbar High School Gives Students Competitive Edge

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Dunbar High School is a magnet school in Fort Myers, Florida which, up until a few years ago, suffered from many of the challenges impacting schools nationwide: decreasing student enrollment, low interest in school, and a risk of minority group isolation. But, new initiatives created a rigorous school curriculum, brought up-to-date equipment to classrooms, galvanized the local business community, and energized students, making learning meaningful, evidenced by performance on statewide assessments. These achievements underscore why Dunbar recently was spotlighted in a report series sponsored by Microsoft Corporation National Career Technical Education Foundation and NCTEF.

Redesigning the High School Experience for College and Career Readiness highlights Dunbar High School’s special feature: Inviting Students to Excellence through Information Technology. Dunbar High School offers 9th-12th grade students an immersive clusters-based curriculum, training them with the skills necessary to achieve multiple industry standard technical certifications for careers such as Technical Specialist, Network Engineering, Web Site Designer and more. Dual enrollment credit and AP courses are also offered for students.

 Initiatives such as – the Academy for Technology Excellence Program and the Academy for Digital Excellence — have created a new vision for the school: providing a rigorous curriculum that leads to a variety of IT industry certifications, equipping students to compete in our fast-paced, technically sophisticated economy.

The student response has been amazing–students are learning and practicing 21st century skills in internship experiences with local business and industry partners, and earning industry-recognized credentials through curriculum completion. Partnership with professional associations has proven to be integral to the school’s success. The academy is a certified Microsoft IT Academy; additionally, the CompTIA Education Foundation, Adobe Education, SW Florida Regional Technology Partnership, Association of Information Technology Professionals, SW Florida PC Users Group, and other school districts with IT programs also offer support to the school and are key partners. Testing fees for students are paid for by the School District of Lee County through the Florida Department of Education Perkin’s grant funds.

The Dunbar High School report is fourth in a series produced in collaboration with the NCTEF and Microsoft Corporation’s U.S. Partners in Learning program. The series showcase success stories of high schools that are creating a different kind of learning experience. In these series, Microsoft’s goal is to stimulate positive change in education, and is investing resources to create new 21st century learning communities, help existing schools such as Dunbar High School transform into 21st century learning communities, develop skilled and innovative leaders, and increase adoption of innovative learning solutions through scale.

Take a virtual tour of the Dunbar experience through a video: Real Life Heroes: Dunbar High School Academy for Technology Excellence

By Ramona in Publications
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New Report Explores Multiple Pathways to Graduation

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

A new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Multiple Pathways to Graduation: New Routes to High School Completion provides snapshots of different approaches to multiple pathways initiatives that could help students at risk of dropping out, including dual enrollment and experiential learning, elements of career technical education. the Center on Reinventing Public Education engages in independent research and policy analysis on a range of K-12 public education reform issues, including choice & charters, finance & productivity, teachers, urban district reform, leadership, and state & federal reform.

By Ramona in Publications
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Report: Apprenticeship Programs Vital to Train Workforce for Green Industry

Friday, June 4th, 2010

The green industry is projected to offer the hottest growing jobs in our nation, but a recent report warns that more needs to be explored in how workforce training programs, particularly apprenticeships, can quickly adapt to train workers for the field.

Last week, Workforce3 One hosted a webinar that addressed this question, focusing particularly on the role of apprenticeship in preparing the future workforce in today’s green climate. The Office of Apprenticeship’s recently issued report titled, The Greening of Registered Apprenticeship: An Environmental Scan of the Impact of Green Jobs on Registered Apprenticeship and Implications for Workforce Development.  The report shares the current state of registered apprenticeship as it prepares workers for green careers. The webinar shared an overview of the findings and specifically addressed the concern of modifying apprenticeship to reflect evolving green technologies.

While green is making its mark on industry, education and training must also keep up. The webinar exemplified apprenticeship as the primary training vehicle to provide seamless transitions from school to work, although they expressed a need for stronger linkages between pre-apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship programs. Apprenticeship is a vital link in the pathway from education and training to jobs with growth opportunities like those in the green industry.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) Office of Apprenticeship (OA) met, during March and April of 2009, with 14 stakeholders representing critical industries to gather information. The critical industries most like to be impacted by green, according to the report, are:ExamplesCurriculum

  • Building and construction
  • Advanced manufacturing
  • Transportation
  • Building services
  • Electrical utilities

They determined two common findings of green’s impact on industry:

  1. Green is cutting edge. As new processes are continuously developed, green will be at the forefront and industry must continue to adapt.
  2. Green demands growth in existing occupations, not the establishing of new occupations.

If apprenticeship is not part of the discussions on how to update training programs to reflect the advancement of thegreen industry, students who try to enter the green industry without any experience or credentials will likely find themselves unprepared, according to the report Any evolutions in industry must also be reflected in education. Apprenticeship is the ideal stage because it is it cultivates job specific training and places students in real-world situations.

In order to meet the challenges of today’s economy and embrace green as it leads the way in industry, strategic partnerships and collaboration are also necessary. National organizations and federal agencies, research and development hubs at universities, advocacy groups and community based organizations are all resources that must work together to provide a trained workforce for industries that are constantly evolving.

By Emma in News, Publications, Research, Uncategorized
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The Condition of Education 2010

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

The Condition of Education 2010 report released last week by the National Center for Education Statistics is an annual compilation of data and analyses that detail trends in student enrollment, learner outcomes, educational progress, demographics and school environments from early education to postsecondary levels.

Each year the report includes a special analysis section, this year focused on high poverty public schools. The report indicates that one in six public school students is now enrolled in a high-poverty school and “students who attend high-poverty schools perform persistently lower in math and reading achievement and are less likely to attend four-year colleges when compared to their peers in low-poverty schools.”

This report is full of data snapshots, charts, and graphs that give the reader a sense of how students in our public education systems are faring today. Some of the results that may be of interest include:

Secondary

  • Public elementary and secondary enrollment is projected to increase from 49 to 52 million students from 2007-08 through 2019-20. The South is projected to increase its share of enrollment to 40 percent over that period.
  • The number of students enrolled in charter schools has nearly quadrupled, from 340,000 to 1.3 million students from 1999 to 2008.
  • Among public high school students in the class of 2006–07, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 73.9 percent, or 2.9 million students graduating on time.
  • Primary goals cited by secondary school counselors included: helping students with their academic achievement (48 percent), help students plan and prepare for postsecondary schooling (26 percent), help them with personal growth and development (17 percent), and help them plan and prepare for their work roles after high school (8 percent).

Postsecondary

  • From 2000 to 2008, undergraduate enrollment increased by 24 percent to 16.4 million students, and is projected to increase further, reaching 19.0 million students in 2019.
  • At 2-year institutions, undergraduate enrollment increased from 5.9 to 7.0 million students from 2000 to 2008 and is expected to reach 8.2 million students by 2019. Full-time enrollment increased from 2.2 to 2.8 million students (28 percent), while part-time enrollment increased from 3.7 to 4.1 million students (11 percent).
  • One-half of the undergraduates who start at a public 2-year institution with the intention of obtaining a bachelor’s degree and about one-fourth of those who start with an associate’s degree goal transfer to a 4-year institution within 6 years.
  • Between 1997–98 and 2007–08, the number of degrees earned increased by 34 percent for associate’s degrees, by 32 percent for bachelor’s degrees, and by 45 percent for master’s degrees.
  • Of the 750,200 associate’s degrees earned in 2007–08, 55 percent were awarded in two broad areas of study: liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities (34 percent) and health professions and related clinical sciences (21 percent). Several fields experienced a decline in the number of associate’s degrees awarded: associate’s degrees in engineering and engineering technologies decreased by 8 percent from 2007–08 to 1997–98.

By Nancy in Publications
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Already at the Top: Career Technical Education

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Across the nation and in a range of regions – urban, rural, suburban – career technical education (CTE) schools have dramatically turned around dropout rates, boosted student achievement and increased the number of students who enter college, according to a recent National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education three-part research brief series. Michigan, New Jersey and New Mexico each provide a model of a successful CTE school, NASDCTEc says.

The schools’ success stories are of particular significance given the economic climate and the high demand for programs that adequately prepare students for the global market, according to NASDCTEc, a Washington, D.C.-area association that represents state heads of CTE. Already At the Top: CTE Programs Show Positive Impact on Student Achievement highlights three high schools that have demonstrated a positive impact in significant school improvement areas, some of which are aligned with the Obama Administration’s Race to the Top priority areas.

The schools elevated their standards for students and teachers, partnered with business and industry, and established strong relationships with postsecondary institutions to improve their schools and the way they teach students.

Newark Tech High School – New Jersey (urban)

  • From 2003 to 2009, Newark Tech’s passing rate for mathematics on the statewide High School Proficiency Assessment skyrocketed from 39.7 percent in to 88 percent.
  • Language Arts scores climbed from 73 percent in 2003 to 97.6 percent.
  • Graduation rate of the class of 2009 was 98.8 percent, and 86 percent of students reported going on to two year or four year colleges after graduation.

Livonia Career Technical Center – Michigan (suburban)

  • Of the 469 students surveyed from the graduating class of 2008, about 87 percent said they were continuing their education primarily at a community college or college/university.
  • The rate of students enrolled in colleges/universities increased from about 37 percent in 2006 to the latest rate of about 42 percent in 2008.

Loving High School – New Mexico (rural)

  • The average on-time graduation rate of the three most recent ninth-grade cohorts is above 95 percent.
  • LHS received a Bronze Medal in the U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best high schools in the country for 2010.

By Erin in Public Policy, Publications
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Narrowing Achievement Gap Between CTE and Non-CTE Students Shown in NCES Brief

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

In Science Achievement and Occupational Career/Technical Education Coursetaking in High School: The Class of 2005, this report analyzes trends in the academic performance of CTE participants, plus researchers have also examined the “value added” of CTE coursetaking to students’ academic achievement. Findings are mixed: across occupational program areas patterns varied; but graduates who concentrated in agriculture, business finance, commmunications and design, computer and information science and engineering technology scored higher than or not measurably different from nonconcentrators.

By Ramona in Publications, Research
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