State Strategies for Redesigning High School and Promoting High School to College Transitions

Introduction
This issue brief focuses on what
increasingly are seen as the major
stumbling blocks that students
face in high school and in enrolling in
postsecondary education. It summarizes
recommendations from several national
reports and conference proceedings on
how high schools should be redesigned
and how the transition to postsecondary
education can be made more seamless
for students. This brief also provides
several examples of what state leaders
are doing to deal with these issues and
some sources for additional information.
Workforce Readiness
Business leaders, educators – now
policymakers – are insisting that
students leave school with the
skills needed to be successful in today’s
knowledge-based economy. The stakes
are high. America’s competitive edge in
the global economy, the strength and
versatility of its labor force, its capacity
to nourish research and innovation
increasingly depend on an education
system capable of producing a steady
supply of well-prepared young people.
According to a new RAND report, The
21st Century at Work, rapid technological
change and increased international
competition place the spotlight on the
skills and preparation of the workforce,
particularly the ability to adapt to changing
technologies and shifting product
demand. The growing importance of
knowledge-based work favors workers
with the skills of abstract reasoning,
problem solving, communication and
collaboration. Knowledge workers will
need high-level skills for managing,
interpreting, validating, transforming,
communicating and acting on
information.1
The fastest-growing jobs will require
some education beyond high school.
Jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree will
grow by 32%, and jobs requiring a master’s
degree will grow by 23%.2 Jobs
that require more education also pay
better. For 2000, the average annual
salary for workers ages 25 and older
without a high school degree was
$21,400, for high school graduates it
was $28,800, jumping to $46,300 a year
for workers with a bachelor’s degree.3
Experts are now calling for all students
to have a minimum of a solid high
school education and two years of postsecondary
education, if they are to be
successful in a workforce requiring
more advanced skills.
But this is easier said than done. A
number of studies and recent reports
indicate too many high school students
graduate without the skills or coursework
needed to succeed in college.
Without a strong college-prep curriculum,
students have difficulty navigating
the transition to postsecondary
education.
Some statistics tell the story. Nearly all
high school students aspire to attend
college (97%), yet just 60% have the
minimum credits required for admission.
Yet of the 63% of high school students
who do make it to college, more than a
quarter of these students must take
remedial coursework.4 Although more
students today begin college than 20
years ago, greater proportions are not
graduating. Obviously, the pipeline has
troubling gaps, disconnects and
weaknesses.
1 Education Commission of the States
January 2005
Experts are now calling
for all students to
have a minimum of a
solid high school
education and two
years of postsecondary
education, if
they are to be successful
in a workforce
requiring more
advanced skills.
The first stumbling block is many
high schools are not doing a good
job in educating – and graduating
– all their students.
According to the National Assessment
of Educational Progress (NAEP), student
achievement gains in high school
are uneven or have leveled off:5| Since 1992, the average science
scores of 17-year-olds have
remained essentially unchanged.| Reading scores for 17-year-olds
were slightly lower between 1986
and 1999.| Achievement gaps were largely
unchanged in the past 10 years.
A new ACT report, Crisis at the Core,
reports that average composite ACT
scores — a measure of high school
preparation — have remained the same
or declined during the past five years.6
Just 22% of ACT-tested high school
graduates meet all three of ACT’s
College Readiness Benchmarks. These
benchmarks represent the level of
achievement required for students to
have a high probability of success in
college biology, algebra and English
composition.
According to a recent report from the
American Diploma Project, for too many
graduates, a high school diploma does
not represent adequate preparation for
the intellectual demands of college or
work; it is merely a certificate of attendance.
The project identified these
problems with high schools and/or their
graduates:| Most high school graduates need
remedial help in college.| Most college students never attain
a degree.| Most employers say high school
graduates lack basic skills.| Too few high school students take
challenging courses.| Most high school exit exams do
not measure what matters to colleges
and employers.7
Problems also exist in the pipeline from
high school to college. For every 100
students who enter 9th grade, only 67
graduate from high school, 38 enroll in
college, 26 are still enrolled in college
after their sophomore year, and only 18
graduate with either an associate’s or
baccalaureate degree within six years of
graduating from high school.8 The numbers
are even worse for low-income students
and for African American and
Hispanic Americans, the fastest-growing
proportion of the youth cohort. Only
18% of African Americans and 9% of
Hispanics have earned a bachelor’s
degree.9 The only way to increase the
number of students who complete postsecondary
education is to improve the
pipeline linking high school, postsecondary
and “second-chance” education
systems.
2
State Strategies for Redesigning High Schools and Promoting High School to College Transitions
Education Commission of the States
For every 100
students who enter
9th grade, only 67
graduate from high
school, 38 enroll in
college, 26 are still
enrolled in college
after their sophomore
year, and only 18
graduate with either
an associate’s or baccalaureate
degree
within six years of
graduating from high
school.
How Well Are High Schools Educating Students?
These issues clearly are getting
attention. The U.S. Department of
Education is sponsoring an initiative
called Preparing America’s Future
High School. The next governors’ education
summit in February 2005 will
focus on high school reform. These
actions are coupled with a number of
reports10 that make recommendations
for reforming high schools and aligning
the education system to make the transition
to college more seamless for
students. A synthesis of key recommendations
for policymaker attention
includes the following:
Supporting High School Innovation| Provide a venture capital fund for
districts to develop new types of
high schools and new high school
courses. Districts could apply for
start-up funds to design and
organize new high school models.| Create small high schools in
grades 9-12.| Use school choice or charter
schools to create more effective
high schools.
Strengthening the High School
Curriculum| Align high school academic standards
– and exit standards – with
the knowledge and skills required
for college and workplace
success.| Require all students to take a college-
prep curriculum (four years of
English, three years of math, three
years of natural science, three
years of social studies and two
years of a second language).
Ensure there are quality teachers
to teach these courses.| Provide flexibility to districts to link
students’ educational progression
to their academic performance
rather than just to the courses
they’ve taken.
State education leaders then can look at
policies and programs that help bridge
students’ transition from high school to
postsecondary education. For example:
Increasing Accountability for Student
Performance| Administer end-of-course exams
and require a passing score to
receive credit toward graduation.| Use high school graduation exams
to ensure students meet standards
to receive a high school diploma.| Develop and fund statewide remedial
programs to help students
pass high school exit exams.| Test every student at least once in
grades 10-12 in reading/language
arts, mathematics and science as
required by the No Child Left
Behind Act. Include graduation
rates as a second indicator and
report annual results on adequate
yearly progress for schools and
districts.| Use performance measures to
assess students’ work and postsecondary-
related skills.| Award advanced high school diplomas
to students who complete
additional coursework, achieve
high test scores or graduate with a
specified gradepoint average.| Provide incentives to reduce the
number of dropouts.| Ask colleges to collect and report
evidence of school and district
performance based on success of
their students.| Hold postsecondary institutions
accountable for students receiving
a degree.
Bridging the Gap Between High
School and Postsecondary
Education| Use high school assessments for
college admissions, placement
and/or the awarding of scholarships.
This means higher education
leaders need to agree on a
common definition of the skills
students need to begin creditbearing
courses.| Enact dual-enrollment programs
so high school students can earn
college credit, either by enrolling in
college-endorsed classes taught
by their high school teachers or by
taking those classes on college
campuses or though a distancelearning
provider.| Expand Advanced Placement or
other high-quality college-level
programs in high schools.| Create middle-college programs
where students who complete a
core high school curriculum by
age 16 can attend two years of
high school on a college campus.| Develop financial and other incentives
that will reward high schools
and postsecondary institutions for
students’ successful progression
to and through college.| Create data systems that hold
both high schools and postsecondary
institutions accountable for
how well they help students
achieve a postsecondary credential
by age 26.| Create a P-16 council to analyze
data, align policies and put programs
in place to ensure academic
success at every grade.
Building the Capacity of High
Schools ToTeach All Students
to Higher Standards| Create incentives for successful
teachers to share their knowledge
and skills at increasing student
achievement with at-risk students.| Develop programs for higher education
faculty to deliver contentrich
renewal courses or institutes
for teachers.| Ensure opportunities for high
school leaders to learn from the
successes of others who have
developed successful high school
programs.
3 Education Commission of the States
State Strategies for Redesigning High Schools and Promoting High School to College Transitions
What State Education Leaders Can Do
State leaders already are taking
action. Many states are out in
front of this issue and have implemented
many of the above policy recommendations.
To provide ideas and
policy options to state education leaders,
short examples follow.
Supporting High School Innovation| Under Governor Mark Warner’s
Senior Year Plus initiative, a
Virtual Advanced Placement (AP)
School will provide Virginia high
school students with access to a
broader range of AP courses via
existing distance-learning networks,
regardless of where the
students live. An Electronic
Bulletin Board will show how any
student can earn college credits
while in high school, through
Advanced Placement,
International Baccalaureate, dual
enrollment and other options. A
statewide coordinator, “virtual”
counselors, and school-based
career guidance and academic
advising software will support the
Senior Year Plus initiative.| Florida has passed legislation that
limits the total number of students
in elementary, middle and high
schools “to reduce anonymity of
students in large schools.” Schools
that exceed these numbers are
required to subdivide schools into
“schools-within-a-school.” These
schools are encouraged to use
flexible scheduling, team planning,
and curricular and instructional
innovation to organize groups of
students with groups of teachers
to make smaller units.| California has reduced the local
matching fund requirement to 40%
of project costs on a pilot-program
basis for the construction of high
schools meeting certain criteria.
This legislation also provides additional
modernization funds for larger
high schools to reconfigure into
two or more smaller schools.
Strengthening the High School
Curriculum| Through its Advanced Placement
Incentive Program, Oklahoma
awards grants to school districts
that support AP and/or
International Baccalaureate courses
though “vertical teams.” Vertical
teams are composed of high
school and college faculty and are
expected to improve the articulation
between high school and
postsecondary education.| California has developed a model
curriculum framework for implementation
of career and technical
education courses that meet stateadopted
standards, as well as satisfying
high school graduation and
college admissions requirements.| Indiana has created a Web-based
career planning tool for high
school students. Students start by
identifying a specific career, career
focus area or career cluster. When
a career is selected, the high
school course sequence for
grades 9-12 is identified for each
student. The state is revising the
content of its graduation exam and
its Core 40 end-of-course assessments
to reflect the knowledge
and skills needed for success in
postsecondary education or
employment after high school.
Increasing Accountability for Student
Performance| Oklahoma has passed a bill that
adds “attainment of competencies”
as a method of satisfying high
school-core course requirements.
Proficiency is demonstrated
through testing (or some other
means) as an alternative to seat
time.| Arkansas requires postsecondary
education institutions to report on
high school students’ readiness for
higher education. The state
requires schools and districts to
develop strategies to improve student
readiness for postsecondary
education and reduce the remediation
high school graduates need.
Bridging the Gap Between High
School and Postsecondary
Education| New Mexico requires next-step
plans for high school students in
which the students set personal
post-graduation goals. The law
requires a final next-step plan as a
prerequisite for graduation.| Texas has established the Middle
College Education Program to
serve students who are at risk of
dropping out of high school or who
wish to complete high school at an
accelerated pace.| North Carolina has established
Innovative Education Initiatives to
develop cooperative efforts
between secondary schools and
institutions of higher education.
The goals are to reduce dropout
rates, increase high school and
college graduation rates, and
decrease the need for remedial
programs in higher education. In
addition, North Carolina encourages
early entry of motivated students
into four-year college
programs.| California recently has established
a program to assist community
college students who want to
earn baccalaureate degrees at a
California State University campus.
The chancellor of the system
is to establish lower-division transfer
requirements for each highdemand
baccalaureate program.| Washington now requires the
Higher Education Coordinating
Board, the superintendent of public
instruction and the State Board
for Community and Technical
Colleges to convene a work group
to discuss standards and expectations
for the knowledge and skills
high school graduates need for
college-level work and strategies
4
State Strategies for Redesigning High Schools and Promoting High School to College Transitions
Education Commission of the States
What States Are Doing
for communicating those standards
to all Washington high
schools.
Building the Capacity of High
Schools To Teach All Students
to Higher Standards| North Carolina has established a
Teacher Academy that employs
teachers to assist in developing
and delivering high-quality professional
development to other teachers
during the summer. Additional
follow-up with teachers during the
school year helps assure implementation
of knowledge and skills
gained in the summer programs.| For many years, Connecticut has
extended professional development
training to teachers using
university faculty to deliver specialized
content, especially in the sciences
and mathematics.| Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner
has initiated the Virginia
Turnaround Specialist Program
that will prepare school principals,
through an executive education
program at the University of
Virginia, to turn around consistently
low-performing and hard-to-staff
schools.
For a recent report card on state
higher education systems, see the
National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education’s Measuring Up
2004: The State-by-State Report Card
for Higher Education at
http://measuringup.highereducation.org.
The American Diploma Project has
developed English and mathematics
benchmarks that high school graduates
should have, along with an action agenda.
These are described in Ready or
Not: Creating a High School Diploma
That Counts, available at
http://www.achieve.org/achieve.nsf/Ame
ricanDiplomaProject?openform.
ACT has released a new report, Crisis
at the Core: Preparing All Students for
College and Work that describes how
well high school students are prepared
to succeed in college. The report is
available at
http://www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/crisis_
report.pdf
To learn more about how to make the
senior year more meaningful, see the
National Commission on the High
School Senior Year report, The Lost
Opportunity of Senior Year: Finding a
Better Way at
http://www.woodrow.org/CommissionOn
TheSeniorYear/Senior_Year_Report_Fin
al.pdf.
To learn more how states and regions
develop more aligned and equitable
policies that help students prepare for
and succeed in some form of postsecondary
education, see the Bridge
Project’s report, Betraying the College
Dream, at
http://www.stanford.edu/group/bridgeproject/.
To learn more about the Jobs for the
Future project on Redesigning High
Schools: The Unfinished Agenda in
State Education Reform, go to
http://www.jff.org/jff/approaches/ia_youth
trans.html.
The Education Trust has a number of
reports documenting student achievement
gains and the need for a stronger
high school curriculum. A New Core
Curriculum for All: Aiming High for Other
People’s Children is available at
http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/Product+
Catalog/Reports+and+Publications.htm.
To learn more about the U.S.
Department of Education’s Preparing
America’s Future High School Initiative,
visit http://www.ed.gov/highschool.
To learn more about state policies and
programs related to high school reform,
go to http://www.ecs.org/highschool.
5 Education Commission of the States
State Strategies for Redesigning High Schools and Promoting High School to College Transitions
Jane Armstrong is an ECS senior
policy advisor.
Resources and Additional Information
6
State Strategies for Redesigning High Schools and Promoting High School to College Transitions
Education Commission of the States
© 2005 by the Education Commission of the States (ECS). All rights reserved. The Education
Commission of the States is a nonprofit, nationwide organization that helps state leaders shape
education policy. Copies of this policy brief are available for $5 plus postage and handling from the
Education Commission of the States Distribution Center, 700 Broadway, Suite 1200, Denver, CO
80203-3460; 303.299.3692. Ask for No. SI-05-02.
ECS encourages its readers to share our information with others. To request permission to reprint
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1 Lynn Karoly and Constantijn Panis.
The 21st Century at Work. RAND,
2004.
2 Bureau of the Census. Occupational
Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2001-02.
3 Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Spring
2002.
4 National Center for Education
Statistics. The Condition of Education,
2000. Also, see the National Center for
Education Statistics, Remedial
Education at Degree Granting Post-
Secondary Institutions in Fall 2000,
2001.
5 National Center for Education
Statistics. NAEP 1999 Trends in
Academic Progress: Three Decades of
Student Performance, 2002.
6 ACT. Crisis at the Core: Preparing All
Students for College and Work, 2004.
7 American Diploma Project. Ready or
Not: Creating a High School Diploma
That Counts, 2004.
8 Peter T. Ewell, Dennis M. Jones and
Patrick J. Kelly. Conceptualizing and
Researching the Education Pipeline.
National Center for Higher Education
Management Systems, 2003.
9 National Center for Higher Education
Management Systems. Racial and
Ethnic Representation from High School
to College Completion, by State, 2000.
10 See the reports included in the
resources section of this issue brief.
Endnotes