Summit Action Agenda Identifies Steps States Can Follow To Raise Graduation Rates Close Preparation Gaps

Tuesday, February 22, 2005Printer-friendly version

WASHINGTON - February 22, 2005  At a time when all young people need higher skills to be successful in an increasingly competitive economy, one third of U.S. students drop out of high school before graduation and half of those entering college never earn a degree. All told, less than one-fifth of the nation's ninth graders make it through the pipeline from 9th grade to on-time completion of a college degree.

To address these challenges, leaders of the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools released a new road map today for the changes in policy and practice states will need to make in order to close the preparation gap and significantly increase the number of students that graduate from high school well-prepared for success in postsecondary education and employment.

The Action Agenda for Improving America's High Schools calls on the nation to raise expectations for what students should be required to achieve in high school, identify clear ways states can transform high schools and create new options for students so that more will graduate. It also calls upon states to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in high schools.

The agenda also calls for states to develop new accountability structures to ensure that more students make it through the higher education pipeline and to make education a seamless system of governance from kindergarten through graduate school.

"Our economy is constantly changing, and high schools need to change with it," says Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, co-chair of Achieve. "High school students of today are the most important part of tomorrow's economy. We need to work hard to get the public on board with us, so that all of our children can succeed."

"Achieving this agenda will be no easy task, but we must improve state standards, tests, and course requirements that continue to leave young people well short of the baseline skills needed for college and work. Students can make it to the top of the K-12 ladder only to find that they lack the skills and knowledge required to advance in the world they enter after graduation," says Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, chairman of the National Governors Association.

"This action agenda is ambitious, but the need has never been more clear or urgent. As the action agenda says, 'We must not let the difficulty of the task sway us from taking the right course. We owe it to our youth and our nation to redesign the American high school and make it a cutting-edge institution once again. The future health of our economy and democracy depends on our answering this call...'" says Gov. Warner.

Data Show Limited Gains

Data compiled by Achieve, Inc. show just how far the nation needs to go and the urgency for establishing a common national agenda. According to Achieve's data profile, over the past decade the nation has made no progress in raising high school graduation rates (2 percent decrease) or college retention rates (1.2 percent decrease), and there has only been a slight increase in the percentage of students who earn bachelors degrees (2.1 percent increase).

"This is not a problem for a few states or a few companies. It is a national challenge and we need to begin to treat it that way. It is time we all worked together so that our high school diplomas don't come with a warning label," says Art Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial, and Achieve co-chair. "Business leaders in every state have a responsibility to get involved with public schools to help ensure that students, their parents, and their teachers fully understand what it means to be prepared."

Action Agenda for Improving America's High Schools

Developed in consultation with state leaders and national K-12 and higher education organizations, the Action Agenda for Improving America's High Schools calls on state leaders to:

- Make All Students Proficient & Prepared. States must ensure that students arrive in high school ready to perform high school-level work and leave ready for the real demands of college and the workplace. To ensure that all students take the rigorous courses and master content needed to meet real-world demands, all young people should take a rigorous college-prep curriculum with course requirements that include four years of rigorous English and a math curriculum that covers Geometry, Algebra II, and data analysis and statistics. Equally important, states should create college- and work-ready assessments and raise the bar for end-of-course exams to the level of achievement expected to enter college and work.

- Redesign the American High School. It is not enough to raise requirements. The average high school must be made more flexible, supportive, and effective in helping low-performing students catch up with their peers. As part of this effort, states must provide additional academic supports for low-performing students and expand the range of high quality high school options for students by financing new types o high schools and providing opportunities for students to take college-level classes and earn credit while attending high school.

- Give High Schools the Excellent Teachers and Principals They Need. Strong teachers and principals are crucial for helping all students meet higher standards and leave high school ready for college and work. States must continue to raise the standards for licensure and redesign preparation and professional development to have greater flexibility and accountability in achieving higher standards. They also must continually expand new incentives for teachers to work in the neediest schools and to improve principal leadership.

- Hold High Schools and Colleges Accountable for Student Success. High schools should be held accountable for improving college and work readiness rates across all student subgroups and that data on high school performance are publicly accessible and user-friendly. Two- and four-year colleges should be held accountable for improving retention and graduation rates. The document calls on states to set five- and ten-year statewide goals and track progress in increasing high school graduation rates, percentages of students who are prepared for college and work, and postsecondary enrollment and completion rates.

- Streamline and Improve Education Governance. Because almost every state operates K-12 and postsecondary education as separate systems, the report calls on states to move toward a more unified and seamless governance systems with a single board that has authority over early childhood, elementary, secondary and higher education.

The Summit, sponsored by Achieve, Inc. and the National Governors Association, will be held on February 26 and 27 in Washington and will bring together governors of the 55 U.S. states and territories, along with business and education leaders.