Rapidly growing attention to the performance of America’s
high schools creates a golden opportunity and urgent need to help
states and local districts pursue twin goals: raising standards
for earning a high school diploma and significantly increasing
the number of students who earn such a diploma rather than dropping
out of school. Compared to other industrialized countries and
to the skill requirements of 21st century economy, too few American
high school students earn a diploma, and of those who do, too
few are prepared academically with the skills they need to succeed
in further education and careers.
Nationally, for every 100 students, only 68 graduate from high
school in four years, 40 enroll in college, and only 18 earn a
two- or four-year degree on time. Further, enrolling in college
is not the same as being prepared to do college-level work: 30
percent of first-year students in two- and four-year postsecondary
institutions must take at least one remedial course.
These trends came to the attention of state policymakers, business
leaders, and opinion leaders at the 2005 National Education Summit
on High Schools, cosponsored by Achieve and the National Governors
Association. Governors from 45 states joined leaders from business
and K-12 and higher education, as well as foundations, to discuss
an agenda for state action. As a result, twin goals —raising
standards for earning a high school diploma and increasing
high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment rates—are
rapidly moving to the top of state education policy agendas.
While the goal of higher standards often conflicts with the
goal of better high school graduation rates, Moving Forward aims to show that the supposed
tension between these goals is more perceived than real, and that
synergies can be achieved in addressing both issues at the same
time. Both goals are ambitious, yet there is little choice but
to pursue them simultaneously rather than taking sides in a needlessly
polarizing debate.
Expected Results
Moving Forward will help states gain meaningful traction on this dual agenda,
with expected results to include:
- Up to three states and two pilot
districts in each state committed to structured coordination
of state and local planning efforts and actively taking
steps outlined in implementation plans in regard to state
and local policy, accountability and data systems, programming,
and interventions directed at improving graduation rates;
- Enhanced capacity in these states
and districts for collecting leading and lagging indicators
of dropping out and using them to assess the value of
investments;
- Tools and frameworks for other
states to use in engaging with this agenda and enacting
a policy development process that is rooted in practice;
and
- Sharing of the lessons and tools
derived from project states with all states, and particularly
with those in Achieve’s American Diploma Project
Network and the National Governors Association Honor States
network.
Product Design and Activities
Specifically, Achieve and JFF will work with
state and district teams to:
- Assess and make suggestions for
improving state and district accountability and data systems,
especially in regard to gathering and using leading and
lagging indicators of dropping out to assess return on
investments;
- Strengthen current state high
school redesign plans to incorporate knowledge of promising
strategies and practices for keeping struggling students
connected through graduation and reconnecting those who
have left to other pathways to a high school diploma;
- Identify new strategies, practices,
and policies for states and districts based on opportunities
and work at the local level and promising work elsewhere;
- Assess where existing or proposed
policies might have unintended consequences harmful to
struggling students and out-of-school youth; and
- Provide technical assistance
to help states plan how best to implement solutions within
the framework of their high school redesign plans.
Funder
High Standards and High Graduation Rates: Moving Forward on a Dual Agenda in Massachusetts 
