In September 2005, top corporate, education, and workforce policymakers came together to address the failure to prepare the nation for the demands of the knowledge-based global economy of the 21st century. The two-day event, called The Fate Of The American Dream: A National Forum On Strengthening Our Education and Skills Pipeline, was hosted by JFF and sponsored by a number of corporations also committed to improving the education and skills pipeline.

JUST POSTED on the JFF Web site are two new items related to The Fate Of The American Dream:

OPENING ADDRESS BY WILLIAM H. DONALDSON
27th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Drawing on 40 years at the highest levels of business, government, and academia, Donaldson opened the forum by declaring that “the skills pipeline is leaking badly, and at great and growing cost to individuals in our labor force and, of course, to the business and government institutions of our economy. It is ultimately, in my view, an unacceptable cost for our entire society.”

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY PATTY STONESIFER
President and CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Stonesifer, who leads the foundation’s mission to improve access to advances in global health and learning for all people, addressed its reliance on “partnerships to prepare every child in America for college work and citizenship. . . . In our efforts together to create an education system that prepares every child in America for college and work, we have to make the most of all of our strengths.”

Previously released and also available on the JFF Web site are:

• Education and Skills for the 21st Century: An Agenda for Action
• Making a Difference Awards
• The Right Jobs: Opportunities for Low-Skilled Workers
• From the Entry Level to Licensed Practical Nurse

“It's Kind of Different”:
Student Experiences in Two Early College High Schools
The early college high school movement promises to make higher education more accessible and more affordable for underrepresented students. Drawing on the preliminary results of a long-term study, It's Kind of Different focuses on Wallis Annenberg High School in Los Angeles, CA, and Dayton Early College Academy in Dayton, OH. This booklet captures student, teacher, administrator, and parent perspectives on early college high school.

Download It's Kind of Different

Early College High School: By the Numbers
Twenty new early college high schools opened their doors this school year, including the Academy of the Redwoods in Eureka, CA; Early College High School for the New Schools at Carver in Dalton, GA; Hollis F. Price Early College High School in Memphis, TN; Utah County Academy of Science in Orem, UT; and Queens School of Inquiry in New York City.

For a complete list of early college high schools and data about each school, see Early College High School Initiative: By the Numbers.
http://www.earlycolleges.org/Library.html#ECHSIByNumbers

For as many as 30 percent of our young people, the road to a productive adulthood is interrupted well before they secure the postsecondary skills and credentials that are essential for citizenship, economic security, and productivity. Among African-American and Hispanic students, the numbers hover around 50 percent, and in hundreds of large city high schools around the country more than half of the young people are not on track to graduation. JFF’s Connected By 25 initiative is directed at improving the options and outcomes for this large group of young people.

Addressing the growing drop-out crisis stands as a major component of JFF’s work to improve youth transitions to higher education and careers and to seal the “leaks” in the educational pipeline. Connected By 25 focuses on creating the systemic and policy changes necessary to develop and support effective models that prepare students who are not on track to graduation to complete high school and advance along pathways to postsecondary credentials.

Read about Connected By 25 and download related resources

Expanding the High School Reform Agenda

Read about Expanding the High School Reform Agenda

JFF produces a quarterly newsletter designed to help colleges, partners, state-level stakeholders, and other interested individuals stay abreast of developments in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. Issue #2, published in August, features a framework for identifying and setting state policy priorities, an update on a state data system project, resources on developmental education policy, and more.

Download the State Policy Newsletter

To receive the Achieving the Dream State Policy Newsletter by email, contact Debora Sutherland, dsutherland@jff.org

Achieving the Dream is a national initiative that promotes change to improve student success at community colleges. The initiative works on multiple fronts—including efforts at community colleges and in research, public engagement, and public policy—and emphasizes the use of data to drive change. Achieving the Dream is funded by Lumina Foundation for Education. JFF, one of ten national partners, coordinates the initiative’s effort to improve state policies in Connecticut, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.

Read about JFF’s role in Achieving the Dream

SkillWorks has announced its second round of Workforce Partnership Grants. SkillWorks, the single largest public/private investment in workforce development in Boston's history, seeks to change the way employers hire and promote entry-level workers from the city’s neighborhoods. Workforce Partnerships, the operational approach to achieving this dual goal, are industry-sector or occupationally based workforce intermediaries. JFF is consultant and technical advisor to the initiative.

To read about SkillWorks grantees and to download a new brochure on the initiative, go to: http://www.skill-works.org

NEW START NEW ORLEANS: GOOD JOBS FOR A BETTER GULF
Hilary Pennington, JFF’s co-founder, senior advisor on education, and vice chair, is also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. For the center, she has written about the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and “the importance of rebuilding in a way that addresses the chronic poverty of the people in affected areas of the Gulf Coast.” According to Pennington, “The most effective approach will recognize that both government and the private sector are needed, in new public/private partnerships that will help hundreds of thousands of people rebuild their lives and communities with dignity and enter jobs that will pay enough to support them and their families.”
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1103705

TO ENSURE AMERICA'S FUTURE:
BUILDING A NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY SYSTEM FOR ADULTS
This report from the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy is an in-depth study of adult education and community colleges—and the need to strengthen links between the two. It urges education leaders and government policymakers to accept the challenge "as a chance for strategic, forward-looking statecraft."
http://www.caalusa.org/commcollproject.html#anchor681610

STUDENT SUCCESS IN STATE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES:
A MATTER OF CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP
Educators and policymakers are paying increasing attention not only to student "access" but to student "success" in obtaining a degree. This report from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities identifies 12 institutions that have maintained high graduation rates for a long period or shown significant improvement in their rates.
http://www.aascu.org/GRO/docs.htm

ADVANCING HIGH SCHOOL REFORM IN THE STATES:
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS THAT RESTRUCTURE THE COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL
An assortment of working programs and promising practices are building the capacity of high schools in a significant number of states. This report produced by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and KnowledgeWorks Foundation highlights high school reform policies and programs in various states. http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec_news.asp?CID=1&DID=52883

THE GOVERNANCE DIVIDE: A REPORT ON A FOUR-STATE STUDY ON
IMPROVING COLLEGE READINESS AND SUCCESS
From the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, this report identifies and examines four policy levers available to states that are interested in creating sustained K-16 reform: finance, assessments and curricula, accountability, and data systems. In addition, the report examines the importance of other factors—such as leadership and state history and culture—in initiating and sustaining K-16 reform.
http://www.highereducation.org/reports/governance_divide/index.shtml

PATHWAYS TO COLLEGE ACCESS AND SUCCESS
The final report from the Accelerating Student Success project provides summary findings across the case study sites. The findings are highlighted around four key features: student recruitment and selection processes, curriculum, support services, and data collection. The report concludes with recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers.
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/

SCREENING TOOLS TO HELP FAMILIES ACCESS PUBLIC BENEFITS
This tool from the National League of Cities provides municipal officials with approaches, considerations, and specific technology options for using screening tools to connect eligible residents to key state and federal benefits. It highlights several local, state, and nationally franchised electronic screening tools utilized by city governments.
http://www.nlc.org/IYEF/program_areas/family_economic
success/4972.cfm

TOOL KIT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND ADVOCACY
This Web site offers information and resources designed to help people who care about building an economy that works for all Americans—one that provides profit to business owners and stable jobs with adequate pay and benefits to employees. Among the resources are a two-part tool kit for low-wage communicators and advocates.
http://www.economythatworks.org