9-12

Last week was a big week for science education.  Results of NCES’ Science 2009: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) at Grades 4, 8, and 12 were released; in his State of the Union speech, President Obama suggested that we are in the equivalent of “our generation’s Sputnik moment;" and the nation remembered Christa McAuliffe 25 years after she perished in the explosion of

In an earlier post, we discussed virtual high schools (VHSs), highlighting examples from Florida and North Carolina. We have since learned that an increasing number of states have plans to use VHSs as a strategy to maximize limited resources, as evidenced by inclusion of VHSs in Race to the Top (RTTT) and School Improvement Grant (SIG) applications. Rural SIG schools and districts looking to expand their course catalogues are particularly interested in exploring VHSs.

In our most recent posts, we have examined indicators that can identify students with disabilities who are at risk of dropout.  In order to increase the graduation rate of students with disabilities, the National High School Center suggests the following recommendations:

In our previous post, we noted that the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) identified four predictors of risk for dropout during ninth grade: course grades, course failures, absences, and “on-track” status.[1]  This post explains how these indicators apply to students with disabilities.

Course Grades:

Graduation rates for students with disabilities fall significantly below the national graduation rate for all students.  In 2005–06, 57 percent of students with disabilities earned a regular school diploma.

A recent IES-funded study explored high school students’ academic progress at the end of ninth grade in five Texas school districts as an indicator of whether they would graduate from high school.[1] In the report,  Applying an On Track Indicator for High School Graduation: Adapting the Consortium on Chicago School Research Indicator for Five Texas Districts, researchers examined 12,662 students and used one of the Chicago Consortium on School Research’s (CCSR)

Between the School Improvement Grants (SIG), the Smaller Learning Communities Program (SLC), Race to the Top (RTTT) and the High School Graduation Initiative (HSGI), it’s an exciting and challenging time to be in high school reform.  Wi

Increasing learning time is one of the requirements of both the transformation and turnaround models of the School Improvement Grant (SIG) and districts propose fulfilling this requirement in myriad ways. About half of high schools receiving SIG funds are adding minutes to the school day and/or adding days to the school calendar—by design, increasing learning time for all students.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a report that looks at high school dropout and completion rates from 1972-2008. The report, Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2008, includes discussions of many rates used to study how students complete or fail to complete high school.

Increased globalization of the economy has led educators and political leaders to recognize the need to transform education in order to prepare students to succeed in the global economy.  For high schools, this means that for students to graduate ready for college and careers, they must be able to perform well not only nationally, but also among their international peers.