December 2007

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Commentary

When Achieve's American Diploma Project

(ADP) Network was founded at the 2005
National Education Summit, only two states
(Texas and Arkansas) had graduation
requirements rigorous enough to prepare
students for success in college and careers. The
governors and state education leaders who
helped start the ADP Network recognized that if
they wanted their graduates to be able to
compete for college and jobs in a "flat world"
their 20th century education standards were no
longer good enough. They also understood the
power of collaborating with and learning from
each other as they raised expectations.

Nowhere has the power of collective state

action been more apparent than in the rapid
adoption by states of rigorous college and
career ready graduation requirements. What
began as two states just under three years ago now stands at 17, with Louisiana
and Arizona taking action to raise their graduation requirements just this month.
For a state by state comparison of the new requirements, go here.

Each of the states that have put new requirements in place has faced a series of
difficult decisions in designing and implementing its graduation policy. In which
subject areas should the state establish requirements and how challenging should
those requirements be? Should the new requirements be mandatory for all
students or should there be an opt- out provision? How will the state ensure that
courses with the same name are taught in a consistently rigorous manner across
the state? What are the implications for career and technical education or other
non traditional curricular pathways? The list goes on.
In order to help states navigate these issues, Achieve held a strategy session for
ADP states earlier this year. We invited leaders from states who had already raised
graduation requirements to attend so they could share their experiences and
lessons learned with states that were planning action. The dynamics and the ideas
that emerged were powerful.

As an outgrowth of that meeting, Achieve has developed a policy brief entitled,

"Aligning High School Graduation Requirements with the Real World: A Road Map
for States." (Download it here.) The Road Map addresses the most frequently cited
challenges of policy design as well as strategies for implementation,
communication and coalition building. It draws heavily on the experience of early
adopter states.

Raising graduation requirements is no panacea. It brings numerous capacity

challenges to the fore, from finding enough qualified math and science teachers to
ensuring students receive the support they need to succeed. But that is exactly the
point. Setting the bar so that all students graduate from high school prepared for
the real world is an important first step in addressing and resolving these critical
issues. Once the bar is set, it enables all of the leaders in the state, in districts and
in schools to focus on what really matters: doing what it takes to help students
succeed.

New from Achieve

ADP Mathematics Backmapped Benchmarks

Achieve has mapped out what students need to know and be able to do in
mathematics in grades K-12, seamlessly connecting the expectations throughout
the grades with those for the end of high school. These benchmarks outline a
progression of mathematics content that, if followed, will ensure that students
master the content needed to be successful in college and work. More...

Policy Brief on Interim Assessments

School districts increasingly see interim assessments as an important element in

their instructional improvement strategy and are implementing interim
assessments district-wide in multiple grades and content areas. Yet, they face
significant design and implementation challenges to realizing the potential of
interim assessments to improve teaching and learning. The Aspen Institute
Education and Society Program and Achieve, Inc. partnered with the National
Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment to develop a policy brief on
the role of interim assessments in a comprehensive assessment system. The goals
are to clarify how interim assessments fit into the landscape of formative
assessment and to offer recommendations to districts on the appropriate use of
interim assessments as part of a broader assessment system. The brief is informed
by conversations with the Aspen Institute Urban Superintendents Network and the
affiliated Dana Center-Achieve Urban Mathematics Leaders Network. More...

Common Algebra II Test Update

The end-of-course Algebra II exam is the largest effort a group of states has ever
undertaken to develop a common assessment based on common standards. Nine
ADP Network states - Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island - formed the consortium initially and
a number of other states are in the process of joining. The first field test of the
Algebra II exam occurred in October. An additional field test will be held in
February 2008. First operational administration of the test will occur in May 2008.
A fact sheet that answers frequently asked questions is available, including
information on the core test content and how states can become members of the
consortium. More...

Louisiana and Arizona Increase

Graduation Requirements News Clips

In early December the Louisiana Board 1. Align Student

of Elementary and Secondary Performance with U.S.,
Education approved college- and Global Standards.
career-ready graduation requirements.
The revision to Bulletin 741, the
Louisiana Handbook for School The Arizona Republic
Administrators, will increase the published a viewpoint by Dr.
Carnegie credits needed to earn a Craig R. Barrett and Dr.
diploma from 23 to 24 by requiring a Lattie F. Coor that strongly
fourth year of math, including Algebra endorses an increase in the
II, for high school graduation. graduation standards of
Beginning with incoming freshman in Arizona schools. It points
2008-09, all students automatically will out that, "If we … do not
be enrolled in the Louisiana Core 4 educate our students to
Curriculum, which includes four units world standards, we will not
each of English, math, science, and be competitive." More...
social studies; one unit of visual arts,
performing arts, or Fine Arts Survey; 2. Education Reform in
and two units of foreign language or Tennessee.
speech courses. These revisions are
the result of recommendations from Dr. Susan Bunch, Assistant
the Louisiana High School Redesign Commissioner for Teaching
Commission, a statewide collaborative and Learning at the
effort of the Department of Education, Tennessee Department of
the Board of Elementary and Education, notes in an
Secondary Education, the Board of editorial that, "The
Regents and the Governor's Office. standards and curriculum
that determine the
At its meeting on December 10, the framework and
Arizona State Board of Education requirements for learning
raised its graduation requirements, are the bedrock of a quality
bringing the total number of states education. Gov. Phil
with college- and career-ready Bredesen is leading the
graduation requirements to 17. It drive to bring the
added two additional years of math community together to
(Algebra II and another course that advance those learning
includes significant math content), one standards under the
additional credit of science, and one- Tennessee Diploma
half credit of economics. The changes Project." More...
will be phased in beginning with the
graduating class of 2012. These 3. World's Schools Teach U.
students will have to complete 20 S. a Lesson.
credits, including one-half credit of
economics and three credits of math. An article in The Christian
The class of 2013 must earn 22 credits Science Monitor focuses on
to graduate high school. The final rules the need to better prepare
are posted on the Board of Education's students in light of global
website. Read an article in the Arizona competition. Achieve
Daily Star. president Mike Cohen says
that "governors and chief
state school officers ...
basically have said, 'Well,
it's great that you want us
to align our expectations
with the real world kids will
face domestically ... but
that's not enough; we need
to know what our
expectations ought to be in
order for our kids to
succeed [globally].' " More...
New Resources

● The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the results

of the 2007 reading and mathematics assessments, known as the Trial
Urban District Assessments, or TUDAs. These assessments were given
earlier this year to 4th- and 8th-grade students at eleven urban school
districts at the same time as national- and state-level assessments. The
study compares students' scores against the average nationally and the
averages of students in other large central cities (population >250,000). Key
findings show that national NAEP trends in 4th and 8th grade math and
reading scores were similarly observed among the urban districts tested.

❍ The national average for 4th grade NAEP math scores increased from
2003 to 2007. Eight urban districts saw a similar increase, three saw
no change.

❍ The national average for 8th grade NAEP math scores increased from
2003 to 2007. All eleven urban districts saw a similar increase.

❍ The national average for 4th grade NAEP reading scores increased
from 2003 to 2007. Ten urban districts saw a similar increase, one saw
no change.

❍ The national average for 8th grade NAEP reading scores remained
constant from 2003 to 2007. Seven urban districts saw a similar
stagnation, three saw an increase.

Detailed statistics about particular districts show some areas where

achievement gaps are being closed. The full TUDA report gives examples.

● The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has

issued a report entitled, "Chance Favors the
Prepared Mind: Mathematics and Science
Indicators for Comparing States and Nations." It
compares the mathematics and science skills of
8th-grade students in each of the 50 states, D.
C., and U.S. Department of Defense schools
with those of their counterparts around the
world and provides international benchmarks to
help states see how their students are doing
within an international context.
 "More than a century ago Louis Pasteur revealed
the secret to invention and innovation when he
said 'chance favors the prepared mind'. The
take away message from this report is that the
United States is loosing the race to prepare the minds of the future
generation," says Dr. Gary Phillips, a chief scientist at AIR and report author.

According to the study, students in Singapore and several other Asian

countries significantly outperform U.S. students, even those in high-
achieving states. Download the report...

● The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results are in.
PISA is an assessment that focuses on 15-year-olds' capabilities in reading
literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. In the U.S., this age
corresponds largely to grade 9 and 10 students. It is coordinated by the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an
intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries. In 2006, fifty-
seven jurisdictions participated in PISA, including 30 OECD jurisdictions and
27 non-OECD jurisdictions. The results show the average combined science
literacy scale score for U.S. students to be lower than the OECD average. U.
S. students scored lower on science literacy than their peers in 16 of the
other 29 OECD jurisdictions and 6 of the 27 non-OECD jurisdictions. Twenty-
two jurisdictions (5 OECD jurisdictions and 17 non-OECD jurisdictions)
reported lower scores compared to the U.S. in science literacy.

On the mathematics literacy scale, U.S. students scored lower than the
OECD average. Thirty-one jurisdictions (23 OECD jurisdictions and 8 non-
OECD jurisdictions) scored higher on average, than the U.S. in mathematics
literacy in 2006. In contrast, 20 jurisdictions (4 OECD jurisdictions and 16
non-OECD jurisdictions) scored lower than the U.S. in mathematics literacy
in 2006.

Administered every three years, PISA includes measures of general or cross-

curricular competencies, such as learning strategies, and emphasizes skills
that students have acquired as they near the end of mandatory schooling.
PISA 2000 focused on reading literacy, PISA 2003 focused on mathematics
literacy, and PISA 2006 focused on science literacy. More...

● McKinsey & Company, a global

consulting group, conducted a study
to find out why some schools
succeed where others do not. It
studied 25 of the world's school
systems, including 10 of the top
performers. The experiences of
these systems suggests that three
things matter most: 1) getting the
 right people to become teachers, 2)
developing them into effective
instructors, and 3) ensuring that the
system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every student.
Read the PDF and an article in The Economist.

● Researchers at the Community College Research

Center at Teachers College, Columbia
University, have examined the outcomes of dual
enrollment participation for students in Florida
and New York City, with emphasis on students
in career and technical education (CTE)
programs. “The Postsecondary Achievement of
Participants in Dual Enrollment: An Analysis of
Student Outcomes in Two States” analyzes both
short-term and long-term effects of participation
in dual enrollment and differential effects based
on demographics such as race/ethnicity,
gender, and socioeconomic status. The authors
report positive effects from participation and
provide evidence that dual enrollment can be an
effective transition strategy for a variety of
students. More...

Achieve Job Opportunities

Achieve seeks a Director, Postsecondary Initiatives; a Director, Assessment

Partnerships; and an Assistant to the Vice President for Content and Policy
Research. For more information, go here.

Perspective is sent to you by Achieve, a bipartisan, non-profit organization founded

by the nation’s governors and CEOs to help states raise standards, improve
assessments and strengthen accountability to prepare all young people for
postsecondary education, work and citizenship. Please feel free to circulate this e-
newsletter to your colleagues.

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Copyright © 2007 Achieve, Inc.