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SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
Preparing Students for
Success in High School
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Setting Performance Standards:What Percentage of Eighth-graders Are
Below Basic in Mathematics?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
AR
DE
FL
GA
KY
MS
OK
SC
TN
TX
VA
State NAEP
SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
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Strategy One:Get the Mission Right
All groups of students leaving grade eight are prepared for college-preparatory courses in grade nine.
SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
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Getting the Mission Right: Where Do We Stand?
Prepare students who: % of teachers
have minimum basic skills;
42
have academic knowledge and skills needed for college-preparatory work; and
38
get along with and understand others.
19 SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
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SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
Strategy Two:Defining What Students Need to Know and Do to Be Ready for High School
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Readiness for High School: Where Do We Stand?
Middle Grades Students:81% plan further study
after high school.37% had intensive literacy
experiences.23% had intensive
numeracy experiences.SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
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SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
Strategy Three:Getting Students Ready for High School with Quality Extra Help and Time
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SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
Strategy Four:
Getting Good Principals
for the Middle Grades
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SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
Strategy Five:Getting Qualified Teachers in the Middle Grades
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Comparing Teacher Quality in Mathematics Classes
Teachers with Less
than a Minor
Teachers with Less
than a Major
All Schools 61% 72%
Low-poverty Schools
56 68
High-poverty Schools
70 77
SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
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Actions to Improve the Supply of New Teachers with
a Content Focus
Require at least a content minor for middle grades teaching by a set date.
Develop university programs that focus on the middle grades.
Assign teachers based on content focus.Southern
RegionalEducationBoard
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Conditions for Best Results for Career/Technical
Studies
SouthernRegionalEducationBoard
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Condition One: Combining In-depth Career Studies with a Solid Academic Core
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Percentages of Students Meeting Performance Goals by Whether or Not They Completed the HSTW-Recommended
Academic Core and a Career Concentration
67%77%
27% 29%21%
70%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
Completed Did not complete
Reading Mathematics Science
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Condition Two: Effective Guidance and Advisement
Encourage students to take challenging mathematics and science courses
Assist students in planning a programof study by the end of grade nine
Involve parents
Provide information on postsecondary education
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Percentages of Students Completing the HSTW-recommended Curriculum in 2000
61%
91%75%
25%
70%
40%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
English Mathematics Science
Received strong guidance Did not receive strong guidance
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Percentages of Students Meeting the HSTW Performance Goals in 2000
67%72%65%
48%53%
35%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Reading Mathematics Science
Received strong guidance Did not receive strong guidance
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Condition Three:Integrating Academic Content into Business and Technical Classes
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Percentages of Students Who Met the HSTW Performance Goals in 2000 by Whether or Not Their Career/Technical
Courses Integrated Academic Content and Skills
31%
69%
45%
57%
38%
63%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Academics were integrated Academics were not integrated
Reading Mathematics Science
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Condition Four: Structured Work-site Learning
Observing veteran workers
Having an assigned mentor
Being evaluated against clear standards
Learning customer relations
Using communication skills
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Percentages of Students Meeting the HSTW Performance Goals by Whether or Not They Had
Quality Work-based Learning Experiences
59%
29%
70% 65%
40%45%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Reading Mathematics Science
Yes
No
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Condition Five:Leadership That Creates a Climate of High Expectations
Teachers indicate the amount and quality of work expected
Students receive extra help
Students complete one or more hours of homework daily
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Percentages of Students Who Met the HSTW Performance Goals by Whether or Not They Experienced a Climate of High Expectations
55% 56%
36%
47%
62%53%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Met ReadingGoal
Met MathematicsGoal
Met Science Goal
Yes No
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Reasons to Rethink the Purpose of High School
Career/Technical Studies
Over half of these students pursue postsecondary studies.
The new economy requires new skills.
The field needs a clear focus.
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The Purpose Should Be to Produce Graduates Who Can:
Read, understand and communicate in the language of a career field
Use mathematics skills, reasoning and understanding
Understand technical concepts, principles and procedures
Use basic technology
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Improving Career/Technical Studies:
Increase access to challenging vocational and technical
studies, with a major emphasis on using high-level
mathematics, science, language arts and problem-
solving skills.
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Vocational Practices andHigher Achievement
At least weekly, students: use mathematics to complete assignments; read and interpret technical books and
materials to complete assignments; spend one hour reading non-school-related
materials; and do math-related homework assigned by C/T
teacher.
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Vocational Practices andHigher Achievement
At least monthly, students:read a career-related article and
demonstrate understanding;use computer skills to do assignments;
andhave challenging assignments.
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Vocational Practices andHigher Achievement
Students: complete four or more credits in a planned
sequence; do projects that require research and written
plans; do a senior project; meet standards on a written exam to pass a
course; and spoke to, interviewed and visited a person in a
career-field to which they aspired.
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Quality Vocational Studies and Higher Achievement
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Quality Career/Technical Studies at Top 50 Schools and at All Schools
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Actions for Increasing Opportunities for Quality Career Studies
Strengthen area vocational centersCreate “choice” technical high schoolsDevelop career academiesUse dual-enrollment coursesLocate high school programs on postsecondary
campuses
Making the Senior Year Count
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Actions for Increasing Opportunities for Quality Career Studies
Create a charter technical high school
Create a virtual technical high school
Strengthen work-based learning
Fund new types of career/technical courses
End the general track
Making the Senior Year Count
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Comparison of Georgia High School with a Delaware Technical High School with
Comparative Demographics
Georgia Average Score
Delaware Average Score
4 years of college-prep English
41% 271 (R) 98% 298 (R)
4 years of Math 19% 304 (M) 61% 316 (M)
3 years of college prep science
49% 295 (S) 100% 311 (S)
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What are shortcomingsof the present system for preparing and
certifying career/technical teachers?
Many career/technical teachers lack an adequate academic foundation.
Some teachers do not have breadth and depth of technical knowledge.
Most teachers are not prepared to integrate career/technical and academic content to advance achievement.
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Improving High Schools:Require Students to Complete the HSTW-Recommended Curriculum
4 credits in college-preparatory/honors English
At least 3 mathematics credits -- Algebra I and
higher – including mathematics the senior year
3 credits in science, including 2 at the
college-prep level
4 credits in a planned sequence of career and
technical studies or an academic concentration
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Percentages of Students Meeting Performance Goals at 45 Schools
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Percentages of Students Meeting Performance Goal by Program of Study at 45 Schools
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Improving High Schools: Require Schools to Increase
Annually the Percent of Students Completing High
School
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Improving High Schools: Develop End-of-Program
Exams That Count in Assessing Student
Learning in Career and Technical Courses
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Improving High Schools:Make the Senior Year Count
Give college placement tests at least by middle of Junior year of high school.
Have students spend one-half time in core academic studies.
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Improving High Schools: Increase Technical Assistance to Low-
Performing HSTW Schools to Become High-Performing
High Schools
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What Actions Can States Take?
Raise graduation requirements. Provide access to quality career/technical instruction. Assess performance in selected core academic courses
and make it count. Use end-of-program exams that count for assessing
student achievement in vocational courses. Develop state policies on guidance and advisement. Provide financial support for extra help. Develop a middle grades/high school transition policy. Provide technical assistance to low-performing
schools.