State Scholars Initiative RFP

TO: Governors

Chief State School Officers

State-level and national business/education organizations

State-level educational organizations

State GEAR UP, MESA, College in the High School Programs

Other national and State educational organizations

Media and education journals

FROM: David Longanecker, Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE)

Terese Rainwater, Program Director, State Scholars Initiative

SUBJECT: RFP for State Scholars Initiative: Issued October 2, 2006

This is an announcement of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the State Scholars Initiative issued October 2, 2006. WICHE invites new State level business-education partnerships to apply for Federal State Scholars Initiative grants. We are administering this national project for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) of the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

The State Scholars Initiative is a multi-State business/education partnership effort focused on increasing the number of high school students who take a rigorous secondary-level curriculum designed to strengthen both college and workplace entrance and success. The Initiative is fully aligned with the purposes and objectives of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Eighteen States are currently participating in SSI, in that they are receiving funds and operating SSI projects in their States, or they have completed their SSI projects and remained within the SSI Network: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. WICHE is responsible for providing technical assistance, monitoring, oversight, and cost reimbursement to the SSI projects in these States. Two additional States previously were funded and operated and completed SSI projects: New Mexico and Washington. Through this RFP, eligible entities in other States (not among the twenty States referred to above) are invited to submit proposals for SSI funding.

The RFP with complete application materials is now available at WICHE’s Web site at http://www.wiche.edu/Statescholars.

We encourage States not yet participating in the State Scholars Initiative to consider submitting a proposal to this RFP. Proposals will be due at WICHE by November 6, 2006.

By way of background, the Federal State Scholars Initiative is predicated upon three important research findings:

· There is a strong link between courses completed in high school and postsecondary achievement[1]

· A solid high school education can increase wages both for students who enroll in and complete postsecondary education and for students who enter the workforce directly from high school;[2]

· A solid academic foundation in high school benefits every student regardless of ethnicity and socioeconomic status (in fact, students from families with lower socioeconomic status tend to derive a greater relative benefit from a rigorous course of study). [3]

To derive these research findings, the U.S. Department of Education conducted four long-term studies that tracked students from the sophomore year of high school through age 30. Especially telling are findings related to course taking; i.e., the strong link between courses completed in high school and postsecondary degree completion. Students who took Algebra II, for example, earned a bachelor’s degree 39.3 percent of the time, while students who stopped at geometry earned a bachelor’s degree only 16.7 percent of the time. [4]

WICHE is available at this time to provide technical assistance to any eligible State entity interested in developing a proposal. Please contact Terese Rainwater, program director for the State Scholars Initiative, if you have questions or comments regarding this program: [email protected] and/or 303-541-0225. Thank you for your interest in the State Scholars Initiative.

[1] Examples: Ackerman, Deena, Do the Math: High School Mathematics Courses and the Earnings of High School Graduates, unpublished dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2001. Adelman, Clifford, Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor’s Degree Attainment, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, 1999. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/ ACT, Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work, 2004. College Board, 2002 College Bound Seniors, Table 3-3. On Course for Success: A Close Look at Selected High School Courses that Prepare All Students for College, joint study of ACT and The Education Trust, 2004. Perna, Laura and Titus, Mavin, "Understanding Difference in the Choice of College Attended," April 2003.

[2] Examples: The Expectations Gap, A 50-State Review of High School Graduation Requirements, Achieve, 2004. Standards for What? The Economic Roots of K-16 Reform, ETS Report, 2003.

[3] Examples: Characteristics of Minority Students Who Excel on the SAT and in the Classroom, Educational Testing Service (ETS) Policy Information Report, January 2005. Closing the Achievement Gap, A Policy Action Guide for Washington’s State School Districts, 2002. The Expectations Gap, A 50-State Review of High School Graduation Requirements, Achieve, 2004.

[4] Adelman, C. The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, 2006.