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America’s High Schools. The Front Line in the Battle for Our Economic Future. — An Action Agenda for Improving America’s High Schools

November 27, 2006 /

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Too many Americans think of high school only as an adolescent rite of passage, a place
where the joy and turmoil of the teenage years are romanticized on television and in film
and where the struggle for academic proficiency is merely one aspect of a larger drama.

But the time has come to think of high school in a more crucial and substantial context.
High school is where America’s young people enter the adult world, not just socially, but
more important, economically. Whether they realize it or not, it is where they begin
preparing themselves for the economic environment in which they will compete and earn
their livelihoods. Its importance is seen in the alarming reality that the United States has
one of the lowest graduation rates of all developed nations, in the strikingly low percentage
of students ready to use high school as a springboard for success in college and beyond,
and in the pressing need for lifelong learning and effective citizenship in an increasingly
demanding era of technology and global linkage.

This paper investigates the relationship between America’s high schools and the challenges
our economy faces. The message found here is a simple but clear one: High school is now
the front line in America’s battle to remain competitive on the increasingly competitive
international economic stage.

Over the past few years, Achieve, Inc., and the National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices have undertaken a series of activities
regarding the importance of high school and identified a path to high school education
reform.

This paper is a “call to action” for the nation’s governors and business and
education leaders to combine that understanding with an appropriate sense of urgency —
and to turn the nation’s high schools into a path toward economic success for all students.

Paper: http://www.high-point.net/workforce/Appendix_B.pdf

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Prepared High School Students Needed
to Head off Looming Skill
and Labor Shortage

While 40 of the 50 fastest growing occupations in the nation now require at least some
education after high school, seven out of 10 students now graduate from high school without
completing the courses they will need to succeed in college or in the workplace. This trend is
leading many employers to report difficulties in finding qualified employees. By 2010, the
nation’s workforce is expected to face a shortage of more than 12 million college-educated
workers.

To meet the growing demand for highly qualified workers, while better preparing students to
compete in a job market that will require strong academic credentials and technical skills, the
U.S. must increase the percentage of high school graduates completing a rigorous course of
study that includes: three credits of math through at least Algebra 2; three credits of basic lab
science, including physics; four credits of English; 3.5 credits of social studies; and two credits
of a language other than English.

The U.S. Department of Education has shown conclusively that such rigorous coursework
better equips high school graduates to advance to higher education, complete a degree, succeed
at training for work or the military, or resume education at a later date. African-Americans and
Latinos are more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree if they have had a rigorous high school
course of study, with African-American degree completion rising from 45 to 73 percent and
Latino completion from 61 to 79 percent. Challenging coursework also mitigates low
socioeconomic status. High school coursework also affects future earnings, with students
completing rigorous high school courses enjoying a 13.1 percent wage advantage nine years after
graduation. Adults with only a high school diploma are twice as likely to be unemployed as
those with a bachelor’s degree.

A business-led initiative in Texas showed that a majority of students — not just three out of 10
— is capable of completing rigorous coursework. The Texas Scholars program challenged high
school students to master a set of academically rigorous courses by appealing to their selfinterest.
Texas Scholars was particularly effective because employers took a lead role in
describing the opportunities that await young people who work hard and complete rigorous
courses in high school, making it clear that coursework matters to future academic and career
success. Armed with facts and a roadmap, many students enrolled in tougher courses,
sometimes despite the apprehensions of parents and teachers. When students successfully
completed challenging courses, it bred higher expectations among peers, generating greater
demand for high-level courses and the teachers who can teach them. Texas Scholars also
challenged adults’ assumptions about who is “college material,” altering the very culture of
participating schools and their surrounding communities.

Full Report:
http://www.high-point.net/workforce/Appendix_C.pdf

***

An Action Agenda for Improving America’s High Schools

America’s high schools are failing to prepare
too many of our students for work
and higher education.

Full Report: http://www.high-point.net/workforce/Appendix_D.pdf

***

Welcome to the advisory for the workforce preparedness project in High Point, North Carolina. Each week through September 2006, there will be an update on progress in the development of a strategic plan to strengthen the community’s workforce capacity.

http://www.high-point.net/workforce/index.cfm

(Many thanks to http://edpro.blogspot.com/ for passing these excellent papers along. Russ)

***