Video Available: Implementing the Common Core State Standards to Achieve Equity

More than two thirds of the states have adopted common grade-level expectations in English language arts and math, making clear what students need to know and be able to do to graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college or the workplace. These new, common standards open up opportunities for collaboration across state lines on common assessments as well as instructional materials. They will also require great care in implementation at the state, district, and school levels.

In early August, 2010, the Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE) held a retreat to discuss this movement as well as the promises and challenges that common core state standards present for communities of color who have long advocated for more equitable education opportunities and outcomes.

On August 23, CHSE and its partners hosted a webinar that continued to build on this retreat by (1) helping ensure that advocates across the country are aware of this movement, (2) helping to bring the community together to think about this issue, and (3) beginning to prioritize issues for implementation of the common core state standards.

Watch video or download audio from the webinar ...

Find the Lowest-Performing High Schools in Your State

One in three high school students do not graduate and just 12 percent of the nation‘s high schools produce nearly half of the nation‘s dropouts. Within these lowest-performing high schools (sometimes known as "dropout factories"), just 60 percent or fewer of entering freshmen progress to their senior year three years later.

Prioritizing the Nation's Lowest-Performing High Schools, a recent issue brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education, notes that the lowest-performing high schools are located in every state; in urban, suburban, rural, and small-town America; in large high schools and small. Their one unifying characteristic is that they disproportionately serve our nation‘s poor and minority students.

In an era of diminishing financial resources, it makes good economic sense to target the nation's lowest-performing high schools and focus attention, commitment, and resources on improving them, the brief argues. Directing strategic efforts to turn around these schools could significantly reduce the nation's dropout rate.

"When emergency medical personnel arrive at an accident scene, they immediately deliver treatment to the most severely injured, said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. "Similarly, the nation must focus its attention on the lowest-performing schools with the largest number of ‘victims' in the national dropout crisis. The fact that these schools are so widespread and contribute so greatly to the national dropout crisis dictates making them an essential focus of any federal effort to improve the graduation rate."

While not a graduation rate, a school’s “promoting power” is a good indicator of how well schools are educating their students. See how high schools across the country perform by going to the Promoting Power database. High schools with promoting power less than 60 percent make up the nation's lowest-performing high schools.

Bush and Wise Convene Digital Learning Council

On August 18, Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, along with Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, launched the Digital Learning Council to identify policies that will fuse existing and future technological innovations into public education. The Digital Learning Council brings together more than fifty leaders in their fields—including education, government, philanthropy, business, technology, and think tanks—to map out a plan of reform for local, state, and federal lawmakers and policymakers.

“Technology has the power to customize education for every student in America,” said Governor Bush, cochair of the Digital Learning Council. “Providing a customized, personalized education for students was a dream just a decade ago. Technology can turn that dream into reality today. ”

Although more than 3.5 million students—including those educated at home—take courses online— that number represents only a fraction of what is possible through technology.

“The members of the Digital Learning Council share a sense of extreme urgency about the need to bring digital learning to every school, every classroom, and every child,” stated Governor Wise, cochair of the Digital Learning Council. “We must not squander the opportunity to promote digital innovation to reform our nation’s schools and ensure that all students are prepared to confront the challenges in our economy and society with the tools and skills that digital technology offers.”

There is a wide range of areas within digital learning that the Council will cover, including online and virtual schools, personalized learning, blended learning, digital content, and online and mobile social networks, among other topics.

Read the full press release including members and special liaisons of the Digital Learning Council...

Alliance Offers Recommendations to Congress on ESEA Reauthorization

On March 15, the Obama administration released its blueprint to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Later that week, Alliance President Bob Wise appeared on the PBS NewsHour to discuss the blueprint.

On March 26, the Alliance made recommendations to the U.S. Congress in reaction to the Obama administration's blueprint. Specifically, the Alliance called for an ESEA reauthorization that would: 1) Codify the goal of graduating all students from high school on time, ready for college and careers; 2) Hold states, districts, and schools accountable for achieving the goal of college and career readiness; 3) Support state- and district-led school improvement systems that are data driven; differentiate reforms and interventions to meet the specific needs of districts, schools, and students; and address the lowest-performing secondary schools; and 4) Strengthen federal investment in secondary schools, including a formula-based funding stream to turn around low-performing secondary schools as proposed by the Graduation Promise Act.

Read more about the Alliance's ESEA recommendations or download the Obama administration's blueprint.