This briefing featured educational leaders who are building the Linked Learning field in California. School leaders shared their on-the-ground experience, and policy experts and advocates talked about the alliance of stakeholders who have unified behind this approach. Click on the above link to read more about the event and to view materials from the event.

On February 25, the Alliance for Excellent Education released Principles for a Comprehensive Assessment System, a policy brief written by Alliance Senior Fellow Robert Rothman. This paper outlines criteria for new assessment systems that support instruction and are aligned to standards for college and career readiness. During this webinar (3:00 - 4:00pm, EST), a brief presentation about the report was followed by an interactive conversation with experts using questions submitted by participants from around the country.

Given the local and national implications of the rural high school crisis, practitioners, education leaders, and policymakers need to understand the challenges facing rural high schools as well as the inherent assets that rural schools bring to the national education reform debate. On February 5, 2010, the Alliance for Excellent Education released its latest report, Current Challenges and Opportunities in Preparing Rural High School Students for Success in College and Careers: What Federal Policymakers Need to Know. During the webinar, a brief presentation on the report was followed by an interactive conversation with panelists using questions submitted by participants from the around the country.

Given the local and national implications of the rural high school crisis, practitioners, education leaders, and policymakers need to understand the challenges facing rural high schools as well as the inherent assets that rural schools bring to the national education reform debate. On February 5, 2010, the Alliance for Excellent Education released its latest report, Current Challenges and Opportunities in Preparing Rural High School Students for Success in College and Careers: What Federal Policymakers Need to Know. Following a presentation of the report’s findings, experts discussed the challenges and opportunities in rural high schools. A second panel of congressional and U.S. Department of Education staff explored important federal policy considerations for rural high schools.

As federal policymakers look for ways to systemically improve high school outcomes—through actions such as the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—they are eagerly looking to districts that have been engaged in major reform to understand the implications for supporting and encouraging these reforms at scale. Building on the parallels between New York City (NYC) school district's experience and the federal policy conversation, this briefing provided an opportunity to look at lessons learned as part of NYC’s efforts to improve high school outcomes and to identify federal policy recommendations that emerge from that experience. Featured speakers included Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City Department of Education and Michael Mulgrew, president of United Federation of Teachers.

Relatively small improvements in students’ educational performance can have large impacts on a nation’s future economic well-being, according to The High Cost of Low Educational Performance: An Estimation of the Long-Running Economic Impact of Improvements in PISA Outcomes. During this webinar (2:00 - 3:00pm EST), Eric Hanushek, one of the report’s authors, and Andreas Schleicher of the OECD presented the report’s findings. An interactive conversation with the participants about the report and how this research can impact federal education policy in the United States followed using questions submitted by participants from around the country.

At this event, the Alliance for Excellent Education released findings from its groundbreaking analysis of regional economies and the significant economic contributions that additional high school graduates would make within their communities. The event featured projections for the forty-five largest metropolitan areas in the country on several key economic indicators—growth in jobs and gross regional product, increases in regional home and auto sales, and several others—all as the result of reducing the regional dropout rate for a single high school class by half. Featured speakers included Edward Rust, chairman and CEO of State Farm®, Alma Powell, chairwoman of America's Promise Alliance, and Tim Nadreau, Research Economist, Economic Modeling Specialists Inc.

This briefing will focus on fundamental changes that need to be made to teacher preparation programs. It will also highlight promising practices and discuss policies that can promote a positive transformation in how teacher candidates are trained. Until high school teacher preparation is improved, too many students will continue to receive a subpar education with devastating personal and societal consequences. It is time for a dedicated investment—at all levels—to overhaul high school teacher preparation and to put the United States on the path toward a brighter future.

The Alliance for Excellent Education will host a panel of federal policy leaders to discuss the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and the federal government’s role in addressing chronically low-performing high schools.

It is important that all educators have the training, support, and structures in place to use data effectively. At this briefing, we will discuss the kinds of data that are most useful to teachers, the challenges inherent in teachers’ use of data, and the policies that can promote teachers’ use of data to impact student achievement. Our nation cannot afford to be “information poor” any longer; it is time to deliver on the promise of data to improve teaching and learning.