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 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.

On August 13, the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted a live webinar on the release of its latest policy brief, The Linked Learning Approach: Building the Capacity of Teachers to Prepare Students for College and Careers. Current efforts in California to transform high schools are focused on Linked Learning, an approach that connects strong academics with real-world experience in a wide range of fields, such as engineering, arts and media, and biomedical and health sciences, with the goal of preparing all students for college, careers, and life. For teachers, this type of instruction requires more than most traditional training provides. Beyond basic pedagogy and subject-area knowledge, teachers need training to be able to (1) collaborate in the design and delivery of curriculum, (2) develop lessons using problem- and project-based learning, (3) forge industry and postsecondary partnerships, and (4) blend academic-, career-, and work-based learning experiences.

On August 13, the Alliance for Excellent Education released its latest policy brief, The Linked Learning Approach: Building the Capacity of Teachers to Prepare Students for College and Careers at an event in Washington, DC. Current efforts in California to transform high schools are focused on Linked Learning, an approach that connects strong academics with real-world experience in a wide range of fields, such as engineering, arts and media, and biomedical and health sciences, with the goal of preparing all students for college, careers, and life. For teachers, this type of instruction requires more than most traditional training provides. Beyond basic pedagogy and subject-area knowledge, teachers need training to be able to (1) collaborate in the design and delivery of curriculum, (2) develop lessons using problem- and project-based learning, (3) forge industry and postsecondary partnerships, and (4) blend academic-, career-, and work-based learning experiences.

On July 29, the Alliance for Excellent Education hosted the latest in its series of interactive webinars on what is happening in Washington, DC on education reform. During the webinar, Bob Wise, president of the Alliance and former governor of West Virginia, talked about President Obama's proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget increase in discretionary spending for the U.S. Department of Education. If enacted, the increase (7.5 percent) would be the largest since FY 2002—right after NCLB was signed into law. Other topics discussed included the likelihood of the U.S. Department of Education receiving President Obama's proposed budget increase; how much the congressional committees allocated for Title I, IDEA, and other education programs; and federal funding that's available to middle and high schools.

On July 15, 2010 the Alliance for Excellent Education and the National Association of Secondary School Principals cohosted a discussion about the role of school leaders in turning around low-performing schools. The MetLife Foundation-NASSP Breakthrough Schools project identifies, showcases, and recognizes middle and high schools that are high achieving or dramatically improving student achievement while serving large numbers of those students most at risk of dropping out. Brentwood High School and Tefft Middle School have been recognized by the Breakthrough Schools project as schools that have exemplified the core areas of collaborative leadership, personalization, and access to a rigorous and differentiated curriculum for all students.

Improving the quality of public high schools through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is a voting issue for over eight in ten voters, according to a new national poll released on July 14, 2010 by the Alliance for Excellent Education. The poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting for the purpose of gaining insight into Americans' views of the public education system, the concern over the growing problems with the nation’s high schools, and the urgency to enact meaningful education reform through reauthorization of ESEA. At the event, Governor Bob Wise, president of the Alliance, was joined by pollsters Celinda Lake and Christine Matthews to discuss the results of the survey.

Improving the quality of public high schools through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is a voting issue for over eight in ten voters, according to a new national poll released on July 14, 2010 by the Alliance for Excellent Education. The poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting for the purpose of gaining insight into Americans' views of the public education system, the concern over the growing problems with the nation’s high schools, and the urgency to enact meaningful education reform through reauthorization of ESEA. At the event, Governor Bob Wise was joined by pollsters Celinda Lake and Christine Matthews to discuss the results of the survey.

The Alliance for Excellent Education (the Alliance) recently published two documents to help education leaders and policymakers understand these issues better. The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution to Three Looming Crises in Education is a brief that describes the three crises confronting the nation and suggests ways that online learning can lead the U.S. education system out of them. The “Online Learning: Addressing Challenges and Seizing Opportunities” state profiles present state-specific information about the three crises in each state, online-learning opportunities in that state, the presence of state policies that support online learning, and how federal policy supports online learning in that state. On July 8 the Alliance hosted a webinar to release the two publications and facilitated a conversation among experts using questions submitted by participants from the around the country. Following the webinar, panelists participated in a live online chat. 

Earlier this year, the Alliance for Excellent Education documented the benefits of reducing the dropout rate for all students in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. Building on this work, it is now able to estimate the economic benefits of reducing the dropout rate among students of color in these metro areas. On July 7, the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Campaign for High School Equity hosted a live webinar to release these new findings and to discuss the challenges of improving high school graduation rates among students of color and what doing so could mean for local communities, as well as the students themselves. Following the discussion, panelists answered questions from online participants.

On July 1, the Alliance held the second in its series of interactive webinars on what is happening in Washington, DC on education reform. During the webinar, Ann Whalen, special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Alliance Vice President of Federal Advocacy Phillip Lovell discussed the role that School Improvement Grants (SIG) can play in turning around the nation's lowest-performing schools.