Back in January, the Alliance for Excellent Education released a blockbuster new study that provided convincing evidence for reducing the high school dropout rate in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The study, supported by State Farm ®, found that if high school dropout rates were cut in half in Baltimore, for example, which had a total of 9,700 students dropout in 2008, then the “new graduates” in the Baltimore metropolitan area would likely have:

On June 2, 2010 the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers released the common core state standards at an event held at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Georgia. The English language arts and mathematics standards for grades K–12 were developed in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders including content experts, states, teachers, school administrators, and parents. The standards establish clear and consistent goals for learning that will prepare America’s children for success in college and work. Click on the image to watch video from the event.

In my previous blog post , I told you where the Alliance has been. Now I want to tell you about where we hope to go.

The Alliance has always zeroed in on helping all students not only graduate from high school but graduate “college and career ready.” This is a phrase that we hear a lot these days, and currently forty-eight states, through their work in the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), are working together to define what it means. From the initial planning four years ago with the National Governors Association , the Council of Chief State School Officers , the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy , and Achieve , the APreview Changeslliance has been involved from the inception of the common core initiative.

Last Friday, May 28, 2010, CBS Evening News ran a story on the high school dropout epidemic. The story looked at the severity of the crises, the link between education and the economy, and some emerging solutions from the Philadelphia area.

During my final semester at Georgetown University, I was able to take a class in the philosophy of education, intern at the Alliance for Excellent Education, and start the process towards becoming a teacher in the school district of Philadelphia. With a strong interest in educational reform, I started the semester with many questions and a hope that many would be answered. Reflecting upon these past four months, I realized I have developed more questions than answers. My questions, however, have become more focused. Being able to learn about issues such as technology’s role in education and the specific needs of exceptional students, I am more acutely aware of the challenges we face in reforming our education system.

High school dropouts aged 25 to 34 years old were twice as likely to be living below the poverty line in 2008, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

The report, Poverty in the United States: 2008, finds that 34.7 percent of 25-34 year olds without a high school diploma were living in poverty in 2008, compared to 16.7 percent of individuals whose highest level of educational attainment was a high school diploma. Conversely, only 4.4 percent of individuals aged 25-34 with at least a bachelor’s degree were considered poor.

Last week, the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program released the State of Metropolitan America , an impressive and timely in-depth look at the nation’s changing urban areas. In the report, the authors describe the uneven higher educational attainment of urban residents. In particuar, they focus on older adults—who tend to be more educated than their younger peers. The authors credit this disconnect to a new reality in which a growing number of young adults attend postsecondary education but never complete a program or degree.

Welcome to the Alliance for Excellent Education’s new blog, High School Soup! The creation of this blog is the first step in a major effort to expand the Alliance’s ability to interact with larger audiences so we can work together to improve education.