What We Are Reading: Graduation Rates, School Turnaround, SAT, NCLB

Looking for new high school-related resources? Here are some pieces that the National High School Center and other organizations have recently released:*

The Urgency of Now: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males (The Schott Foundation for Public Education, September 20, 2012). This report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education, an Atlantic grantee, finds that only 52 percent of Black male and 58 percent of Latino male ninth-graders graduate from high school four years later, while 78 percent of White, non-Latino male ninth-graders graduate four years later.

The SAT® Report on College and Career Readiness: 2012 (College Board, September 24, 2012). This report provides students and families with helpful information about the role and value of the SAT in high schools and higher education, and shines a light on educational inequities that must be overcome to guarantee that all students are ready for, and succeed in, college. When used appropriately, the SAT can be a valuable tool for high school educators, college-bound students, and higher education.

Democratic School Turnarounds: Pursuing Equity and Learning from Evidence (National Education Policy Center, October 1, 2012). This report considers the democratic tensions inherent in the federal SIG policy’s market based school reforms. It concludes with a set of recommendations that re-center the purposes of public education for low-income students, students of color, and local communities in developing more equitable, democratic school turnarounds.

What Impact Will NCLB Waivers Have on the Consistency, Complexity and Transparency of State Accountability Systems? (Center on Education Policy at the George Washington University, October 2, 2012) This report compares the new accountability provisions in the waiver states with those in the NCLB statute. Examples from select waiver states are included to illustrate how these new provisions will work within some specific statewide accountability systems. The report focuses on the complexity, transparency, and consistency across states of the new accountability systems in the waiver states, both on their own terms and in comparison with the NCLB statutory requirements.

Accountability Issues to Watch Under NCLB Waivers (Center on Education Policy at the George Washington University, October 2, 2012) This report highlights issues to watch over the next few years as states with waivers implement new accountability systems. For each of the issues discussed, the authors consider the implications for public education systems, teachers, and students. The discussion must be speculative because the new systems are just getting underway, and key details have yet to be determined in some states.

*Resource descriptions provided by the sponsoring organization

Note: This blog post was originally authored under the auspices of the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The National High School Center’s blog, High School Matters, which ran until March 2013, provided an objective perspective on the latest research, issues, and events that affected high school improvement. The CCRS Center plans to continue relevant work originally developed under the National High School Center grant. National High School Center blog posts that pertain to CCRS Center issues are included on this website as a resource to our stakeholders.