Thursday, January 31, 2013

78.2. What's in a number?

The National Center for Education Statistics released its annual update on Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR) last week. As many news outlets reported, we're at a historic high of 78.2 percent for the 2009-2010 school year, up from 75.5 the year prior.  That's the highest rate since 1974.

But what's in a number? The Alliance for Excellent Education explains there are multiple graduation rates, including the still relatively new Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (or ACGR).  ACGR should be a more accurate measure (for many reasons, the most of which is that this is not an average like AFGR, but rather, a real number, based on how many ninth graders actually graduate four year laters).  There are a lot of graduations rates reported in the news, and all of these rates can get very confusing.... and we still haven't gotten to the "why."  Why did we see a nearly 3 percentage point bump in the last year reported (which is a bigger bump than the last few years combined!)?

Well, stay tuned.  The 2013 edition of Building a Grad Nation will be released at the Grad Nation Summit on February 25 by John Bridgeland and Robert Balfanz. The report will provide a lot of useful details - including an explanation of the different rates and a deeper analysis of the data.  (Full disclosure: I'm a coauthor on the 2012 and 2013 reports.) The event is free and open to the public (and featuring a great line up of speakers!) --- it's at capacity, but they're running a waitlist.  If you can't make it, the report will go live on the morning of February 25 on the Civic Enterprises website.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Great Job Opportunity - MENTOR

MENTOR, the National Mentoring Partnership, is hiring a new Director of Government Relations.  Great group with amazing leadership. The ideal candidate is an "action-oriented, hands-on professional who thrives in an entrepreneurial work environment and is passionate about and experienced in federal legislation and advocacy for youth."    I bet you know some of those types!  More here http://www.mentoring.org/about_mentor/career_opportunities





Wednesday, January 16, 2013

From Grit to Graduate

This piece was featured in the January 15th edition of EdWeek.


To the Editor:
In recent months, terms like "grit" and "character education" have been making their way out of the ivory tower and onto newsstands. A New York Times book review of How Children Succeed by Paul Tough cites his argument that "noncognitive skills ... are more crucial than sheer brainpower to achieving success." NBC's Education Nation forum featured a session on "True Grit," and "This American Life" on NPR offered a piece on "Grit, Luck, and Money" that showcased students who beat the odds.
Though the terms can vary ("efficacy," "grit," "character," "noncognitive skills"), the message is clear. These mainstream pieces linking a "can do" attitude with real results are rooted in research. Across the disciplines, there is a powerful link between self-efficacy and outcomes.
In education, longitudinal studies have shown that self-efficacy beliefs are linked to academic achievement, for teachers and students alike.
A landmark 2011 report by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, cited an analysis showing that students who were taught social- and emotional-learning instruction skills improved their performance on standardized tests by 11 points, on average.
In the recently released 2012 National Survey of School Counselors from the College Board's Advocacy and Policy Center, we learned that counselors who believe that they can be more effective in improving college-application rates actually tend to work at schools that have higher rates of college attendance.
With one in four students failing to graduate from high school with their peers, and even fewer completing college, we need to do everything we can to support America's students. This matters to them—and it matters to our nation. In the next decade, more than half of all new American jobs will require some postsecondary education, but we are expected to fall far short of fulfilling that need.
To accelerate educational outcomes, we need to believe not just in the powerful role of education and educators, but also in our school counselors. We must also believe in every student's success—and help them to believe in theirs.
Mary Bruce
Senior Education Advisor
Civic Enterprises
Washington, D.C.

Ms. Bruce is a co-author of the 2012 "Building a Grad Nation: Annual Update on the High School Dropout Epidemic" report, as well as 2011 and 2012 reports on the National Survey of School Counselors, both of which were released by the College Board's Advocacy and Policy Center.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Additional Reading


If you're interested in even more.... here are a few other publications I have written or co-authored: 

True North: The Second Annual National Survey of School Counselors
Based on original research of a nationally representative survey of school counselors and school administrators.
 
Building A Grad Nation: Annual Update on the High School Dropout Crisis
The 2012 Annual Update of Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the Dropout Epidemic report
Data trends and policy related to the US high school dropout epidemic (with the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, supported by AT&T, and Pearson Foundation, featured in 1100 print, online, and broadcast news stories nationwide).
 
On Track for Success: The Use of Early Warning Indicator and Intervention Systems A look at 16 districts and 7 states use of early warning indicator and intervention systems, which are an emerging tool to identify which students are off-track to graduate, to get them back on track.
 
Counseling at a Crossroads: the First Annual National Survey of School
Despite the aspirations of counselors to effectively help students succeed in school and fulfill their dreams, the mission and roles of counselors in the education system must be more clearly defined. Based on original research of a nationally representative survey of school counselors.

Profiles in Service: My Sixth Ramadan and Still at It
An article in World View (the Magazine of the National Peace Corps Association) about my experience as a volunteer in Morocco. Article on page 37.
 
Combating the Summer Slide 
This piece discusses the harmful effects of summer learning loss -- to both students and the nation. 

Regional and Financial Crisis: Roots, Results and Responses, editor 
Experts in the financial arena explained what happened, analyzed the causes, and made recommendations for future actions in regards to the current financial crisis faced by our region.
 
Children’s Health in New Jersey, editor
This report details the “Children’s Health in New Jersey Summit” which brought together practitioners, academics, and the community to discuss, analyze, and make policy recommendations that will lead to better healthcare in New Jersey and the region.

Working Together - Grad Nation Civic Marshall Plan Leadership Council


In my role at Civic Enterprises, I'm lucky to work with the Grad Nation Civic Marshall Plan Leadership Council*, which brings together more than 40 leading national partners to reach the goal of 90 percent high school graduation rates by 2020.  Each week, I get to learn about the work that national organizations are doing to help change lives on the ground.   

Here are a few websites I frequently visit for more information on this work.

America’s Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest partnership dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth. We bring together more than 400 national organizations representing nonprofits, businesses, communities, educators and policymakers.

American Graduate: Let's Make it Happen s a multi-year public media initiative, supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to help local communities identify and implement solutions to the high school dropout crisis.

The Everyone Graduates Center develops and disseminates the know-how required to enable all students to graduate from high school prepared for college, career, and civic life.

*For a full list of the Grad Nation/Civic Marshall Plan Leadership Council, please see Appendix K of the 2012 Grad Nation report, here: http://www.civicenterprises.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/ED%20-%20building%20a%20grad%20nation.pdf