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Secondary, Career, and Technical Education
Adult Education and Literacy
Community Colleges
News from Around the U.S. Department of Education
Greetings from the Assistant Secretary
The end of 2004 is a good time to express appreciation for the progress we have made and make our resolutions for a better 2005. Career and technical education reaches most high schools in America and provides opportunities for students to discover career options they wish to pursue. In the best programs, students develop knowledge and skills in a career area that are reinforced in their rigorous academic courses as well. They leave high school ready to pursue a career or further education without the need for remediation. They may have community, technical, or four-year college credits that certified their skills or gave them the head start on their career preparation. These students are lucky. However, there are many students who leave high school without the academic or career skills required for success. Over 30 percent of them-even more in urban areas-leave school before graduation, prepared at best to get a minimum wage job, but not a career. Others graduate from high school, but fail to meet the entrance requirements in their career area or in higher education. For all of these students, other programs must provide the remediation required to prepare them for career success.
So, for 2005 we must rededicate ourselves to the young people in our high schools and community colleges. Our students depend on us to guide them in their education, and they can help us understand what works and what doesn't, if we listen to what they tell us in both formal and informal settings. We must help our academic peers appreciate the value of project-based learning, lessons that include applications of the abstract concepts that students must master. We must make our voices heard in the dialogue about redesigning our high schools so that they work for all of our students. We must demonstrate how best to develop the academic, career and leadership skills of our students.
In 2005, we will work to pass the Perkins reauthorization. It will focus on the combination of strong academic and state-of-the-art career and technical skills developed through career pathways in our high schools and vocational-technical centers. Our schools will work in partnership with business and industry, community and technical colleges and four-year institutions of higher education to ensure that students can effectively transition from high school to their next endeavor. Together we will develop a system of education that is worthy of the great young people we have the honor to teach and mentor. I wish you a happy holiday and the best New Year in which to create bright beginnings for the young people we serve!
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The "Movers and Shakers"
Paint Valley High School
The November 16, 2004, airing of "Education News Parents Can Use" focused on the issue of dropout prevention. The show, entitled "Dropout Prevention and Recovery: Catching Students Before It's Too Late," featured educators and administrators at the federal, state, and local levels discussing one of the most pressing problems plaguing the nation's high schools: how to keep students in school. While this is a fundamental concern to educators, the problem goes beyond simply keeping students in school. Today, educators must find ways to better prepare students for their future in a knowledge and technology driven world. Although much has been spoken of the need to address this problem, examples of success are few and far between. Paint Valley High School (PVHS) in Bainbridge, Ohio, is one such success story that was featured on the program.
Paint Valley High School (PVHS) is located in the sixteenth ¹ poorest district in the state of Ohio. Its campus is unique, with both the middle and high schools being housed in the same complex. Although PVHS does not have an ethnically diverse student population (94.1 percent white, 5.1 percent African-American),² of the 397 high school students, 8.4 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches² and the per-pupil expenditure is below the state average1. In 1999, the dropout rate was an abysmal 18 percent, and 30 percent¹ of students took general- and basic-level classes, virtually ensuring they would not be prepared for postsecondary education or a well-paying job. Additionally the school's results on the Ohio Proficiency Tests were so poor that the state placed the school on its academic watch list¹. It was becoming clear to district and school officials that there was an urgent need to improve the educational system in the district. They believed that doing so would not only improve the outcomes for the students but also improve the economic condition of the entire region.
In 1999, Paint Valley turned to the High Schools That Work (HSTW) Initiative, an educational reform initiative developed by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). The HSTW initiative gave school and district leaders the tools necessary to develop a comprehensive school improvement plan. Principal H. Dwight Goins believes that two key components of that plan, "increasing the rigor of the curriculum and providing students with the extra help necessary to ensure their success," were critical to improving achievement, increasing graduation rates, and decreasing dropout rates.
Paint Valley made extensive changes to the curriculum, including increasing minimum graduation requirements from 18 to 24 total credits. While the class of 2000 was required to take four units of English, three units of mathematics, and one unit in science, the class of 2007 is required to take five units in college-preparatory English (including a Senior Seminar), four units in mathematics that must be Algebra I or higher, and three units of college-preparatory science. These changes would help ensure that every student at the school has the opportunity to receive a high school education that prepares them for postsecondary education, training, or a career.
Increasing the rigor was just one step in the process. The next was to provide the extra help and support necessary for each student to succeed. The school now provides a "double dose" of particularly challenging classes during the school day and after school tutoring for those who need it. Additionally, each student is part of an advisor/advisee group1. Through this group, every student is assigned a responsible adult at the school who mentors and provides guidance to them. Students meet with their advisors on a daily basis and can receive help with coursework and curriculum planning.
The results have been dramatic. In the four years since PVHS began implementing reforms their dropout rate has been cut in half to 9.2 percent¹. By 2003, the school's graduation rate had increased six percentage points to 90.4 percent¹. Not only has PVHS been removed from the state's academic watch list but it was also successful in making Annual Yearly Progress for the 2002-2003 school year under the No Child Left Behind provisions². The mission of PVHS is to "empower our students to be competitive in a multi-cultural society, excel as decision makers and creative thinkers, to communicate effectively in all situations, through a demanding and effective education program that is caring, nurturing and inclusive of all our educational partners". By raising expectations and providing various forms of extra help PVHS is making its mission a reality.
For more information about "High Schools that Work" visit http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/hstwindex.asp
¹Case Study: Paint Valley Middle and High Schools, SREB, 2003. http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/ case_studies/Paint_Valley.asp
²SchoolMatters http://www.schoolmatters.com/
³Paint Valley High School Web site. http://gsn.k12.oh.us/PaintValley/default.htm
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Secondary, Career, and Technical Education
Second Annual National High School Leadership Summit Held in DC December 2-3, 2004
Almost 1000 educators, policymakers, and business leaders from across the country gathered in Washington on December 2-3, 2004, for the U.S. Department of Education's second National High School Leadership Summit. The event was part of the administration's effort to coordinate and strengthen the high school improvement efforts that are encouraged by the No Child Left Behind Act and to ensure that high schools fully prepare American youths for further education, successful careers, and effective citizenship. The summit is part of a series of efforts under the department's "Preparing America's Future: The High School Initiative." During the year, OVAE organized eight regional summits that engaged state teams to develop their high school improvement plans.
A wide group of stakeholders participated in the sessions. The participants included students, teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members, career and technical education leaders, representatives from governors' offices and state departments of education, leaders from many different fields of business, and representatives from national and local high school improvement initiatives such as High Schools That Work, First Things First, and the National Academy Foundation.
The department works in partnership with organizations representing a broad cross-section of education issues, among which are the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the High School Alliance, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governors Association, National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education, Council of the Great City School, the U.S. Labor Department and many others.
OVAE Sponsors "Closing the Achievement Gap" Focus Group Meeting
On December 1, 2004, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education sponsored the Closing the Achievement Gap Focus Group Meeting. The purpose of the focus group meeting was to explore how large comprehensive high schools are able to narrow the achievement gap while maintaining high student retention and graduation rates.
Teams from four schools were selected to participate based on an analysis of four years of disaggregated school-level mathematics and reading state assessment data. These schools had shown success, over a period of years, starting in 1999 through 2002, in closing the achievement gap between African-American and/or Hispanic students relative to their white peers. In addition, the most recent data on the schools were reviewed to ensure that schools were still addressing the academic needs of minority students. The schools included in these focus groups were:
- Del Valle High School in El Paso, Texas. This high school, with a student population that is 97 percent Hispanic, was selected because of its ability to completely close the achievement gap in mathematics. Hispanic students at Del Valle passed the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) in 2002 at the same rate as their white peers.
- El Camino High School in Oceanside, CA. This large high school, with a population of almost 3,000 students, was selected because of its ability to narrow the achievement gap for Hispanic students in mathematics and reading. The school achieved a twenty-four percent reduction in the math achievement gap and fourteen percent in reading.
- Florin High School in Sacramento, CA. This predominantly minority large high school, with a population of 2,300 students, was selected because of its ability to narrow the achievement gap in reading for African-American students by ten percentage points and by fourteen points for Hispanics.
- North Central High School in Indianapolis, IN. The largest high school in the state of Indiana was selected for its ability to narrow the achievement gap for African-American students by ten percentage points in reading and fifteen in math.
During the whole-group debrief, participants were asked to reflect on what advice they would provide school administrators and teachers who are in the beginning phases of addressing achievement gap issues. Several common themes emerged, including:
- Expectations must be high and consistent for all students with a variety of support services in place to help students reach those expectations;
- Schools must use data to identify deficiencies and to drive instructional decisions;
- Talent, creativity, and resources are present in schools and must be channeled in constructive ways to address the academic and social needs of minority students. These resources include highly dedicated and motivated teachers along with supportive leadership; and
- Working collaboratively in developing and aligning the curriculum is paramount to student success.
Assistant Secretary Susan Sclafani and Deputy Assistant Secretary Hans Meeder participate in the ACTE Conference
On December 9, Assistant Secretary Susan Sclafani and Deputy Assistant Secretary Hans Meeder participated in the Association for Career and Technical Education's annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Susan addressed the opening general session of several thousand career and technical educators and administrators. In her remarks, she discussed the need for students in the 21st century to have some form of postsecondary education and training to acquire a good job and secure a good future. She also stressed that career and technical education (CTE) plays a major role in that preparation for students and acknowledged that states have made considerable progress over the past few years to (1) increase the academic course taking achievement of students in CTE; (2) develop better linkages among secondary schools, postsecondary institutions, and employers; and (3) build, from the ground up, accountability systems to report on the outcomes of students who pursue CTE.
Despite this progress, Susan pointed out that there remain gaps in academic course taking between CTE and non-CTE students, among students of different racial and ethnic groups and among students with special needs. She also noted that there remain considerable challenges for the department and for states in obtaining complete, accurate, and reliable data to inform future program administration and policy direction and that there is a shortage of national and state assessments to measure students' technical skill attainment, an important outcome of CTE participation. Hans Meeder also spoke at the ACTE conference, sharing with the audience the latest updates on the reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and outlining the goals of the Preparing America's Future: The High School Initiative.
New Report Released "State Dual Enrollment Policies: Addressing Access and Quality"
Policy-makers and educators continue to seek options for helping more high school students transition successfully to postsecondary education. This interest stems, in large part, from evidence that many young people leave high school unprepared for college, despite their stated intentions to pursue higher education. Dual enrollment is one option that appears to be gaining momentum.
Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to simultaneously earn credit toward a high school diploma and a postsecondary degree or certificate. These programs offer young people an opportunity to get a head start on their postsecondary education and can give them first-hand exposure to the academic and social demands of college-level work.
State Dual Enrollment Policies: Addressing Access and Quality explores state regulation of dual enrollment programs by analyzing and summarizing dual enrollment legislation in all 50 states. It also explores the implications of state policy for individual programs and students and the ways that policies can promote or inhibit the spread of dual enrollment programs. Finally, given current interest in expanding dual enrollment access to students beyond the most academically advanced, this report asks the questions of how-and whether-state policies can encourage access to dual enrollment programs for a broader range of students, particularly middle- and low-achieving students.
In addition to the report, the Accelerating Student Success Web pages provide policy-makers and program administrators interested in credit-based transition programs with the latest findings emerging from the study.
PISA Results Show Need for High School Reform
America's 15-year-olds performed below the international average in mathematics literacy and problem-solving, according to the latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The test, given in the spring of 2003, assesses the abilities of 15-year-old students from 41 countries (including 30 of the most developed) to apply learning to problems with a real-world context.
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said the results point to the need for reform of the nation's high schools. "The PISA results are a blinking warning light," he said. "Its more evidence that high standards and accountability for results are a good idea for all schools at all grade levels."
President Bush has called for annual learning assessments for all students in grades 9-11. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, such assessments, developed and driven by the 50 states, currently apply to students in grades 3-8. The president has also called for high schools to offer more challenging coursework and for more students to elect to take it. As part of that effort, the department has funded the Advanced Placement Program, which helps students, particularly those that are from low-income households, to participate and succeed in Advanced Placement courses and exams. In addition, he has proposed the Striving Readers program that will allow schools to develop specific intervention programs so that struggling students get the help they need before they reach high school.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Education launched the Preparing America's Future: The High School Initiative to help states develop and share ideas leading to world-class schools that challenge and engage their students.
"Many of our high schools are already world-class," Paige said. "However, too many graduate students are ill-prepared to succeed in higher education or the workforce. These students are being robbed of their life's potential. A high school diploma should be meaningful-a roadmap to a fulfilling future."
The report on U.S. PISA results, International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics and Science Literacy: PISA 2003 Results From the U.S. Perspective, was released by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences. The international results on PISA were released by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
PISA is organized under the auspices of the OECD and is directed in the United States by NCES. The OECD is an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries for cooperation in research and policy development on social and economic topics. PISA assesses students every three years to provide participating nations with regular information on learning outcomes for reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy and cross-curricular skills, like problem-solving. Problem-solving questions involved students using reasoning skills to make decisions, troubleshoot systems, and analyze and design systems based on given criteria. PISA 2003 focused on mathematics literacy and problem-solving.
Some key findings from PISA 2003:
- Of the other 38 comparison countries, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong-China, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macao-China, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Slovak Republic, Sweden, and Switzerland outperformed the United States in mathematics literacy in 2003. These same 23 countries, plus Hungary and Poland, outperformed the United States in problem-solving.
- Male 15-year-olds outperformed female 15-year-olds in mathematics literacy in the United States and two-thirds of the other participating countries. However, there was no difference in performance between males and females in problem-solving in the United States or in most (32 of the 39) participating countries.
- White students performed above the OECD average in mathematics literacy and problem-solving, while Black and Hispanic students performed below the OECD average.
- U.S. scores in the two mathematics literacy content areas that were measured in 2000 (space and shape, change and relationships) did not change from 2000 to 2003. About two-thirds of participating countries outperformed the United States in these topics in 2000 and 2003.
- As in PISA 2000, U.S. students scored at the OECD average in reading literacy in 2003.
- U.S. students scored below the OECD average in science literacy in 2003.
For further information on PISA or to download the report, International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics and Science Literacy: PISA 2003 Results From the U.S. Perspective, please visit NCES' PISA Web site at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/. The PISA report can also be ordered by calling toll-free 1-877-4ED-PUBS (1-877-433-7827), TTY/TTD 1-877-576-7734; e-mailing edpubs@inet.ed.gov, or making a request via the Internet at http://www.edpubs.org/.
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Adult Education and Literacy
States Send Cross-Agency Teams to Youth Forums
The 2003 White House Task Force Report on Disadvantaged Youth articulated a set of broad goals for serving the disadvantaged youth. The comprehensive high school of the past is not sufficient to engage all students, help them achieve rigorous academic standards, and stay in school to complete secondary education successfully. In addition to transforming the K-12 system, we need to engage relevant partner systems such as labor, human services, and justice to address the needs of these youth, particularly the most at-risk and disadvantaged youth.
States agree that the face of adult education is changing. Increasing numbers of adult education participants are young adults. Youth now comprise an average 35 percent of total adult basic education (ABE) enrollments nationwide. Nine states, including Michigan, New York, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, California, and Florida, account for 620,599 youth enrollments, or nearly 60 percent of all youth participating in adult education programs. Thirty-eight states have more than the national average percentage of youth enrollees.
To meet the needs of at-risk youth, the U.S. Department of Labor invited representatives of OVAE, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services to join in launching a youth initiative. The agencies recently held three joint regional forums to provide a platform for partnership building among state agencies that serve this population. States sent cross-agency teams to two-day forums held in November in Chicago and Philadelphia, as well as in December in Phoenix. State team members represented workforce investment, juvenile justice, foster care, and education systems. Many had never had an opportunity to meet their counterparts. Teams worked on developing a shared vision for youth across programs and state agencies.
The teams also made key recommendations to federal officials about how to work together to make state partnerships more effective in addressing the needs of at-risk youth. Action items included:
- Generating support for the youth vision from state governors;
- Creating clear communication channels for states to talk with federal team members and federal teams to provide information to states;
- Developing a state resource map outlining the range of federal funding streams that can serve disadvantaged youth; and
- Agreeing on consistent language for all agency representatives to use for meaningful discussions.
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Community Colleges
Community College Working Group, November 2004, Washington, D.C.
In November 2004, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the U.S. Department of Education hosted a National Community College Working Group of 15 community college presidents and chancellors from across the country. College leaders engaged in timely discussions about federal support with assistant secretaries and directors from five federal agencies or offices that provide funding to community colleges. The presidents and chancellors were invited to the Washington, DC, meeting because their colleges have been particularly successful in obtaining funding from a variety of federal departments and programs. Discussions focused on how to integrate funding from multiple sources, how federal funding is linked to strategic planning and institutional priorities at the college, and suggestions on how to make the process more productive. Federal offices participating in the discussions included the U.S. Department of Education's OVAE and Office of Postsecondary Education, the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Science and Education Resources Development office.
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News from Around the U.S. Department of Education
Deputy Secretary Gene Hickok Announces Resignation
On December 2, 2004, Deputy Secretary of Education Gene Hickok announced his resignation from the U.S. Department of Education after four years of helping to implement historic education reforms across the nation.
In a letter to President Bush, Deputy Secretary Hickok said, "Your unwavering dedication to reform education has given birth to a new era in this country. Today, we talk about accountability and results. We confront the achievement gap instead of closing our eyes to it. We talk about making the promise of America real for all of America's children.
"I will be forever grateful that you asked me to contribute to this noble cause. I have come to know hundreds of students whose lives will be changed forever because of your determination to put the interests of the children above those of the system." "I am proud to have served alongside Gene Hickok, who has dutifully and tirelessly worked on behalf of America's children, ensuring that they are part of a system that gives each and every one of them the attention they deserve and academic tools for success," Secretary Paige said.
Regarding Secretary Paige, Hickok said, "I am fortunate to have served under a U.S. Secretary of Education whose experience, integrity, decency and courage made him the right man, for the right job, at the right time."
Dr. Hickok has served as deputy secretary of education since July 2003 and prior to this was under secretary of education since the beginning of the Bush Administration. Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Dr. Hickok served six years as secretary of education in the administration of former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. Prior to this, he was a political science professor at Dickinson College and the founding director of Dickinson's Clarke Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Contemporary Issues.
Dr. Hickok earned his bachelor's degree from Hampden-Sydney College and his master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
John H. Hager Assumes Duties as Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
John H. Hager, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, has been sworn in as Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Education Department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). The Senate confirmed Hager for the post before its Thanksgiving recess.
In his new position, Hager will lead the office that administers federal special education programs for America's 6.8 million children and youth with disabilities. His office also promotes employment opportunities for adults with disabilities and sponsors research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities of all ages. Hager's service career has included numerous leadership roles with a number of disability organizations.
"I'm looking forward to working with the secretary and my staff at OSERS on matters crucial to education and people with disabilities," Hager said. "With the recent updates to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Assistive Technology Act, we have valuable new opportunities to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve." Before assuming his current duties, Hager held executive-level jobs in both the public and private sectors.
He was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia and served from 1998 to 2002 with then-Gov. James Gilmore. Under Gov. Gilmore, Hager chaired the Virginia Disability Commission, identifying ways to help improve the lives of people with disabilities. He remained in state government with the election of current Gov. Mark Warner, serving as Virginia's director of homeland security until President Bush announced in May his intent to nominate Hager as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for OSERS.
Before entering public office, Hager rose through the ranks to become executive vice president of American Tobacco Co. After a near-fatal bout with polio, Hager rebuilt his life and career, retiring as senior vice president when the corporation was sold in 1994.
Hager earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, an M.B.A. from Harvard University and holds honorary degrees from Averett College in Danville, Va., Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., and the University of Northern Virginia in Manassas.
He is a military veteran who served in the Army and Army Reserves and attained the rank of captain. A life-long athlete, Hager has competed in numerous wheelchair races. He and his wife, Margaret, have two grown sons, Jack and Henry.
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Last Modified: 10/02/2006
