This edition of the eBulletin highlights the issues of raising standards, ensuring access to rigorous curricula and assessments, and ensuring that every child is both work and college ready upon graduation. With the increased emphasis placed on these issues in recent years through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the American…

The middle grades are in crisis. By state and national measures, student achievement gains realized in the elementary grades all too often diminish by grade 8. In most states, the considerable policy focus on high schools in recent years has not trickled down to a focus on the middle grades --yet preparation for "college- and work-ready standards"…

As the twenty-first century opens, says Robert Balfanz, the United States is developing a deep social consensus that American high schools should ensure that all adolescents graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary schooling and training. Balfanz asks how well high schools are succeeding in this mission and whether they can ultimately…

Over the past decade, a wave of education reform has swept the nation. Yet the general public remains largely unaware of it, even though the reforms are arguably among the most successful public policy initiatives of the past quarter century. One reform that has the potential to leave its mark for many years is the P-16 initiative. This article…

Pressing Forward: Increasing and Expanding Rigor and Relevance in America's High Schools is organized to place secondary education, specifically the goals of preparing young adults to be college and career ready, in contemporary perspective, emphasizing the changing global economy and trends in policy and practice. High school students must be…

Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB's) "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") initiative works with more than 1,100 schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia to improve school and classroom practices and prepare more students for success in postsecondary studies, advanced training and careers. Forty-nine Arkansas…

The education system in California today is unable to meet the needs of the state's economy or the expectations of its citizens. From school finance to ensuring the quality of teaching, from assessment and accountability to preparing students for college and careers, education policy today in California often works against the best interests of…

In a new approach to college readiness, San Diego State University now accepts all students from a large local school system as long as they complete a rigorous curriculum. Under a partnership formed eight years ago, the university has guaranteed a spot in its freshman class to all Sweetwater Union High School District students who complete…

According to this author, a quiet revolution is picking up steam in the nation's private secondary schools, with broad implications for college admissions and for teaching and learning on both sides of the transition from high school to college. About 50 of the nation's leading college-preparatory schools have opted out of the College Board's…

The author writes that for too many low-income students the open door to American higher education has become a revolving door. In examining what can be done, he recognizes the centrality of the classroom to student success.

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of California's famed Master Plan for Higher Education, arguably the single most influential effort to plan the future of a system of higher education in the annals of American higher education. This essay builds on the analysis offered in a previous CSHE research paper ("From Chaos to Order and Back") by…

As 2010 unfolds, Americans should feel encouraged by federal, state, and local efforts to transform education policies that boost student performance. In the midst of a recession, rather than merely allocating billions of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars by formula to the states with no strings attached, the Obama…

"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This issue contains a report on the highlights of the fifth annual American Diploma Project (ADP) Network Leadership Team Meeting in Washington, D.C. Achieve's most well attended annual meeting, but also its most successful to date. While a variety of topics…

Each year, on the anniversary of the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, Achieve releases an annual 50-state progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers. "Closing the Expectations Gap, 2009" is the fourth annual report in this series. The report details state progress implementing…

The High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) is the fifth in a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) secondary longitudinal studies. The core research questions for HSLS:09 explore secondary to postsecondary transition plans and the evolution of those plans; the paths into and out of science, technology, engineering,…