Levers for Change: Opportunities to Strengthen California's High School Curriculum

May 2007
Virtually everyone agrees that all students need a solid high school education and that the current dropout rate must be significantly lowered. The consensus is also growing that some postsecondary education or training is essential for almost any young person who wants access to a good career and a middle-class lifestyle. State policymakers, educators, advocates, and researchers are increasingly focused on how to improve the high school curriculum as a key strategy for serving students better and preparing more of them—particularly those in the schools that need the most help—to take on challenging, postsecondary options. Beyond that, however, there is less agreement about how to meet these goals.

The state currently has three powerful levers that state policymakers and local schools can use to strengthen high school curriculum:

• California’s rigorous 9-12 academic content standards;
• Eligibility requirements for attending the state’s public universities; and
• Reforms of Career Technical Education.

This 28-page report explores the ways these strategies complement and conflict with each other and identifies opportunities for high school improvement. It also describes a new movement in California that advocates a “multiple pathways” approach that seeks to align all three strategies to better prepare all students for college and career.

For more information, please also see the following free EdSource publications:

Executive Summary: Levers for Change: Opportunities to Strengthen California’s High School Curriculum

• High Standards + Support = More Students Taking Tougher Math

You can download this report or order a printed copy to be mailed to you.

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