Currently browsing High School Completion
Bill aims to help expelled and truant students get back on track
The purpose of a complicated bill aimed at preventing students from languishing in alternative schools became much clearer after the testimony of a former student who got stuck in one. Jessie Camargo, now 18, was transferred to a community school two weeks before his eighth grade graduation. That summer he completed all the requirements set by his district, which included drug and alcohol counseling classes, 140 hours of community service, and an anger management class, but … Read entire article »
Filed under: Absence, Truancy, Discipline, Dropout prevention, Equity issues, Featured, Governance, High School Completion, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis
LA Unified off track to meet deadline for college prep courses
Los Angeles Unified School District has some work ahead of it to meet its deadline for all students to pass college-preparatory classes in order to graduate. Only about a quarter of students who graduated in the class of 2011 had completed what’s known as the A-G subjects, according to a new study by the Strategic Data Project of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. A-G courses are a sequence of math, English, science, history, language and visual or performing arts classes that are required for admission to the University of California and California State University. LA Unified’s requirement that all students pass A-G courses in order to graduate doesn’t take effect until the class of 2016, and project researcher Jon Fullerton said he expects the rates to increase as that date nears. Still, … Read entire article »
Filed under: A to G Curriculum, California Colleges, College and Career Preparation, College Enrollment, High School Completion, Quick Hits, Research, UC and CSU
Report questions impact of Brown’s finance formula on career tech
In proposing to give school districts money with fewer strings attached, Gov. Jerry Brown is confident that local school boards and superintendents are best able to make the right decisions so that all students can graduate ready for college and work. A report released today by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) questions that assumption. PACE is a joint research group based at UC Berkeley, Stanford and the University of Southern California. “School Finance Reform: Can It … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, Dropout prevention, Featured, Finance, High School Completion, Internships, Service Learning, Jerry Brown, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Multiple pathways, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Reporting & Analysis, Systemic Change, Twenty-first Century Learning, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula), Workforce preparation
Linked learning comes of age in California with new pilot programs
The California Department of Education has selected 63 districts and county offices of education – many of them working together in consortia – to pilot “linked learning” programs in their high schools beginning next fall. These programs integrate academics with real-world work experiences in an effort to engage students. High schools with linked learning programs typically offer several courses in one or more career paths, such as healthcare, business or the arts. The career theme permeates … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, Dropout prevention, Featured, High School Completion, Internships, Service Learning, Legislature, Bills, Multiple pathways, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Program innovation, Reporting & Analysis, Twenty-first Century Learning, Workforce preparation
Advocates worry foster youth will be left behind under Brown’s budget
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal is worrying advocates of foster youth, who are afraid that these children could be left behind in the governor’s push to overhaul the state’s school finance system. Under the governor’s proposed “local control funding formula,” districts would get at least 35 percent more dollars – about $2,400 per child – for educating their share of the state’s English learners, low-income children, and the approximately 42,000 school-age foster students. Districts would have … Read entire article »
Filed under: Categorical Funding, Foster care, Funding and Taxation, High School Completion, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Students, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
California near bottom in number of school counselors
As a mourning nation focuses on the need for more mental health support for students, California has regularly ranked at or near the bottom among the states in the number of counselors per student. In California, there was one counselor for every 810 students in 2009-10. Nationally, there were almost twice as many. The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of one counselor to 250 students. “We don’t have enough counselors in schools,” said Art Revueltas, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Dropout prevention, Featured, High School Completion, Reporting & Analysis, School Safety, Special Needs
California wins millions in school innovation grants
It was a clean sweep as all seven finalists seeking federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grants for California schools received word that they won. Together, they’ll get nearly $31 million, plus an additional $5.2 million in matching funds to develop or expand innovative programs designed to improve student achievement, reduce the dropout rate, increase high school graduation rates or boost college enrollment and success, especially for English learners and low-income students. … Read entire article »
Filed under: English learners, Equity issues, Featured, High School Completion, Parents, Program innovation, Reporting & Analysis, Research, Students
New 2-year lease on life for 163 Partnership Academies
Financially threatened high school career academies will get a lifeline and new career tech programs will get a lift, now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation committing $68 million for those and related projects over the next two years. SB 1070 will sustain the career technology programs in high schools and community colleges that were to lose their funding and authorization at the end of this fiscal year in June. Now they will have additional … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, Featured, High School Completion, Internships, Service Learning, Multiple Pathways, Partnership Academies, Reporting & Analysis, Workforce preparation
Number of youths living on the margins is growing
One in seven youths nationwide is neither at school nor at work, a percentage that has grown dramatically since the economic recession, according to a study released Thursday. Nationwide, 5.8 million young people, age 16 to 24, are living on the margins without even part-time jobs – an increase of 800,000 between 2007 and 2010. The report ranks the 25 largest metropolitan areas, including five in California, based on the percentage of disconnected youth – defined … Read entire article »
Filed under: Career Technical Education, Featured, High School Completion, Partnership Academies, Poverty, Reporting & Analysis, Workforce preparation
Exit exam results show gains in closing achievement gap
African American and Latino students showed the biggest gains on California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) results for the Class of 2012, narrowing the achievement gap between them and their Asian and white counterparts, according to preliminary results reported by the California Department of Education. African Americans in the Class of 2012 gained 2.3 percentage points over the Class of 2011, with 91.9 percent passing the exam by the end of their senior year. Latino students saw a 1.4 percentage point increase over 2011, with 93.1 percent passing. Altogether, 95 percent of students in the Class of 2012 passed the CAHSEE, an increase of 0.8 of a percentage point over the previous year. White students, at 98.6 percent, had the highest passing rate, followed by Asian students at 97.8 percent – both … Read entire article »
Filed under: High School Completion, Quick Hits, Tests, Tests & Assessments
Recent Comments