1 Lodi Unified School District Graduation Task Force Board Report March 4, 2008

2 Task Force Membership 25 members on the core team  Teachers K-12  Administrators K-12  Board Members  Parents/Community  Central Office staff

3 Our Mission Lodi Unified School District will ensure the best education for students to be successful in life.

4 LUSD Graduation Task Force Purpose: To review and revise the current Lodi Unified School District graduation requirements to ensure that all Lodi Unified graduates are college/career ready.

5 The Process/Timeline Task force orientation  ( January, 2008) Review LUSD graduation requirements and data  (January – April, 2008) Explore and discuss requirements by core and program  (February – June, 2008)

6 The Process/Timeline Identify recommendations for graduation requirement revisions  (July –December, 2008) Solicit input on task force recommendations through the use of focus groups and content advisory committees  (July – December, 2008)

7 The Process/Timeline Present task force recommendations to the Board of Education  (January, 2009) Community meetings  (February – March, 2009) Board of Education approval  (April, 2009)

8 Implementation The timeline for the rollout of any approved revisions to the graduation requirements will be a part of the task force recommendation. The goal is to have full implementation of all revisions for the class of 2014, our current 6 th graders. These students are part of Passport to College.

9 Creating Educational Equity and Preparing Students to be College/Work Ready Information provided by Linda Murray: The Education Trust

10 California’s Standing? 12 th Grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is not reported at the state level, but the pipeline shows cause for concern.

11 California Ranks Low Compared to Other States on NAEP – 4th Grade Reading Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

12 – 8th Grade Reading Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

13 California’s Latino Students – compared to Latino students in other states Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

14 African American 8th Grade Students – NAEP READING Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

15 Low-Income 8th Grade Students – NAEP READING Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

16 And Let’s Be Clear. It’s Not Our Demographics.

17 California’s White 8th Grade Students Trail Behind Their Peers in Most States Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

18 California’s Non Low-Income 8 th Grade Students Also Lag Behind Many States Source: National Center for Education Statistics,

19 And on the CAHSEE?

20 CAHSEE First Time Test-Takers (10 th graders) CA and Lodi Unified ELA Pass Rates 2007 Source: California Department of Education, 2007

21 CAHSEE First Time Test-Takers (10 th Graders) CA and Lodi Unified Math Pass Rates 2007 Source: California Department of Education, 2007

22 A Movement To Transform These Patterns: Preparing All Students For College and Work.

23 For Students to Have Real Choices: They’ll need access to 2- year and 4- year colleges and universities. They’ll need to be prepared for good jobs with a meaningful career ladder, a wage sufficient to support a family, and insurance benefits. In California, that means providing the College- Ready/Work-Ready Curriculum to All.

24 WHAT DO STUDENTS WANT? 8 out of 10 California high school students want to go to college. But only 4 out of 10 take the curriculum most likely to help them get there. Source: The Bridge Project: Strengthening K-16 Transition Policies, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2001

25 Few Graduate College Ready. * California: Class of Source: ETW’s webtool, Raising the Roof using CDE data *Includes 9 th graders who have completed the A-G course sequence with a “C” or better in each class four years later.

26 Ready for Work = Ready for College “In the agricultural age, postsecondary education was a pipe dream for most Americans. In the industrial age it was the birthright of only a few. By the space age, it became common for many. Today, it is just common sense for all” -- National Commission on the High School Senior Year, 2001

27 New Jobs Increasingly Require Higher Level Education Employment Policy Foundation tabulation of BLS Statistics Why? Slide adapted from presentation given by Steve Gunderson of the Graystone Group, March 2004

28 Defining workplace expectations Highly Paid Professional Jobs Earnings: $40,000+ Projected Job Growth Rate: 20% Well-Paid, Skilled Jobs Earnings: $25,000– $40,000 Projected Job Growth Rate: 12% Low-Paid or Low-Skilled Jobs Earnings: Less than $25,000 Projected Job Growth Rate: 15% 25% 37% 38% Share of Jobs Source: Ready or Not, Creating a High School Diploma That Counts, The American Diploma Project, 2004

29 Source: Employment Policy Foundation Report -- Despite Fears of Outsourcing 43 percent of the jobs in the next 30 years may be in highly paid managerial, professional and management related occupations – nearly twice the proportion of 30 years ago. Jobs in technical support specialties, including skilled construction trades and crafts, will also remain strong. Lower-skill jobs, such as equipment operators, assembly line workers, and manual services workers will fall in proportion to only 23.1 percent of the total.

30 Factory Jobs Are Going to Workers With More Education Source: Carnevale & Desrochers, “The Missing middle: Aligning Education and the Knoweldge Economy, Educational Testing Service, April percentage of all factory workers

31 Higher Skill Demands Require Earlier and More Rigorous Preparation... Even in Jobs We Don’t Expect Requirements for Airplane Manufacturers Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or postsecondary training; Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics, computers and electronics; Average earnings: $40,000 per year. Requirements for Sheet Metal Workers Four or five years of apprenticeship; Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and technical reading; Requirements for Auto Technicians A solid grounding in physics is necessary to understand force, hydraulics, friction and electrical circuits. Source: National Manufactures Association

32 Even in Jobs We Don’t Expect Plumbing-Heating-Air Conditioning Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or post- secondary training; Algebra, plane geometry, trigonometry and statistics; Physics, chemistry, biology, engineering economics. ALL of these jobs require a strong foundation of reading, writing and speaking the English language in order to comprehend instructions and technical manuals Construction and Engineering Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or post- secondary training; Algebra, plane geometry Critical thinking, problem solving, reading and writing

33 American Diploma Project Interviews with Employers: They mostly want the same things that higher education wants!  Strong Reading Ability – read/comprehend informational and technical texts  Emphatic about literature – understanding other cultures is necessary with diverse customers and co-workers  Writing ability key  Mathematics Imperative – data, probability, statistics and competent problem solvers. Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. Source: Workplace Study by the National Alliance for Business for the American Diploma Project, unpublished report, 2002.

34 Benchmark Courses for Career Success Algebra II for highly paid professional jobs or well-paid white collar jobs. Geometry for well-paid blue-collar jobs and low- paid/low-skilled jobs 4 Years of English that is at least at grade level for the vast majority of jobs. Source: Carnevale and Desrochers

35 The A-G Sequence Required for both UC and CSU Admissions AHistory/Social Science 2 years (1 year of World History, 1 year of U.S. History or half year of U.S. History and half year of civics) BEnglish4 years CMath3 years required, 4 years recommended (Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II required) DScience2 years required, 3 years recommended (2 of the courses must be Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) EForeign Language 2 years (same language), 3 years recommended FVisual/Perfor ming Arts 1 year GCollege Prep Elective 1 year

36 A college-ready/work- ready curriculum helps students know more and do better, regardless of their path after high school.