1. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Gene Bottoms Senior Vice President Southern Regional Education Board gene.bottoms@sreb.org

2. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-092 Policies for Achieving High- Performing Schools Rigor: achieved Focus: partially achieved Relevance: partially achieved Engaging assignments: not addressed Relationship and Support: weak Improved transitions: weak Leadership: not addressed

3. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-093 Strengths of the Current Louisiana Graduation Policy Four years of mathematics, Algebra I and higher Options fourth science course under core 4 Academic concentration (complete core 4+) and academic endorsement core 4+ added requirement CT concentration (4 primary credits and 2 related credits) and CT endorsement

4. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-094 Gaps in Existing Policies Higher value placed on academic endorsement than on CT endorsement 11 th grade is too late for many students to choose a default program of study Fails to recognize alternative assessment beyond English/reading and mathematics Simplify endorsement requirements and provide incentive to increase number earning endorsement

5. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-095 Why a Rigorous Academic Core? More Students Meet Readiness Goals Career Cluster Mathematics Academic Core Completed 2 to 3 Parts 0 to 1 Part Gap Agriculture 75% 44% 31% Business 704525 Health Sciences 733934 Hospitality/Family Consumer Sci. 593524 Manufacturing/ Transportation 624418 STEM 835528 Source: 2006 HSTW Assessment

6. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-096 How many students in CT courses meet college- and career-readiness goals without completing HSTW- recommended curriculum?

7. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-097 Percentages of CT Graduates Meeting Readiness Goals without Completing the HSTW-Recommended Curriculum Career ClusterReadingMath Agriculture 38% 44% Business3945 STEM4555 Health Sciences4039 Hospitality3635 Manufacturing and Transportation 3544 Source: HSTW Assessment

8. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-098 Gaps in Existing Policies Absence of adequate incentives and optional pathways for poorly-prepared students to graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary studies and careers Require students to complete a concentration, but no requirement that schools increase the percentage of students earning an endorsement by program Fail to present an optional ways for becoming a high-performing school

9. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-099 Gaps in Existing Policies Do not address transitions from middle grades to ninth-grade and from senior year to college and careers Need to encourage non-traditional approaches to advancing student achievement Stress the quality of guidance and advisement needed Do not address expectations for district and school leaders to engage students, teachers and parents for improved results.

10. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0910 Guiding Principles of High-Performing High Schools to Engage All Students in Challenging Learning Each student is pursuing a career-focused program aligned with his or her talents, interests and aspirations and aligned to grade- level and to college- and career-readiness standards – core 4 and core 4 plus. Each student in academic, CT and fine arts classes has intellectually challenging assignments built around authentic, real-world tasks and rich in opportunities to: solve problems. make decisions. use academic knowledge and skills. reflect on and assess performance and technical and academic knowledge gained. maintain a reflect by a portfolio of work accomplished and learning acquired.

11. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0911 Guiding Principles of High-Performing High Schools to Engage All Students in Challenging Learning Each student is enrolled in courses where expectations regarding quality of work are clear and redo opportunities are expected until standards are met. Each student has a continuing opportunity to investigate, explore and reflect on his/her talents, interests and aspirations and to make adjustments in learning experiences and the customized program of study.

12. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0912 Guiding Principles of High-Performing High Schools to Engage All Students in Challenging Learning Each student is enrolled in academic, fine arts and CT courses where teachers communicate frequently and help students make connections in learning assignments. School leaders and teachers use data to drive improvements in school and classroom practices, achievement, aptitude, interests, students’ perceptions, etc.

13. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0913 Expansion of Louisiana’s Graduation Opportunities Develop policies and initiatives to reduce the number of students leaving grade eight unprepared for high school studies. Study successful efforts in accelerating mathematics achievement in middle grades (Delaware, Maryland, Texas and Virginia). Study Florida’s legislation on the middle grades, which places a strong emphasis on career exploration and accelerating middle grades curriculum with a special emphasis on adolescent literacy. (See SREB draft report.)

14. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0914 Replace the Minimum with Accelerated Career-Focused Program of Study Set aside the requirement that all students participate in the core 4 curriculum for a minimum of 2 years. Provide incentives to districts and schools to redesign their ninth grade. Establish a vision and criteria for ninth- grade redesign. Reward schools that are successful in raising achievement and graduation rates of at-risk students.

15. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0915 Create an Accelerated Career- Focused Program of Study Allow at-risk entering ninth-graders to choose a career-focused program of study that is organized into a coherent sequence of school-based and work- site learning experiences and includes at least two CT credits per year. Greater emphasis on project and problem- based learning that integrates academic and technical content

16. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0916 Create an Accelerated Career- Focused Program of Study Require students in a career-focused program to: complete at least four years of mathematics, including Algebra I and geometry. pass the GEE exams in English/language arts and mathematics, and choose other optional requirements to meet graduation requirements.

17. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0917 Create an Accelerated Career- Focused Program of Study Consider a variety of options for teaching Algebra I to a full range of students. Allow school districts to adopt an applied Algebra I, geometry and Algebra II series. Allow algebra and geometry to be taught through approved hybrid courses developed collaboratively by mathematics and CT teachers. Commission a study on the effectiveness of taking 2 years to teach Algebra I.

18. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0918 Create an Accelerated Career- Focused Program of Study Award grants to schools that are willing to develop and implement an improvement plan that meets established criteria. At the end of the four years, allow schools to continue to receive the grants if they have met and continue to meet the targets for increased graduation rates.

19. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0919 Beyond Tracking: Multiple Pathways to College, Careers and Civic Participation Consider offering same weight in the index – for academic endorsement and a CT endorsement. Consider giving greater weight to schools who take at-risk students entering grade nine below grade level and who then complete the career- focused program of study option. Allow students choosing a career- focused program of study in grade nine to opt into either core 4 or core 4 plus.

20. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0920 Beyond Tracking: Multiple Pathways to College, Careers and Civic Participation Allow students in the career-focused pathway to take the same CT credits as students who earn the ct endorsement. Emphasize reading, writing, listening and speaking for learning in all courses in the career-focused, advanced academic and technical endorsement programs of study. (See SREB adolescent literacy report.)

21. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0921 Expand Key Goals to Include: Reduce failure rates in the middle grades and ninth grade, and increase the percentage of students meeting grade-level standards.

22. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0922 Expand Strategic Intent to Include: Improve transitions from the middle grades to ninth grade and from the senior year to postsecondary studies and careers. Create a reflective school leadership team that focuses on continuous improvement of school and classroom practices. Instill the value that failure is not an option and having all students meet standards is the mission of he school. Form partnerships to make use of community work sites, virtual learning opportunities and postsecondary institutions to achieve key goals. Redesign career/technical courses so students use academic and technical knowledge and skills to complete intellectually demanding, authentic assignments.

23. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0923 Expand Strategic Intent to Include: Broaden the high school redesign to focus on establishing readiness for the ninth grade and the redesign of the ninth grade as a major statewide educational priority. (See HSTW Ninth-Grade Redesign report.) Define ninth-grade readiness standards, and benchmark for success in Algebra I in grade nine, college-preparatory-level language arts and science. Identify students early in the middle grades who are at risk of being unprepared for high school and provide a system of accelerated instruction and support. Study the Texas and Virginia approaches.

24. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0924 Expand Strategic Intent to Include: Require accelerated intensive academic help in reading and mathematics for students before they begin the ninth grade or early in the ninth-grade year. Redesign the ninth grade so students who are behind receive the help they need to catch up, particularly in reading and mathematics. Make the emphasis in middle grades and early high school on having students meet standards, not on failure.

25. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0925 Establish a statewide process for determining high school juniors’ readiness for college and careers. Allow students who are ready for postsecondary study at the end of the junior year to earn at least nine semester hours of credit during the senior year. Enroll students who are planning to enroll in postsecondary studies but who fail to meet readiness standards in specially designed mathematics and English transitional courses the senior year. Use the senior year to allow students who are not planning to attend college to earn employer certification.

26. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0926 Redesign high school CT courses and make them more intellectually demanding. Identify the most essential reading, writing, mathematics and science standards that are needed for work and further study. Establish a process to support teams of outstanding academic and CT teachers and experts from the technical field to prepare course syllabi for each CT course. Develop authentic problems and projects to engage students in using essential college-readiness standards. Train teachers to use the course syllabi, using the AP model. Create a repository of these syllabi and projects for all schools to share.

27. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0927 Trouble-shooting and problem-solving skills Use of research skills to collect and organize information into a work plan Use of mathematics to support decision- making and planning Use of writing to aid learning and to complete tasks Communication and interaction with adults outside the school A setting where students experiment, invent, design and construct Recognize and encourage good CT instruction that can foster 21st-century skills/intellectually challenging work.

28. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0928 Gains in Number of CT Students Per 100 Meeting Readiness Goals Who Experienced 21st-Century Assignments Source: HSTW Assessment

29. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0929 Success Stories Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical Center Franklin, Massachusetts Rigorous, Intellectually Demanding Assignments

30. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0930 Expand Students’ Opportunities for Study in High-Quality, High-Demand CT Fields Dual credit courses meeting established standards Career academies Adopt new kinds of programs such as PLTW’s pre-engineering and biomedical science curricula Formulate an apprenticeship program similar to the one that has been developed by the state of Georgia and other proven work-site learning models

31. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0931 Average Point Gain in Achievement Scores on HSTW Assessment 2004 to 2006 100 Non- Improved Sites 100 Most- Improved Sites Reading-11+15 Mathematics-8+12 Science-12+16 Source: 2004 and 2006 HSTW Assessments

32. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0932 Average Point Changes in Reading Achievement 100 Non- Improved Sites 100 Most- Improved Sites All Students-11+15 Black-12+16 White-10+13 Parents w/ no college education -11+14 Parents w/ some college education -11+14 Source: 2004 and 2006 HSTW Assessments

33. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0933 Average Point Changes in Mathematics Achievement 100 Non- Improved Sites 100 Most- Improved Sites All Students-8+12 Black-9+13 White-6+11 Parents w/ no college education -7+11 Parents w/ some college education -8+12 Source: 2004 and 2006 HSTW Assessments

34. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0934 Average Point Changes in Science Achievement 100 Non- Improved Sites 100 Most- Improved Sites All Students-12+16 Black-12+19 White-10+15 Parents w/ no college education -11+17 Parents w/ some college education -12+16 Source: 2004 and 2006 HSTW Assessments

35. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0935 Changes in Percentages of Students Completing HSTW-Recommended Academic Curriculum: 2004 to 2006

36. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0936 Changes in Percentages of Students Experiencing HSTW Indicators at Most-Improved and Non- Improved Schools: 2004 -2006 High School Importance Extra Help Guidance Work-based Learning Quality CT Science Numeracy Literacy Expectations

37. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0937 Resources for Your Consideration Beyond Tracking: Multiple Pathways to College, Career and Civic Participation, edited by Jeannie Oakes and Marsha Saunders, Harvard Educational Press The Mind At Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker, Mike Rose Crafting a New Vision for High School: How States Can Join Academic and Technical Studies to Promote More Powerful Learning Lost in Transition: Building a Better Path from School to College and Careers

38. Southern Regional Education Board HSTW High School Redesign: Getting a Workable Model Louisiana 01-23-0938 Resources for Your Consideration Preparing Middle Grades Students for High School Success A Critical Mission: Making Adolescent Reading a priority in SREB States Redesigning the Ninth Grade Experience Measuring Technical and Academic Achievement – Employer/Certification Examinations’ role in High School Assessment