# **Archived Information**

# Title: New Expectations for a New Century: The Education Imperative

# Author: Susan Sclafani, Assistant Secretary, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, United States Department of Education

# 

# \[Slide 1\]

# New Expectations for a New Century: The Education Imperative

Susan Sclafani, Assistant Secretary, Office of Vocational and Adult
Education, United States Department of Education \[United States of
America Department of Education seal\]

\[Slide 2\]

Figure 1. Title: Skill Level Changes. Two pie graphs comparing the job
requirements distribution of 1950 (the year nineteen fifty, left) and
the job requirements distribution of 1997 (the year nineteen ninety
seven, right) Slices are labeled, in clockwise order from the top (noon
position): skilled, professional, and unskilled, and each slice has a
percentage figure on it.

Left Pie Graph, 1950: Clockwise from top (noon) position: skilled jobs
(gold, 20% or twenty percent), professional jobs (magenta, 20% or twenty
percent), and unskilled jobs (blue, 60% or sixty percent).

Right Pie Graph, 1997: Clockwise from top (noon) position: skilled jobs
(gold, 65% or sixty five percent), professional jobs (magenta, 20% or
twenty percent), and unskilled jobs (blue, 15% or fifteen percent).

Source: National Summit on 21st (Twenty-First) Century Skills for 21st
(Twenty-First) Century Jobs.

End of Figure 1.

#  

\[Slide 3\]

Figure 2. Title: Fastest Growing Jobs Require Some Education Beyond High
School. Simple horizontal bar graph (right) comparing the percentages of
fastest growing jobs (X axis, left to right, 0% to 60% in increments of
10%, zero percent to sixty percent in increments of ten percent,
percentage figures accompany the horizontal bars) requiring the
following levels of education (Y axis, from top to bottom, and in the
same top to bottom order in the legend, at left):

-   First professional degree (pale blue: 18% or eighteen percent)

-   Doctoral degree (green: 24% or twenty-four percent)

-   Master's degree (yellow: 23% or twenty-three percent)

-   Bachelor's degree or higher and work experience (red: 19% or
    nineteen percent)

-   Bachelor's degree (pink: 23% or twenty-three percent)

-   Associate's degree (dark blue: 32% or thirty-two percent)

-   Work experience (dark purple: 11% or eleven percent)

-   Long-term on-the-job training (light purple: 8% or eight percent)

-   Moderate-term on-the-job training (orange: 11% or eleven percent)

-   Short-term on-the-job training (black: 14% or fourteen percent)

-   Total (tan: 15% or fifteen percent)

Source: Not specified.

End of Figure 2.

# 

\[Slide 4\]

Figure 3. Title: High Learning Equals High Earning. This is a grouped
(on educational level: X axis, from left to right: no high school
diploma, high school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma, Associate's
degree, and Bachelor's degree) vertical bar graph comparing female
(blue) and male (gray) (within groups, from left to right, and from top
to bottom in the legend to the right of the graph) salaries (Y axis:
from \$0 to \$50,000 per year in increments of \$10,000 or zero to fifty
thousand dollars per year in increments of ten thousand dollars) for
various levels of education. Dollar figures do not accompany the bars.

Women without a high school diploma earned about ten thousand dollars
(\$10,000) per year, whereas men without a high school diploma earned
about twenty thousand dollars (\$20,000) per year. Women who graduated
high school or had a General Equivalency Diploma, but who did not have a
two- or four-year degree, earned almost twenty thousand dollars
(\$20,000) per year. Men who graduated high school or had a General
Equivalency Diploma, but who did not have a two- or four-year degree,
earned almost thirty thousand dollars (\$30,000) per year. Women with
Associate degrees earned about twenty thousand dollars (\$20,000) per
year. Men with Associate degrees earned over thirty thousand dollars
(\$30,000) per year. Finally, women with Bachelor's degrees earned about
thirty thousand dollars (\$30,000) per year whereas men with Bachelor's
degrees earned over forty thousand dollars (\$40,000) per year.

Source: Not specified.

End of Figure 3.

\[Slide 5\] Title: Credentials Matter

Figure 4. Title: Percentage Difference in Earnings Between
Post-Secondary Career and Technical Education Students and High School
Graduates (2000, year two thousand).

Table 1: Table, four rows by three columns. Top row and left column are
headings (top: from left to right: returns to, male, and female
respectively) (left: from top to bottom, returns to, one (1) year of
post-secondary Career and Technical Education courses, post-secondary
Career and Technical Education certificate, and a Career and Technical
Education associate degree).

Results: Men with one year of post-secondary Career and Technical
Education courses had an eight percent (8%) income difference compared
with men who graduated from high school. Men with a Career and Technical
Education Associate degree had a thirty percent (30%) income difference
compared with men who graduated from high school. There was no data
comparing the income of men who had a post-secondary Career and
Technical Education certificate with the income of men who graduated
from high school.

There was no data comparing the income of women who had one year of
post-secondary Career and Technical Education courses with the income of
women who graduated from high school. Women with a post-secondary Career
and Technical Education certificate had a sixteen percent (16%) income
difference compared with women who graduated from high school. Women
with a Career and Technical Education Associate degree had a forty-seven
percent (47%) income difference compared with women who graduated from
high school.

Source: National Assessment of Vocational Education 2004 (year two
thousand and four): Forthcoming

End of Table 1.

End of Figure 4.

\[Slide 6\] Title: Four Year Degrees?

On average, workers with associate degrees earn less than those with
bachelor's degrees, but eighty-three percent (83%) of workers with
associate degrees earn the same as workers with bachelor's degrees.

Source: Carnevale and Desrochers, Standards for What?, 2003 (year two
thousand and three)

\[Slide 7\]

Title: American Diploma Project

"Successful preparation for both post-secondary education and employment
requires learning the same rigorous English and mathematics content and
skills. No longer do students planning to go to work after high school
need a different and less rigorous curriculum than those planning to go
to college."

\[Slide 8\]

Title: Losing Our Edge?

Figure 5. Title: Percentage of population with a post-secondary
credential

Grouped (on age group, X axis, from left to right, ages 55-64 or fifty
five to sixty four, 45-54 or forty-five to fifty four, 35-44 or thirty
five to forty four, and 25-34 or twenty-five to thirty-four) vertical
bar graph comparing the percentages (Y axis, from zero percent to sixty
percent in increments of ten percent, 0% - 60% in increments of 10%,
percentage figure on the highest bar in each age group) of adults in
five countries (from left to right: United States, dark blue; Canada,
light blue; Ireland, green; Japan, red; and Korea, black: same order
from top to bottom in legend to the left of the graph) of various age
groups who have credentials beyond the completion of high school.

Results: The strongest differences in international post-secondary
credentials occur at the oldest age group and steadily weaken as age
groups become younger. Among adults aged fifty five to sixty four
(55-64), thirty one percent (31%) of American adults have post-secondary
credentials, but only about thirty percent (30%) of Canadians, twenty
one percent (21%) of Irish, fifteen percent (15%) of Japanese, and nine
percent (9%) of Koreans in that age group do.

Among adults aged forty-five to fifty-four (45-54), a similar pattern is
evident, but with all nationalities having more post-secondary
credentials in the second-oldest age group than in the oldest age group.
Forty percent (40%) of American adults between forty-five and fifty-four
years of age (45-54) have post-secondary credentials, but only about
thirty nine percent (39%) of Canadians, twenty-nine percent (29%) of
Irish, twenty-eight percent (28%) of Japanese, and about twelve percent
(12%) of Koreans in that age group do.

Among adults aged thirty-five to forty-four, Americans lose the lead.
Only between thirty-five to forty percent (35-40%) of Americans in that
age group have post-secondary credentials, whereas the same percentage
of Irish, forty three percent (43%) of Canadians and Japanese, and
twenty-five to thirty percent (25-30%) of Koreans in that age group do.

Finally, among adults aged twenty five to thirty four, Americans finish
last: slightly less than forty percent (40%) have post-secondary
credentials, whereas about forty percent (40%) of Koreans, about
forty-eight percent (48%) of Japanese and Irish, and fifty one percent
(51%) of Canadians in that age group do.

Source: Education at a Glance, Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development Indicators 2003 (year two thousand and three).

End of Figure 5.

\[Slide 9\]

Title: Losing Our Edge?

National Assessment of Educational Progress Year 2002 (two thousand and
two) Math Assessment

12^th^ (Twelfth) Graders Scoring "Below Basic"

-   Thirty-five percent (35%) of *all* students

-   Fifty-six percent (56%) of *Hispanic* students

-   Sixty-nine percent (69%) of *African-American* students

-   Sixty percent (60%) of *low-income* students

\[Slide 10\]

Title: Questions "Below Basic" Students Answered Incorrectly.

"Chris wishes to carpet the rectangular room shown below. To the nearest
square yard, how many square yards of carpet are needed to carpet the
floor of the room if the closet floor will not be carpeted? 1 (one)
square yard equals 9 (nine) square feet."

Diagram 1: The rectangular area of both the room (gray) and the closet
(white) is given as 10.5 (ten and a half) feet long (side facing the
bottom of the slide) by 8.5 (eight and a half) feet wide (side facing
the left of the slide). The closet is given as a rectangle 2.5 feet long
along the right edge of the combined rectangle but its width is not
indicated in the diagram. The student should first deduce that if both
the room and closet are 10.5 (ten and a half) feet long and the closet
at the right edge is 2.5 (two and a half) feet long, the room must be 8
(eight) feet long, and if the left side of the rectangle is 8.5 (eight
and a half) feet wide, the right side of the rectangle and the parallel
door between the closet and then room are also 8.5 (eight and a half)
feet wide. The student should then multiply 8.5 (eight and a half) feet
by 8 (eight) feet to get 68 (sixty eight) square feet, and then divide
by nine to get the number of square yards (seven and five ninths, or 7
with a repeating five decimal). Because the instructions specify the
nearest square yard, the student should round up to get 8 (eight) square
yards, because four ninths of a square yard or four square feet of
carpet would be unused if carpet was only sold in integer numbers of
square yards. The student should ignore the window at the top of the
rectangle because it is not relevant to the calculations. The students
in slide 9 could not coordinate successive mathematical steps such as
logical deduction in geometry, calculating area, converting between
units of measure, and rounding.

End of Diagram 1.

\[Slide 11\]

Title: Disconnect Between Student Aspirations and High School
Preparation

Figure 6. This is a simple vertical bar graph comparing the percentages
(Y axis, from zero percent to one hundred percent in increments of
twenty percent, 0% - 100% in increments of 20%, with percentage figures
on each bar) of students who (X axis, from left to right, no legend, all
bars are blue) aspire to attend college, enroll in college, and take the
minimum credits required for admissions.

Results: Ninety seven percent (97%) of students aspire to attend
college, and sixty three percent (63%) enroll in college, but only sixty
percent (60%) take the minimum credits required for admissions.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of
Education, 2000 (year two thousand), page 151.

End of Figure 6.

\[Slide 12\]

Title: College remediation rates, entering freshmen, 2000 (year two
thousand)

Results: Figure 7. A simple stack of four boxes, all black text on white
backgrounds, comparing the rates of remediation among freshmen at (from
top to bottom) all higher education institutions, public two-year
institutions, public four-year institutions, and private four-year
institutions in the year 2000 (two thousand).

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of all freshmen in the year two thousand
(2000) took remediation classes. Forty-two percent (42%) of freshmen at
public two-year colleges in the year two thousand (2000) took
remediation classes. Twenty percent (20%) of freshmen at public
four-year colleges in the year two thousand (2000) took remediation
classes. Twelve percent (12%) of freshmen at private four-year colleges
in the year two thousand (2000) took remediation classes.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Remedial Education at
Degree-Granting Post-Secondary Institutions in Fall 2000.

End of Figure 7.

\[Slide 13\]

Title: A Drag on College Productivity

Figure 8. Title: College "drift-out" rates: students not returning for
year two.

A simple stack of two boxes, both with black text on white backgrounds,
comparing the attrition rates of students at the end of their first year
at, from top to bottom, four-year colleges and two-year colleges.

Results: Twenty-six percent (26%) of freshmen at four-year colleges did
not return for their sophomore year. Forty-five percent (45%) of
freshmen at two-year colleges did not return for their sophomore year.

Source: Mortensen, T. (November 1999), Post-Secondary Opportunity as
presented by the Education Trust.

End of Figure 8.

\[Slide 14\]

New Expectations for a New Century: The Role of the Office of Vocational
and Adult Education

\[Slide 15\]

The Bush Administration's Key Education Principles

-   Increase accountability for student performance

-   Focus on what works

-   Reduce bureaucracy and increase flexibility

-   Choices for students and parents

\[Slide 16\]

Goals of Preparing America's Future: High School Initiative

-   Setting high expectations and accountability for results;

-   Creating options and engaging students;

-   Fostering world-quality teaching and school leadership; and

-   Making smooth transitions into post-secondary education, training,
    and careers.

\[Slide 17\]

Preparing America's Future High School Initiative

-   National High School Leadership Summit, October 8, 2003

-   Resource Guide:
    [*http://www.ed.gov/highschool*](http://www.ed.gov/highschool)

-   Regional Summits, Winter and Spring 2004

-   Technical Assistance Corps

-   Web-based and Electronic Resources

\[Slide 18\]

The Carl D. Perkins Secondary and Technical Education Excellence Act of
2004 (Perkins Sec Tech): Key Policy Objectives

-   Ensure that career and technical education programs complement the
    academic mission of No Child Left Behind and workforce mission of
    the Workforce Investment Act.

-   Help every youth in a Career and Technical Education Pathway Program
    receive a challenging academic core that prepares them for future
    education and career success.

\[Slide 19\]

The Carl D. Perkins Secondary and Technical Education Excellence Act of
2004 (Perkins Sec Tech): Policy Objectives

-   Ensure that every Career and Technical Education program offers a
    clear pathway into a post-secondary program leading to a credential,
    apprenticeship, associate or baccalaureate degree.

-   Make high-quality Career and Technical Education pathway programs
    widely available to both youth and career-changing adults through a
    variety of institutions and delivery models.

-   Strengthen national and regional workforce quality and economic
    competitiveness.

\[Slide 20\]

Career and Technical Education Pathways

-   Partnerships between high schools and post-secondary partners

-   Challenging academic core

-   Non-duplicative technical courses leading to degree, certification
    or apprenticeship

-   Career pathways that are in-demand and lead to economic
    self-sufficiency

-   Flexible delivery models that focus on "what", not "where"

\[Slide 21\]

Office of Vocational and Adult Education Community College Initiatives

The U.S. Department of Education funds initiatives that support
community and technical colleges to fulfill their potential as engines
of education, career preparation, and economic development.

\[Slide 22\]

Jobs for the Twenty-First (21^st^) Century

**Community-based Job Training Grants:** \$250 million (two hundred and
fifty million dollars) to strengthen the role of community colleges in
workforce development. The new competitive grants would fund programs in
colleges that are linked with local economic development needs.

\[Slide 23\]

Jobs for the Twenty-First (21^st^) Century

**Striving Readers Initiative:** \$200 million (two hundred million
dollars) in grants to 50 (fifty) to 100 (one hundred) school districts
to implement effective reading interventions for middle or high school
students.

**Math and Science Partnerships:** \$120 million (one hundred and twenty
million dollars) in grants for interventions to increase achievement in
mathematics for secondary students.

**Adjunct Teacher Corps:** \$40 million (forty million dollars) to
recruit mid-career professionals to teach math and science in middle and
high schools.

\[Slide 24\]

Jobs for the Twenty-First (21^st^) Century

**Advanced Placement (A.P.):** \$56 million (fifty six million dollars)
for professional development for Advanced Placement teachers in
high-poverty high schools.

**State Scholars Initiative:** \$12 million (twelve million dollars) to
expand the State Scholars program to all interested states.

**Enhanced Pell Grants:** \$33 million (thirty three million dollars) to
enhance Pell Grants to reward low-income students who participate in the
State Scholars Program by taking a rigorous high school curriculum. Up
to an additional \$1,000 (one thousand dollars) per year to students in
the first two years of college.

\[Slide 25\]

Education: Our Competitive Edge

"Productivity in the United States has increased generation after
generation, creating ever rising standards of living... Our
knowledge-based skills in a business environment, supported by a rule of
law, have enabled our workforce to create ever-greater value
added---irrespective of what goods and services we have chosen to
produce at home and what and how much we have chosen to import."

\-- Alan Greenspan, P.h.D.

Chairman, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System

2004 (year two thousand and four)

#