Archived Information

The U.S. Department of Education's

Preparing America's Future High School Initiative

**Building High Schools Around the 21st-Century Teen**

Today's youths face enormous challenges: a world where most jobs require
higher levels of reading, communication, math, and problem-solving
skills than ever before and a world where high-skill jobs require higher
levels of education and training beyond high school than in the past.

Educators across America are working to create high schools that will
prepare today's students for the complexities of 21st-century life, for
further education, and for careers. The U.S. Department of Education's
Preparing America's Future High School Initiative (PAF-HSI) signifies
our dedication to helping educators meet these challenges for all
students.

*"Every high school diploma must mean that our graduates are prepared
for jobs, for college, and for success."*

*-- President George W. Bush*

The Challenge

-   As our young people prepare to become workers and citizens, schools
    must prepare them for the new expectations of our economy and
    society. Many students in the United States still attend high
    schools that were designed to fit the industrial model of the
    mid-20th century. Although in the 20th century, a large percentage
    of youths were able to succeed with just basic skills and a good
    work ethic, that era is a distant memory. Today, all students need
    to acquire both academic knowledge and technical skills, and yet,
    too many are not receiving this type of high-quality education and
    development.

-   "Every year about a million young people who started high school
    with their peers don't graduate from high school at the same time as
    their peers." (High School Graduation Rates in the United States,
    Jay P. Green, The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, September
    2003)

-   Approximately 11 percent of young adults ages 16-24 are out of
    school and lack any high school credential (including the GED).^1^

-   Students from poor families are considerably more likely to leave
    high school than students from families with high incomes. ^2^

-   Seventy-three percent of employers rate the writing skills of recent
    high school graduates as fair or poor, while 63 percent express
    dissatisfaction with graduates' math skills. ^3^

-   In 2000, the math skills of 83 percent of 12th-grade students were
    below the proficient level on the National Assessment of Educational
    Progress (NAEP). When one disaggregates the data by race and
    ethnicity, the crisis appears even more urgent: the math skills of
    97 percent of African-American students and 96 percent of Hispanics
    were below proficient. While the average math scores of white,
    African-American, and Hispanic fourth- and eighth-graders increased
    between 1990 and 2000, among 12th-graders, only white students
    scored significantly higher in 2000 than they did in 1990 (NAEP,
    2000).

-   In 2000, 82 percent of 12th-grade students performed below the
    proficient level on the NAEP science assessment (NAEP, 2000).

*"The new jobs require, in the great majority, qualifications the
blue-collar worker does not possess and is poorly equipped to acquire.
The new jobs require a good deal of formal education and the ability to
acquire and to apply theoretical and analytical knowledge. They require
a different approach to work and a different mind-set. Above all, they
require a habit of continual learning."*

-   *Peter Drucker, Management Expert and Author*

Today's youths---living and working in the 21st century---need solid
academic preparation---not just for the Ivy League and other
universities---but for the trades, automotive repair, high-tech
manufacturing, and other jobs that provide self-supporting income. They
also need skills to manage their personal lives, guide their families,
and actively exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

They also need these foundational skills to manage their personal lives,
guide their families, and actively exercise the rights and
responsibilities of citizenship.

The Promise

The United States cannot continue to succeed in a challenging
international economic environment if we allow large numbers of our
youths to leave high school unprepared.

Fortunately, America's education leaders are responding to the call for
change.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the landmark bipartisan education
legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush.
Under NCLB, states must describe how they will ensure that all students,
including those who are disadvantaged, achieve academic proficiency and
that the achievement gaps among groups of students are eliminated. NCLB
has made changes in the American education system that are already
yielding results.

Older students are among those benefiting from the high expectations
found in NCLB. Many high schools are finding ways to help students catch
up academically, master high levels of academic content, and make smooth
transitions into further education and training and the high-skill
workplace.

The New Vision

Leaders in education, civic and community organizations, business, and
government are working with youths and their families to create a new
kind of high school for the new century.

The primary distinctions needed to bring success to a high school do not
lie in changes in architecture or class scheduling. Rather, changes are
needed in expectations and outcomes.

Many high schools have embraced a new vision---a vision that calls for
having every youth complete high school ready for the next step in a
successful life. A school that provides rigorous academics will maximize
the number of choices a student has after graduation. A rigorous
academic foundation will help prepare students for postsecondary
education, training, or a career.

Here are some examples of schools that embrace a new vision for their
students:

Washtenaw Technical Middle College (WTMC) in Ann Arbor, Mich., is a
public charter high school serving approximately 300 students. Students
take academic and career development courses and, in partnership between
the high school and Washtenaw Community College, where it is housed,
more than half of the WTMC graduates earn associate degrees at the same
time as their high school diploma.

Students attending 26 area high schools and taking classes through the
Western Arkansas Technical Center based at the University of Arkansas,
Fort Smith campus, may earn a high school diploma in addition to 20 or
more credit hours toward an associate degree in computer information
systems, surgical technology, machine tool technology, or welding.

The Miami Valley Tech Prep Consortium in the Dayton, Ohio, area offers
an engineering technology program that begins in high school with a mix
of college prep academics and technical coursework and that culminates
with one of the 15 associate degree engineering programs at Sinclair
Community College.

Littleton High School in Littleton, Colo., is a large high school in an
affluent suburb. Littleton High School has conducted studies on
improving education for its students, has instituted a block schedule to
support standards-based learning, and created a school within a school
to reach freshmen in need of intervention. These alterations to
Littleton High School have allowed it to be more accountable to its
school community and better serve its students.

*"Students must see high school as being important to their future if
they are to make the effort required to succeed in challenging academic
and career studies. Students tend to see this when: there are high
expectations and rigorous assignments; they can connect what they are
asked to learn to their lives and to their goals; and they believe the
adults in the school believe in them enough to offer them the assistance
they need to succeed. For many students, this will require that we blend
together challenging academic studies with high-quality/high-demand
career studies that can lead to good jobs and postsecondary studies."*

*-- Gene Bottoms, Senior Vice President, Southern Regional Education
Board*

Joining a Movement for America's Youths

High schools of all sizes can improve to better meet the needs of
today's students. They will need to focus on elevating expectations for
all students and accepting accountability for results, expanding choices
for students and creating relationships with students, building teacher
quality and improving principals' leadership, and strengthening ties to
education and training institutions beyond high school. These goals can
be met by working with colleges, universities, community colleges,
training programs, and employers.

School boards, principals, and teachers can't do it alone. Youths need
to be at the table---to have their voices heard. Parents need to be
involved---to understand the need for change. Mayors and other elected
officials need to get engaged---to marshal the resources of other
programs that touch youths. Community, faith-based, and civic
organizations need to take part---to raise expectations and expand
opportunities for our youths.

The High School Initiative in Action

In October 2003, Secretary of Education Rod Paige launched the Preparing
America\'s Future High School Initiative. This initiative is designed to
support state and local leaders in creating educational opportunities
that will fully prepare American youths for success in further education
and training, as well as to prepare them to be participants in a highly
skilled U.S. workforce and productive and responsible citizens.

The three goals of Preparing America's Future are to:

-   Equip state and local education leaders with current knowledge about
    high schools through special forums, print and electronic materials,
    and targeted technical assistance;

-   Develop the expertise and structures within the Department of
    Education to provide coordinated support and outreach toward helping
    state and local education systems improve high schools and outcomes
    for youths; and

-   Facilitate a national dialogue to raise awareness about the need for
    significant reform in American high schools.

On Oct. 8, 2003, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education kicked off
the high school initiative by hosting a leadership summit in Washington,
D.C. The summit brought together 700 education and policy leaders to
discuss innovative, effective methods for transforming high schools into
top-quality learning institutions. To continue the national dialogue on
high school restructuring, the Department held a series of seven
regional high school summits to help state teams create short- and
long-term plans for strengthening outcomes for youths, improving high
schools, and meeting the vision of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The initiative is not limited to holding meetings. We are working with
the U.S. Department of Labor, National Association of Secondary School
Principals, the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief
State School Officers, the Council of the Great City Schools, the
National Football League, and many other vibrant and diverse
organizations to provide technical assistance, expertise, and support
for state and local leaders.

Our goal is to make a real difference through raising the expectations
of our young people and using our resources to expand their
opportunities. Ultimately, we must prepare America's youths for a
successful future.

The Preparing America's Future High School Initiative team is looking
for more concerned Americans of all ages to get involved. This
generation of students deserves the very best effort we can make to
prepare them for a complex future we can only imagine.

To get involved, and to access updated and detailed information, please
visit the U.S. Department of Education's Preparing America's Future Web
site at http://www.ed.gov/highschool. To contact us, send an e-mail to
highschools@ed.gov, or call 202-245-7700.

^1^ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, The Condition of Education, 2003.

^2^ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, Dropout Rates in the United States, 1998.

^3^ Public Agenda, Reality Check, 2002.