# Presentation: 506401

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

*Susan Sclafani, Assistant Secretary*
*Office of Vocational and Adult Education *
*United States Department of Education, *

**Archived Information**

## Skill Level Changes

**Unskilled**
**60%**

**Skilled**
**20%**

**Professional**
**20%**

**Skilled**
**65%**

**Unskilled**
**15%**

**Professional**
**20%**

**1950**

**1997**

*National Summit on 21**st** Century Skills for 21**st** Century Jobs*

## Fastest Growing Jobs Require Some Education Beyond High School

**Notes:**
Source:  Bureau of Census, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2001-02.

Occupations usually requiring short- or moderate-term on-the-job training are projected to account for 10.8 million new jobs by 2010 (not shown).

Occupations usually requiring a bachelor’s or higher degree are expected to contribute about 6.5 million new jobs (not shown).

As a group, jobs usually requiring an associate degree are projected to have the fastest growth:  32 percent, about twice the average growth rate for all occupations (shown).

Occupational usually requiring a bachelor’s degree or more education are expected to increase faster than average (shown).

## High Learning = High Earning

- S
- A
- L
- A
- R
- Y

**Notes:**
Source:  Bureau of Labor Statistics.  March 1999 Current Population Survey.

Higher learning continues to equal higher earning.  As of 1999, male and female college graduates earned 58% and 92% more, respectively, than those who completed high school only.

Although not shown on this chart, students with higher math skills earned substantially more—as much as 108% more—than students with weaker skills.

A similar pattern exists between level of education and unemployment among 25-to-64-year-olds.  From 1977 to 1997, high school dropouts experienced the most unemployment (11%) compared to those with some college (4%) and those with four or more years of college (2.5%).

Finally, among those who are unemployed, 70% are at the two lowest literacy levels, while only 5%  at the two highest levels.

## Credentials Matter

| Returns to: | Male | Female |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 year of postsecondary CTE courses | 
8% | 
--- |
| Postsecondary CTE certificate | 
-- | 
16% |
| CTE associate degree | 30% | 47% |

**Percentage Difference in Earnings Between Postsecondary CTE Students and High School Graduates (2000)**

- NAVE 2004:  Forthcoming

## Four Year Degrees?

- On average, workers with associate degrees earn less than those with bachelor’s degrees, but 83 percent of workers with associate degrees earn *the same as* workers with bachelor’s degrees.

- Carnevale and Desrochers, *Standards for What?,* 2003.

## American Diploma Project

- “Successful preparation for both postsecondary 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.”

## Percentage of population with a postsecondary credential 

- 55-64

- 45-54

- 35-44

- 25-34

*Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2003*

**Losing Our Edge?**

**Notes:**
Recently, our competitors have been emulating our example and are closing the gap. 

We may have the best-educated 55 to 64 year olds in the world, but our education edge has eroded or disappeared among younger generations.  We rank number one in the world in the percentage of 55 to 64 year olds who have completed secondary and postsecondary education.  Among 25 to 34 year olds, however, we rank number eight in secondary completion, and are number four in postsecondary completion.  

## Losing Our Edge?

**12****th**** Graders Scoring “Below Basic” **
-  35 percent of *all* students
-  56 percent of *Hispanic* students
-  69 percent of *African-American* students
-  60 percent of *low-income *students

**Losing Our Edge?**

**Notes:**
On international assessments, the math performance of our high school students is mediocre.

But many of us do not realize just how dismal their performance really is. 

More than one-third of 12th graders scored “below basic” on the NAEP math assessment in 2002.  What does “below basic” really mean? Let’s look at some examples.

## 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 square yard = 9 square feet)

**Notes:**
This is math question most “below basic” students answered incorrectly. 

Keep in mind that students were allowed to use calculators throughout the exam.

## Disconnect Between Student Aspirations and High School Preparation

**Students**

*Source:  NCES, The Condition of Education, 2000, p. 151.*

**Notes:**
Source:  NCES, The Condition of Education, 2000, p. 151.

Virtually every student aspires to attend college, and just over 60% enroll in the fall following their high school graduation.

However, only three in ten high school students have taken the minimum number of credits typically required for postsecondary admissions—4 credits of English, 3 each of math, science and social studies, .5 computer science, and 2 foreign language.

It is not surprising that nearly one of every two postsecondary students takes one or more remedial courses.

## College remediation ratesEntering freshmen, 2000

| All | 28% |
| --- | --- |
| Public 2-year | 42%
 |
| Public 4-year | 20%
 |
| Private 4-year | 12%
 |

*Source:  NCES, Remedial Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000, *

**Notes:**
Nearly a third of the students who enter postsecondary education in this country do not have the academic foundation needed to do college-level work.

Last November, the National Center of Education Statistics published the results of a new survey of institutions of higher education about student participation in remedial courses during the 2000-01 school year. 

The survey found that:
28% of all freshmen who entered postsecondary education in 2000 were placed in remedial courses – this is 671,000 students.
42% of freshmen at 2-year public institutions—generally, community and technical colleges—were placed in remediation.
20% of freshmen at 4-year public institutions were enrolled in remedial courses.
12% of freshmen at private 4-year schools were placed in remediation.

NCES last conducted this survey in 1995. Though the issue of college remediation has received a great deal of attention from educators and policy-makers since that time, NCES found that the proportion of freshmen who enroll in remedial courses has not changed since 1995. 

## A Drag on College Productivity

| 
4-year colleges | 
26% |
| --- | --- |
| 
2-year colleges | 
45% |

- Source:  Mortensen, T. (November 1999), Postsecondary Opportunity as presented by The Education Trust.

- College “drift-out” rates: students not returning for year 2

**Notes:**
Poorly prepared students are a drag on the productivity of community colleges.

Too many students drop out because they lack the skills to succeed.

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

## 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

##  Setting high expectations and accountability for results;
Creating options and engaging students;
Fostering world-quality teaching and school leadership; and
Making smooth transitions into postsecondary education, training, and careers.

**Creating options and engaging students;**
**Fostering world-quality teaching and school leadership; and**
**Making smooth transitions into postsecondary education, training, and careers.**

- Goals of Preparing America’s Future:  High School Initiative

## Preparing America’s FutureHigh School Initiative

- National High School Leadership Summit, October 8, 2003
- Resource Guide --*http://www.ed.gov/highschool*
- Regional Summits, Winter-Spring 2004
- Technical Assistance Corps
- Web-based and Electronic Resources

## 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 CTE Pathway Program  receive an challenging academic core that prepares them for future education and career success.

## Perkins Sec Tech --Policy Objectives 

- Ensure that every CTE program offers a clear pathway into a postsecondary program leading to a credential, apprenticeship, associate or baccalaureate degree.
- Make high-quality CTE 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.

## CTE Pathways 

- Partnerships between high schools and postsecondary 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”

## OVAE Community College Initiatives

## Jobs for the 21st Century

- Jobs for the 21st Century

## Jobs for the 21st Century

**Math and Science Partnerships**: $120 million in grants for interventions to increase achievement in mathematics for secondary students.
**Adjunct Teacher Corps**: $40 million to recruit mid-career professionals to teach math and science in middle and high schools.

- Jobs for the 21st Century

## Jobs for the 21st Century

**State Scholars Initiative**: $12 million to expand the State Scholars program to all interested states.
**Enhanced Pell Grants**: $33 million 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 per year to students in the first two years of college.

- Jobs for the 21st Century

## 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 (2004)

**Notes:**
Throughout the 20th century, our commitment to education gave us a competitive edge.  The United States led the world in expanding access to education, beginning first by providing a secondary education to all young people, and then by opening the doors to postsecondary education to the majority, and not just the elite.