Improving the Education of High School Students

“Let’s also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job... Now at 

schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools and City 

University of New York and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an 

associate's degree in computers or engineering. We need to give every American student 

opportunities like this.”

- President Barack Obama

President Obama has encouraged all Americans to commit to at least one year of higher education 

or career training and has set the ambitious goal that America will have the highest proportion of 

college graduates in the world by 2020. This year’s high school freshmen will be the college 

graduating class of 2020. Yet far too many high school students are not engaged in or motivated by

their academic experiences. Nearly one in four students in this country fails to graduate from high 

school on time, while many of the students who graduate have not been adequately prepared to 

succeed in college and the workforce. The President’s 2014 budget request proposes the following 

investments that will help America once again lead the world in college attainment and ensure that 

all high school students graduate ready for college and career success. 

• High School Redesign ($300 million). The budget supports a new competition that will fund 

district partnerships with (i) postsecondary institutions and (ii) business, industry, non-profits or

community based organizations to redesign high schools. Redesigned high schools will ensure 

that students graduate from high school with college credit and career-related experience, 

putting them on a path to career and college success. Special consideration will be given to 

partnerships that focus on areas with limited access to quality career and college opportunities, 

such as high poverty and rural districts, as well as to partnerships with employers that can 

provide students with career-related experience or career-related credentials.

• Reauthorized Perkins Career and Technical Education program ($1.1 billion). 

The President’s budget would fund a reauthorized Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical 

Education Act. The reauthorization proposal will strengthen alignment among secondary and 

postsecondary CTE programs and business and industry; create a better accountability system 

for improving academic outcomes, technical skills, and employability outcomes; and provide 

competitive funding to promote innovation and reform in CTE.

• Dual Enrollment Program ($42 million). This program will provide grants to establish or 

expand dual-enrollment programs for students in high school or adult education programs. The 

initiative will promote dual-enrollment programs that are aligned with career pathways and target 

local workforce needs. Research has shown that participation in dual-enrollment programs is 

linked to increased high school graduation, higher rates of college enrollment and persistence, 

and higher college credit accrual rates.

• College Pathways and Accelerated Learning ($102 million). This program will increase 

graduation rates and college enrollment and success by providing college-level and other 

accelerated courses and instruction in low-income middle schools and high schools, including 

Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. 
• Getting students through middle school and into college ($1.1 billion). This investment 

will support the GEAR UP and TRIO programs, which provide intensive services to students in 

middle school through college. GEAR UP, which serves students beginning in the middle 

grades, provides early college preparation and awareness activities to entire cohorts of students 

at individual schools to help them set on a path to higher education. The TRIO programs, 

which include Upward Bound and Talent Search, provide intensive support, including summer 

learning opportunities, for students in high school to help more low-income, first generation 

students access and succeed in higher education. 

• School Turnaround Grants ($659 million). The program will continue to fund grants to states 

and subgrants from States to districts to help low-performing schools implement rigorous 

interventions that bring about dramatic improvements in student achievement and school 

performance. Since 2009, approximately 40 percent of the over 1,400 schools that have received 

funds to implement rigorous intervention models have been high schools. The President’s 2014 

budget request increases funding for the program by $125 million. These additional funds will 

be used to strengthen the capacity of school districts to reform low-performing schools. Up to 

$25 million would be available to expand the School Turnaround AmeriCorps Program, which 

places AmeriCorps members in low-performing schools to support their school turnaround 

efforts. 

• Promise Neighborhoods ($300 million). This program funds neighborhood initiatives that 

significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of low-income children by 

providing them a birth-to-career continuum of services, including high-quality education and 

strong systems of family and community support – with high quality schools at the center. The 

comprehensive services provided by grantees will also help engage disconnected youth and keep 

them in school until graduation. The President’s proposed $240 million increase would

significantly expand the number of communities that would benefit from the program.

• Investing in Innovation ($215 million). This program provides competitive grants to

develop, evaluate, and scale up evidence-based programs and strategies that improve student 

achievement and close achievement gaps. In its first three competitions, the program has 

funded innovative projects aimed at turning around schools with high dropout rates. For 

example, the Talent Development Secondary Program at Johns Hopkins University received $30 

million in 2010 to provide greater student support, including college mentoring, in 14 districts 

across the country. In 2012, the AVID Center received a $3 million grant to develop an aligned 

system between middle schools, high schools and colleges to improve access to rigorous classes, 

increase high school completion rates, and prepare students for college.