Nebraska: Proposal to pilot ACT for 11th graders

According to an article in today's Lincoln Journal Star, a senator representing Lincoln would like to launch a three-year pilot in Lincoln and 7 other districts, substituting the ACT for the state's NeSA for 11th graders. The proposed program, the article states, "would evaluate whether the ACT would be an appropriate measure of content knowledge in reading, math and science, and of college and career readiness", and is supported by the state board of education.

Lottery funds would cover the cost of administering the ACT to the roughly 5,000 participating students.

Mississippi: Early college high school and dual enrollment

Legislation recently signed by Governor Haley Barbour makes an interesting policy statement--it repeals sections 37-15-37 and 37-101-28, which relate to dual enrollment programs in the state. However, the same legislation calls for the state superintendent and postsecondary leaders to jointly "develop a comprehensive report and recommendations" for the 2012 legislature re: implementing and operating early college high schools, including recommendations on establishing a pilot early college high school program in Mississippi.

Here's hoping Mississippi looks closely at the North Carolina legislation that supports its early college high schools, which Tennessee modeled its early college legislation after several sessions ago, and which is highlighted in this summary of model state-level policy components. North Carolina is home to more early college high schools than any other state, and research suggests that the low-income and minority students in these programs have better attendance, behavior and achievement outcomes than their peers in traditional schools, as indicated in AIR research and a report highlighted in an earlier post.

Arkansas: Getting students on the college trajectory before high school

Another bill recently enacted in Arkansas, H.B. 1617 (a.k.a. Act 879) seeks to create a college remediation program that starts earlier than most, and seems to be more well-designed and data-driven than most.

The legislation calls for the creation of "postsecondary preparatory" programs, to be approved by the department of education. Programs are intended to help students identified as not college-ready (or on a trajectory not to be college ready, based on the statewide EXPLORE in grade 8 and the PLAN or PSAT in grade 10), to receive "intensive remedial instruction" in English, reading or math. Instructors must have undergone specialized training, and use innovative instructional strategies designed to be effective with program participants. The department may give priority to a program operated by partnership between a district and an institution of higher education. Interestingly, districts may use national school lunch categorical funding to operate and support a postsecondary preparatory program.

Each program must document evidence of its performance and the success of its participants, and the department of education must collect numerous data on programs and their outcomes. Data must be included in the annual school performance reports and in an annual report to the legislature.

Why wait until grades 11 or 12 (or later?) to provide college remediation? Get 'em while they're young! Arkansas' legislation provides a model for other states to consider.

Arkansas: Incorporating college and career readiness in CTE

Until recently, career/technical education (CTE) courses were viewed at best as less-challenging alternatives for students deemed not as academically motivated and, at worst, as dumping grounds for students perceived as having few if any academic prospects after high school.

However, states are increasingly taking measures to ensure that CTE courses provide challenging content to prepare students for both postsecondary studies and work. Legislation recently enacted in Arkansas provides yet another example of this trend. H.B. 1620 (a.k.a. Act 743) calls for schools to make available "a rigorous career and technical education program of study that links secondary education and postsecondary education and combines academic and technical education in a structured sequence of courses". It directs the department of career education to work with the department of education and department of higher education to develop college and career readiness program standards for CTE courses.

Under the new legislation, the college and career readiness program standards for CTE should include:

• Business/education partnerships to support CTE program design, implementation and maintenance
• "Sustained, intensive and focused" professional development for teachers, administrators and faculty to undergird CTE program design, implementation and maintenance
• Accountability and evaluation processes to collect quantitative and qualitative data on CTE program components and student outcomes to gauge each program's effectiveness
• Sequences of secondary and postsecondary courses to help students transition into postsecondary without need for remediation or duplicate classes.

H.B. 1620 also calls for the creation of a common course numbering system incorporating CTE courses at the secondary and postsecondary level, formal credit transfer agreements between high schools and postsecondary institutions, comprehensive guidance counseling and advising systems, "innovative and creative instructional approaches to enable teachers to integrate academic, career and technical instruction", and "valid and reliable technical skills assessments" that indicate on an ongoing basis whether a student is gaining the knowledge and skills needed for successful entry into postsecondary education or a career in his/her CTE field.

Under the legislation, the state will create these technical skills assessments, which must measure student attainment across multiple points in a student's CTE program, include performance-based items to the extent possible. Among other purposes, these technical skills assessments must be used to evaluate the quality of high school CTE programs.

Here's hoping additional states look to efforts in Arkansas and other states as what is possible in holding students to high, real-world expectations in CTE programs.