New Expectations for a New Century: The Education Imperative

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New Expectations for a New CenturyThe
Education Imperative
Susan Sclafani, Assistant Secretary Office of
Vocational and Adult Education United States
Department of Education
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Skill Level Changes
Skilled 20
Unskilled 15
Unskilled 60
Professional 20
Skilled 65
Professional 20
1950
1997
National Summit on 21st Century Skills for 21st
Century Jobs
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Fastest Growing Jobs Require Some Education
Beyond High School
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High Learning High Earning
S A L A R Y
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Credentials Matter
Percentage Difference in Earnings Between
Postsecondary CTE Students and High School
Graduates (2000)
Returns to Male Female
1 year of postsecondary CTE courses 8 ---
Postsecondary CTE certificate -- 16
CTE associate degree 30 47
NAVE 2004 Forthcoming
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Four Year Degrees?
On average, workers with associate degrees earn
less than those with bachelors degrees, but 83
percent of workers with associate degrees earn
the same as workers with bachelors degrees.
Carnevale and Desrochers, Standards for What?,
2003.
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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.

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Percentage of population with a postsecondary
credential
Losing Our Edge?
55-64
45-54
35-44
25-34
Education at a Glance OECD Indicators 2003
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Losing Our Edge?
Students Enrolled in Postsecondary (in thousands)
1990 2000 Change
U.S. 13.7 15.7 15
China 3.8 13.6 258
India 4.9 9.4 92
UNESCO, 2003
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Losing Our Edge?

• NAEP 2002 Math Assessment
• 12th 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

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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)
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Disconnect Between Student Aspirations and High
School Preparation
Students
Source NCES, The Condition of Education, 2000,
p. 151.
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College remediation ratesEntering 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,
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A Drag on College Productivity
College drift-out rates students not returning
for year 2
4-year colleges 26
2-year colleges 45
Source Mortensen, T. (November 1999),
Postsecondary Opportunity as presented by The
Education Trust.
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Literacy skills of American adults

• 21-23 percent (40 to 43 million) of the 191
  million American adults at Level 1- lowest level
  of prose, document, and quantitative
  proficiencies.
• 25-28 percent (about 50 million) at Level 2.
• (source National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992)

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NALS Levels

• Level 1. Able to perform simple, routine tasks
  involving brief and uncomplicated texts and
  documents.
• Level 2. Able to locate information in text, to
  make low-level inferences using printed
  materials, and to integrate easily identifiable
  pieces of information.
• Levels 3-5. Able to integrate information from
  relatively long or dense text or long and complex
  documents.

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The Costs of Low Literacy

• Adult without high school diploma earns 42 less
  than an adult with a high school diploma.
• Limited literacy skills cost business and
  taxpayers 20 billion in lost wages, profits and
  productivity annually.

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The Costs of Low Literacy

• 50 of the chronically unemployed are not
  functionally literate.
• 41-44 of adults who scored in Level 1 on the
  National Adult Literacy Survey (1992) were in
  poverty (federal guidelines), compared with 4 -6
  of adults who scored in the highest level.

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New Expectations for a New CenturyThe Role of
the Office of Vocational and Adult Education
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Regaining Americas Edge OVAEs Role

• Complementing No Child Left Behind
• Preparing Americas Future High School
  Initiative
• Perkins III and Perkins Sec Tech Reauthorization
• Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (WIA
  title II)
• Community College Initiatives
• Jobs for the 21st Century

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The Bush Administrations Key Education
Principles

• Increase accountability for student performance
• Focus on what works
• Reduce bureaucracy and increase flexibility
• Choices for students and parents

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Goals of Preparing Americas 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 postsecondary
  education, training, and careers.
• Providing a rich core curriculum for all,
  including fine arts

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Preparing Americas FutureHigh 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

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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.

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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.

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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

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A shared vision for Adult Basic and Literacy
Education

• Adults will have opportunities to improve
  their basic and literacy skills in high-quality,
  research-based programs that will equip them to
  succeed in the next step of their education and
  employment.

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ABLE 2003 -- Key Strategies

• Hold local programs and State agencies
  accountable for student achievement
• Require State-developed or adopted content
  standards and aligned assessments
• Focus on what works by promoting local use of
  research-based practice
• Provide increased options for basic skills
  acquisition

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Key Strategies, continued

• Expand appropriate technology options
• Promote collaboration and resource sharing across
  agencies that serve under educated adults and
• Coordinate the delivery of services through the
  One-Stop Career Center System.

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OVAE 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.
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Jobs for the 21st Century
Community-based Job Training Grants 250 million
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.
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Jobs for the 21st Century
Striving Readers Initiative 100 million in
grants to 50 to 100 school districts to implement
effective reading interventions for middle or
high school students. 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.
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Jobs for the 21st Century
Advanced Placement (AP) 28 million for
professional development for AP teachers in
high-poverty high schools. 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.
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Education Our Competitive Edge
Productivity in the United States has increased
generation after generation, creating ever-rising
standards of livingOur 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)