What ESEA reauthorization must not ignore

A new brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education argues that reauthorization of the ESEA must ensure states and districts target resources and reforms toward high schools repeatedly failing to graduate a third or more of students, or consistently demonstrating low graduation rates among student subgroups. Twenty-nine percent of African American students and 25 percent of Hispanic students do not graduate from high school within four years -- if at all -- and more than 1,200 high schools serving 1.1 million youth fail to graduate at least a third of their students. At the same time, federal funding for high school programs has stagnated, decreased, or been eliminated. Therefore, ESEA reauthorization must include a dedicated funding stream for school turnaround, targeting funds toward these low-graduation-rate high schools. Research shows that the current federal strategy of investing in early years and postsecondary education, largely skipping over middle and high schools, is unlikely to yield hoped-for returns. In addition to the above recommendations, ESEA reauthorization must require states to intervene in high schools where one or more student subgroups miss one or more state-set performance targets for two or more years, and authorize funding for "next-generation high schools" that implement new models for school turnaround, expose students to the workforce, and provide students with college credit while in high school. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

Published by LEAP

Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.