Nationally, millions of students in grades 7–12 are at risk of dropping out of high school because of low literacy skills, poor attendance, and class failure. The absence of a college- and career-ready education for these students is a civil rights and social justice issue that the federal government cannot ignore. Unfortunately, many of these students come from groups that are underserved and underrepresented, therefore failing to ensure that they receive a high quality education  will continue a cycle of poverty and disenfranchisement that the education system itself is intended to disrupt. This fact sheet provides information and policy issues for high school students of color and Native students in the United States, a group that makes up a significant portion of high school dropouts each year.

In November 2011, eleven states submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for waivers from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Although the waiver process presents an opportunity to strengthen college and career readiness among the nation’s high school students, this analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds that many state applications could have the unintended consequence of weakening high school graduation rate accountability. High school graduation rates account for 14 percent to 30 percent of state accountability indexes. With graduation rates counting for such a small portion of the overall accountability indexes, schools could have an incentive to push out low-achieving students in order to increase overall scores on achievement tests and other measures of college and career readiness.

This report outlines how digital learning can connect middle and high school students with better teaching and learning experiences while also addressing three major challenges facing the nation’s education system—access to good teaching, tight budgets, and boosting student achievement. But simply slapping a netbook on top of a textbook will not lead to improvements. Effective educational technology strategies must link the “Three Ts”—teaching, technology, and use of time—with overall whole-school reform strategies and proven pedagogical practices to accelerate the pace of improvement and ensure that all students benefit from the opportunity that digital learning offers.

The nation's workforce is demanding ever more literate workers and citizens. As technology advances and the American economy grows increasingly knowledge based, individuals must be able to read, write, and communicate at higher levels in order to remain economic and social contributors. A student’s level of literacy is a critical determinant of success in secondary school and beyond. Currently, more than half of America’s secondary students struggle to read their textbooks and other course materials. Still, research demonstrates that adolescents’ literacy levels can improve with intensive, comprehensive instruction.

Nationally, only 27 percent of recovered dropouts are expected to complete a postsecondary degree after earning a high school diploma. This is an unacceptably low rate given that in today’s knowledge-based economy, a high school diploma just is not enough for workers looking to fill a job that can comfortably support a family. This state-by-state and national data builds on the Alliance's previous work that estimates the economic benefits if half of the high school dropouts from the Class of 2010 were to have graduated. This new data goes to the next level and illustrates the significant economic benefits that the nation and each state could see if 60 percent of those “new graduates” were to earn a degree beyond high school, meeting the national goal for postsecondary completion.

If the high school students who dropped out of the Class of 2011 had graduated, the nation’s economy would likely have benefitted from nearly $154 billion in additional income over the course of their lifetimes, according to the Alliance's issue brief, The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools.

About 15 percent of the American workforce of 3.5 million teachers either moves or leaves the profession each year. The size of the teaching force coupled with the high annual turnover rates seriously compromises the nation‘s capacity to ensure that all students have access to skilled teaching. If the dominant teacher workforce policies and practices remain unchanged, then the aspirations of the common core standards and aligned assessments will simply continue a legacy of unfulfilled reforms. This brief addresses the need for coherent incentives and structures to change the very culture of how teachers are supported. A new paradigm is needed to construct a consistent vision of quality teaching—one that is anchored in a system of performance assessments and leveraged through the design of clinically based preservice programs, comprehensive induction, and collaborative professional learning.

Although some progress has been made in improving the writing achievement of students in American schools, most students do not write well enough to meet grade-level demands. One tool with potential for improving students’ ability to effectively convey thoughts and ideas through text is classroom-based writing assessment. Such formative assessments allow teachers to gauge the effectiveness of their instructional practices, modify instruction as needed, and provide students with feedback on writing strengths and areas in need of further development. This report provides evidence that formative writing enhances students’ writing, as well as best practices for assessing writing in the classroom.

The future of the American economy increasingly depends on more students graduating from high school ready for college and a career. Long-standing trends in the nation’s dropout rate and achievement gap demonstrate that the American education system needs to better prepare students to meet postsecondary and career demands. While momentum is building to expand learning time for students to help meet these challenges, most efforts have been focused on elementary and middle school students. This brief will explore how expanding the learning opportunities of high school students—to provide flexibility regarding time, location, and delivery methods as well as opportunities to apply knowledge in real-world situations and access social and academic supports—can be used to change the projected skill and knowledge shortages in the nation’s workforce.

Technology and digital learning provide innovative opportunities to improve education, personalize learning for each student, and have better student achievement. This brief highlights the promising practices that some schools are employing to transform student learning and the federal policies that can assist schools in making that transformation. The promising practices shared in this brief point to several key areas in which technology and digital learning can make a difference for teachers and students. They include examples that illustrate how some states, districts, and schools are maximizing the potential of technology and digital learning to change student outcomes. The federal policies emphasize that the federal government has the opportunity to assist states, school districts, and public schools by creating policies that encourage innovation and provide options for digital learning and technology.