Preparing Students for College and Career: California Multiple Pathways Issue Brief (PDF)
June 30, 2009

To prepare students for success in life, the twenty-first-century American high school needs to shift its focus from preparing for college or career to achieving college and career readiness for every student. One of the most comprehensive efforts towards this goal is the “multiple pathways” initiative in California, which is a reform model aimed at improving high schools by pairing a rigorous college preparatory curriculum with an industry theme while offering the supports and workplace exposure that can be critical to students’ success. The initiative provides multiyear programs of study that are rigorous, relevant, and directly connected to regional and state economic needs. This brief details the multiple pathways movement in California, developed in response to poor and inequitable student outcomes, as it continues to garner interest and develop a growing base of evidence. The discussion lays out the rationale for the approach and the implications of this California-based effort for stakeholders seeking to address the national dropout crisis.

Press Release

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Facts for Education Advocates: School Counseling, Access, and Persistence (copublished with the College Board) Fact Sheet (PDF)
April 15, 2009

Recognizing that no tool is more important than information to help educators and other advocates improve the country’s educational system, the College Board and the Alliance for Excellent Education have formed a partnership to develop a series of fact sheets highlighting the state of American schools and their students.

The multi-issue series debuted in May 2008 with an overview of education in the United States; after a summer hiatus, the series picked up again in September and will continue throughout the 2008-2009 school year, with the monthly release of additional fact sheets that address a range of education topics.

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From No Child Left Behind to Every Child a Graduate Report (PDF)
August 28, 2008

This report outlines the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Framework for Action to Improve Secondary Schools, which reflects the consensus among educators, researchers, policymakers, and other authorities on the specific problems of secondary schools, as well as on the research- and best-practice-supported solutions to those problems. Taken together, the seven policy areas contained within the framework offer a comprehensive and systemic approach to secondary school reform.

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Using Early-Warning Data to Improve Graduation Rates: Closing Cracks in the Education System Policy Briefs (PDF)
August 26, 2008

This brief explores the power of early-warning data in predicting whether a student will drop out, offers examples of current efforts to use such data to guide secondary school interventions across the country, and discusses the policies that can support these efforts.

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