Work yet to do

Kentucky has made remarkable progress in high school graduation rates and in the percentage of high school graduates who are college ready. High school graduation rates are among the best in the nation at 87.5 percent and our college/career-readiness rates have soared from 30 percent of graduates in 2009 to more than 62 percent in 2014. 

While this is good news, there is much work yet to do.

Despite the improvement in college/career readiness, currently only 60 percent of high school graduates enroll in postsecondary programs. In some of our high schools that number is as high as 90 percent while in others it is less than 40 percent. However, back in 2012-13, more than 80 percent of students said they had plans to enroll in postsecondary when they graduated from high school. 

Job number one is to find out why students who indicate an intent do not follow through and enroll in postsecondary. Is it the tuition rates? Is it a lack of support from families? Is it a lack of skills to complete the enrollment process or complete financial aid forms? Is it a lack of college scholarship funding from the Kentucky lottery?

Job number two is to make certain students who move on to postsecondary work are successful. We know that students who graduate from high school having reached the Kentucky college/career-readiness benchmarks realize more success their first year in college than those who are not college ready.
     • They have a higher GPA – 2.6 versus 1.7 for those who are not college
        ready.
     • They complete more college hours – 22 versus 11 for those who are not
        college ready. 
     • They return for a second year of postsecondary at higher rates –
        85 percent versus 65 percent for those who are not college ready.

It is clear that Kentucky’s college/career-ready benchmarks are excellent indicators of success in postsecondary. I know our postsecondary institutions are working hard to build support systems for students who need additional support to reach success in their freshman year.

Job number three is to make certain students who move on to postsecondary are enrolled in career pathways that lead to jobs paying a living wage. Too many of our students who are graduating from postsecondary programs are finding that they have large student debt and very few job prospects in their chosen field of study. In some areas, unemployment of college graduates exceeds 20 percent and underemployment is higher than 40 percent. 

Preparing students to make wise career choices begins in elementary school and continues through postsecondary. We should NEVER put students into programs that lead to a dead end. Our career pathways programs should always provide students with plenty of on ramps and off ramps as they move through the education system.

Job number four is for Kentucky to decide what type of economy we are willing to support. Recently, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce released an analysis of the workforce pipeline in the Commonwealth. Less than 10 percent of employers think the workforce is prepared with the skills needed for the 21st century economy. Similar reports from the Southern Region Educational Board, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governor’s Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have pointed to similar concerns about the workforce pipeline. While there are plenty of job openings, employers say it difficult to find employees with the skills needed for those openings. We have a huge skills gap in Kentucky and across this nation. 

Kentucky must decide if we are going to invest in an education and workforce system that will prepare our citizens for the 21st century economy. The states that invest in K-12, career pathways, the workforce pipeline and postsecondary today will outcompete other states for jobs in the future. As Kentucky prepares to elect the next governor, these are critical questions to be asking.

What state testing tells us

There has been a lot of controversy over state testing in the last year. 

Fortunately, Kentucky has not seen much of this controversy thanks to the leadership of our General Assembly. In 2009, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1 which required Kentucky to develop college- and career-ready standards, assessments based on these more rigorous standards and an accountability system aligned to both the standards and assessments. 

What has happened in other states?

While most other states adopted college- and career-ready standards in 2010-11 time frame, the adoption of the standards was voluntary. Major push back on college- and career-ready standards occurred after President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan supported adoption and implementation of the standards through the Race to the Top grants and No Child Left Behind Waivers. 

Most states moved slowly to implement the standards and relied on the Race to the Top (RTTT) assessment consortia – the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) or Smarter Balanced – to develop new assessments. The first administration of these consortia-developed state assessments took place during the 2014-15 school year, and only now states are beginning to report the results.

Major push back on the state assessments happened within the last 12 months primarily due to opposition to the college- and career-ready standards; opposition from teachers who were concerned about being evaluated based on student test scores (a Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind waiver requirement); and opposition from parent organizations who were concerned about over testing of students and narrowing of curriculum due to an emphasis on tested subjects.

At one time, almost 40 states belonged to one or more of the assessment consortia. Very early in 2010, Kentucky belong to both. However, it became apparent to us that the consortia would not be able to provide an assessment that met our budget or timeline. 

Kentucky worked with classroom teachers and assessment experts to develop a Kentucky-specific assessment that was aligned from 3-8 through high school with the college-readiness expectations based on the ACT. Kentucky parents and teachers are able to determine as early as 3rd grade if a student is on track to reach the ACT college-readiness benchmark in the 11th grade. Since the ACT is a state-required assessment and is widely recognized by parents and colleges, this alignment seems to have given Kentucky an advantage with helping parents understand the importance of annual testing.

As I reflect on events since Senate Bill 1 in 2009, the key reasons that Kentucky has successfully navigated the rough political waters that have sunk other states are:
     1) General Assembly support and action on a comprehensive college- and career-ready agenda
     2) Overwhelming support and buy in from educators and parents for the college- and career-ready agenda.

Moving forward, I believe that we will continue to see other states struggle with state assessments. 

I predict the RTTT assessment consortia will have difficulty providing an assessment of college- and career-readiness that is comparable to accepted measures such as ACT. The consortia also will struggle to provide an assessment that is cost effective for states. Due to the political environment, we will continue to see more states drop out of the assessment consortia (currently the majority of states do not belong to an assessment consortium).

I am very proud of the leadership of the General Assembly and the work of Kentucky educators to make a smooth transition to a college- and career-ready agenda. I predict that the Kentucky economy will continue to improve due to the education focus on college- and career-readiness. 

Just this week, I reviewed data for the Class of 2013 that revealed students who graduated from high school, met the Kentucky college-readiness benchmarks and attend postsecondary out performed students who were not college ready. According to the data, in their first year of postsecondary, college-ready students 
     • have a much higher GPA (2.6 vs 1.7)
     • complete nearly double the number of college credit hours (21.9 vs 11.1) and 
     • return for a second year of postsecondary at a higher rate (85 percent versus 65 percent) 

This is great validation that our assessments and college-readiness benchmarks are strong predictors of postsecondary success.

Make It Real

While most of the country seems embroiled in a political fight around Common Core State Standards and their implementation, too many of our students are graduating from high school unprepared for the current workforce. An upcoming special report, No College = Low Wages, from the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS) brings this issue to the forefront. The report is due out on July 25, so be sure to check the KCEWS website for the full report once it is released.

The following highlights are based on the third of the total high school graduates from 2009-10 and 2011-12 who did not enroll in postsecondary programs. Of the third, 60 percent went directly into the workforce

     • On average, Kentucky’s public high school graduates from
        2011-12 earned $7,567 the year following graduation. After
         three years the 2009-10 graduates’ wages rose to $11,511.
     • Three years after high school, more than three out of four
        graduates from 2009-10 who did not attend postsecondary
        were earning less than full-time minimum wage.
     • Female graduates who did not attend postsecondary are earning
        30 percent less than male graduates.
     • African American highs school graduates who did not attend
        postsecondary were earning 30 percent less than their white
        counterparts.
     • Graduates with 20 or more unexcused absences in their senior
        year earned up to 55 percent less than those with five or fewer
        absences.
     • About 60 percent of the high school graduates, who did not
        attend postsecondary, work in three industry groups that have
        three of the four lowest average wages.

These facts should be a wakeup call to high school students and their parents. This is clear evidence that high schools must do a better job in preparing all graduates to enter postsecondary programs (one year, two year, or four year diploma or certification) prepared for credit bearing work and with the skills necessary to succeed in careers that pay a living wage.

We certainly can continue to discuss the right wording for standards and the right assessments to measure the standards, however, we need to make the discussion REAL! Too many of our high school students are leaving high school unprepared for postsecondary and unprepared for careers. We have made excellent progress in the last four years in addressing this situation; however, we have much more work to do. Let’s not get sidetracked with the political debates around standards and assessments, let’s stay focused on the getting ALL students prepared for THEIR FUTURE and not our past.

Changing Expectations for Our Children

David Karem, chair of the Kentucky Board of Education (KBE), recently provided the following letter to the editor.

House Bill 2 supported

House Bill 2 is a piece of legislation in front of the General Assembly that would raise the state's high school dropout age from 16 to 18. One of the arguments being raised against this legislation is that it is an unfunded mandate. The truth is that one of the greatest “unfunded” mandates in our commonwealth is the enormous number of Kentucky adults who have no high school diploma.

It is an absolute that without a high school diploma, you are less employable, more likely to be a resident in one of our state prisons, more likely to require welfare, and will earn significantly less over your lifetime. One of Kentucky's great challenges with regard to economic development is demonstrating to employers that we have a high quality work force. Lack of a high school diploma contributes greatly to the negative image of our commonwealth.

So strongly does the Kentucky Board of Education feel about HB 2 that it is our No. 1 and only legislative priority. The board has taken a unanimous position in favor of this legislation. The time is now to move Kentucky forward and eliminate the true unfunded mandate of a lack of high school diploma.

DAVID K. KAREM
Chairman
State Board of Education
Louisville 40202

Chairman Karem and the KBE have been clear on their goals. As commissioner, I have worked to meet the goal of the KBE by working with numerous stakeholders to draft legislation that eventually became House Bill 2 (the Graduation Bill) in the 2011 Special Session. I have testified numerous times to House and Senate committees and have been a champion for this effort during numerous Graduate Kentucky summits across Kentucky and many other public events.

We need this tool to help children reach success; however, this tool alone is not enough. We must implement excellent alternative programs for students to address behavior and learning needs. We must have programs like early graduation, early college, virtual/blended learning, mastery based learning and career/technical education. We must provide support for teachers and principals as they improve their ability to meet the needs of ALL children.

Every day and in every speech, I try to put a face on this issue. In our schools today, there are 50,000 8th-grade students. If we don’t do something different, only 17,000 of these students will graduate in 2015 having the readiness skills for college and career. We are working hard to double that number to 34,000 by 2015 through the support of tools like 2009’s Senate Bill 1. However, we also know that about 15,000 of these 8th graders will drop out of school when they are 16 or 17.

We must do MANY things differently; however, the first step begins with changing the expectations for Kentucky children and the expectations of adults (parents, teachers and administrators). It is time to come together as policy makers and decision makers in Kentucky and set these expectations through legislation and then implement the programs to make the legislation successful.

Moving Students to Graduation – And Beyond

The Kentucky Board of Education has adopted a strategic goal of a 90 percent graduation rate by 2015, using the cohort graduation rate definition. This week, the America’s Promise Alliance released the Building a Grad Nation report, and that can be accessed at http://www.americaspromise.org/Our-Work/Grad-Nation/Building-a-Grad-Nation.aspx.

There was some good news for Kentucky, as we were listed as one of the states making moderate progress in improving the graduation rate. However, we have much work to do. For instance, we must increase the number of current 8th graders who are projected to graduate by more than 5,000. The report lists a number of strategies to address this goal. Among those are high-quality education as a top priority for communities; accurate data; early warning and intervention systems; high expectations for ALL students; higher standards; teacher effectiveness; parent engagement; alternative options and graduation pathways; and new community coalitions supporting graduation.

Over the past year, the Graduate Kentucky initiative led by First Lady Jane Beshear has worked on the last recommendation – new community coalitions supporting graduation. At KDE we are very excited about the energy these graduation summits have created in support of the goal of graduating 5,000 more students per year.

As we move forward into the 2011 legislative session, the Kentucky Board of Education’s top priority for its legislative agenda is to raise the dropout age from 16 to 18. The board recognizes that simply raising the dropout age is not sufficient. We also must address the other strategies listed in the report mentioned above. As commissioner, I am very supportive of addressing the strategy of alternative options and graduation pathways. We must meet the needs of students through multiple pathways such as alternative programs, early college, early graduation and numerous other innovative approaches to helping students graduate and be prepared for college and career.

Specifically with regard to alternative options for students, as commissioner, I will be working with legislators and key stakeholder groups to address the alternative programs strategy. We must expand our definition of alternative programs in Kentucky to include many of the innovations that other states have been utilizing to high degrees of success. We also must improve our data system for tracking alternative students and evaluating the effectiveness of alternative programs. Finally, we must address personnel decisions with regard to staffing of alternative programs. No teacher, principal or staff member should be assigned to alternative programs as a punishment or retribution. Also, we should not assign teachers to alternative programs in their first year of teaching. Alternative programs require strong and effective teachers and leaders with significant experience in meeting the needs of students.

Over the coming weeks, our General Assembly will be coming back for a short session. It is my hope that we can pair the raising of the dropout age from 16 to 18 with the needed changes to alternative schools legislation. In so doing, we will certainly make an impact on reaching the goal of 5,000 more students graduating every year from Kentucky high schools ready to succeed in college and career.

While Numbers Are Important, Children Matter Most

As I was reviewing materials for my first interview with the Kentucky Board of Education, one of the things to impress me about Kentucky was the state graduation rate. Graduation rate is the ultimate measure of our success as a state education system. The school board and community in my previous position had made graduation rate the key strategic goal. The graduation rate in my previous position had improved from one of the lowest in the state (below 60 percent) to one of the top ten in the state (81 percent). Also, the gaps between different student groups had been reduced to single digits.

While I was impressed with the Kentucky graduation rate of more than 83 percent, I did learn that Kentucky had not yet reported the NCLB four-year graduation rate due to technical issues. We are scheduled to report this data with this year’s entering freshman class when that group graduates in 2013.

Upon digging into the data, I learned that Kentucky had more than 6,500 students drop out of school in the 2007-08 school year. These numbers reflect real children and reflect a real concern for the economic, social, moral and civil rights impact that high school dropouts will have on our Commonwealth.

Thanks to First Lady Jane Beshear, we are going to focus on this issue in Kentucky. While we have made good progress in improving the number of high school graduates, we cannot accept 6,500 students dropping out of school. Beginning with the Graduation Summit this weekend and the Graduate Kentucky efforts that will follow, I am certain local communities and schools will rally around the goal of reducing dropout numbers and increasing graduation rates.

There are some that will focus on the numbers and debate the accuracy of those numbers. We do need to ensure we are reporting accurately; however, we need to focus on the children and what we as adults can do to help more children graduate from high school and be prepared for postsecondary work.

The biggest challenge to overcome is the excuse that some children cannot learn due to their economic and social conditions. We must raise our expectations for all children to be successful, and we must focus our schools and classrooms on what the children need rather than what the adults may prefer. This is difficult work; however, it is work we must do to ensure a future for our community, our state and our nation.

There are schools all over Kentucky that are defying the odds and helping more children learn. I recently visited Calloway County High School, where the principal and staff make student involvement and success the number-one priority. The dropout rate there is well below state and national averages.

There are many other schools that are doing this kind of great work. Let’s share our best practices with each other, work together to lower the dropout rates in all of our schools and send forward high school graduates who are ready to lead and solve the problems that we have left behind.