About Double the Numbers

Only 25 percent of the U.S. high school students complete any college degree. Among African American youth, only 18 percent earn a baccalaureate by age twenty-nine. For Hispanic Americans, the figure is a mere 10 percent.

The United States urgently needs to address this problem. For reasons of intellectual and professional opportunity, economic efficiency, and social equity, the nation must do a better job of preparing young people not only to enter college, but also to earn credentials that are key to professional and economic success.

Double the Numbers highlights emerging strategies--at state, district, and school levels--for improving postsecondary outcomes. High schools pose special challenges in this regard: how to motivate older adolescents in school settings; how to overcome the rigidities of high school schedules and routines; how to prepare students for smooth transitions to postsecondary learning and success. This book explores policies that are likely to serve as building blocks in any "next phase" of education reform that tackles the dual problems of high school completion and postsecondary access and success.

The contributions from many of the leading figures in education reform, such as Kati Haycock, Robert Schwartz, and Marc Tucker, address these issues from a number of distinct perspectives. The authors propose changes in the designs fo high schools and colleges--innovations that could overcome the discontinuities, perverse incentives, and inflexibilities of existing educational institutions. They focus on state policy because to double the number of students attaining postsecondary credentials within a decade will require aggressive innovation by states. Finally, they consider how oppoortunities and outcomes vary by race, ethnicity, and gender, and they look at the implications of these variations for policy and practice.

Double the Numbers will prove indispensable to policymakers, administrators, teachers, and others as they envision and frame startegies for this next great school reform effort.

Edited by Richard Kazis, Joel Vargas, and Nancy Hoffman, Jobs for the Future.

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Table of Contents for Double the Numbers

Foreword
by Tom Vander Ark

Introduction
by Richard Kazis

SECTION ONE
Strategies for Improving Postsecondary Success: High Schools, Postsecondary Institutions, and Their Alignment

1. Multiple Pathways - and How to Get There
by Robert Schwartz

2. A Core Curriculum for All Students
by Patte Barth and Kati Haycock

Click here to read the full-text of this chapter.

3. High School and Beyond: The System Is the Problem - and the Solution
by Marc S. Tucker

4. The Case for Improving Connections between K12 Schools and Colleges
by Michael W. Kirst and Andrea Venezia

5. More High School Options, Better Information: LowCost Approaches to Getting More Youth Prepared for and into College
by Joe Nathan

6. Merit Scholarships for the Many: Doubling the Number of High School Students Who Work Hard in High School
by John H. Bishop

7. An Accountability System for "Doubling the Numbers"
by Peter T. Ewell

8. Financing Tied to Postsecondary Outcomes: Examples from States
by David A. Longanecker

9. Using Institutional Incentives to Improve Student Performance
by Arthur M. Hauptman

SECTION TWO
Lessons from the Field: Innovations in Systems, States, and Schools

Accountability, Financing, and Incentives

10. Connecting Measures for Success in High School and College
by David Conley

11. Do American High School Diplomas Guarantee Postsecondary Success?
by Sheila Byrd

12. Using a K12 Assessment for College Placement
by Michael W. Kirst

13. Data and Accountability Systems: From Kindergarten through College
by Hans P. L'Orange

14. TwentyFirst Century Scholars: Indiana's Program of Incentives for CollegeGoing
by Scott Evenbeck, Philip A. Seabrook, Edward P. St. John, and Seana Murphy

15. The National Survey of Student Engagement: A New Tool for Postsecondary Accountability
by Brian K. Bridges and George D. Kuh

16. Balancing Autonomy and Accountability in Higher Education
by Lara K. Couturier

School and Program Models

17. Theme Schools: A Model for Restructuring High Schools
by Monica R. Martinez and Christine Doniskeller

18. Making the Most of a University/High School Partnership: University Park Campus School
by Donna Rodrigues

19. Dual Enrollment: Lessons from Washington and Texas
by Joel Vargas

20. Challenge, Not Remediation: The Early College High School Initiative
by Nancy Hoffman

21. Pathways to Postsecondary Credentials: Schools and Programs That Blend Education and Employment
by Lili Allen, Sue Goldberger, and Adria Steinberg

22. Beyond the Revolving Door: Learning Communities and the First Two Years of College
by Barbara Leigh Smith

SECTION THREE
Building Support and Public Will for Reform

23. Capacity and Public Will: Mustering Support for Postsecondary Reform
by Blenda J. Wilson

24. Beyond "Providers" and "Clients": Can Multiple Pathways Advance Civic Aims?
by David J. Ferrero

25. How States Can Help Promote Secondary and Postsecondary Success in Tough Economic Times
by Richard Kazis, Kristin D. Conklin, and Hilary Pennington

26. "Be Favorable to Bold Undertakings": Next Steps for a Campaign to Double the Numbers
by Ronald A. Wolk

References
About the Contributors

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Publishing Information

Double the Numbers:
Increasing Postsecondary Credentials for Underrepresented Youth
Edited by Richard Kazis, Joel Vargas, and Nancy Hoffman
©2004
ISBN 1-891792-23-7 $54.95 library, ORDER
ISBN 1-891792-22-9 $28.95 SALE PRICE: $19.95 paperback, ORDER
280 pages

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