By: Geoff Zimmerman
Earlier this year, we looked at high school graduation rates as a key outcome that we track to better understand how many students are successfully completing high school. That post didn’t look specifically at high school graduation rates in the Indiana portion of our service area, so I want to take the opportunity here to explore what is happening across Indiana, and specifically in Dearborn and Ohio counties.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
In 2001, the Cincinnati city school district (CPS) adopted a policy that all schools will engage their communities in improving student achievement: “As centers in the community, the schools and their partners should foster strong collaboration, set high expectations, embrace diversity, and share accountability for results.” Over ten years later, CPS Community Learning Centers act as hubs for community services, providing access for students and families to health, safety and social services, as well as recreational, educational, and cultural opportunities.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
Earlier this year, United Way led the development of Bold Goals for our region. The Bold Goals builds on the Agenda for Community Impact by developing bold, but attainable goals in the areas of education (preparing children, youth, and young adults to succeed in school and life), income (ensuring individuals and families achieve financial sustainability), and health (helping individuals live quality lives & achieve maximum health and independence).
In addition, United Way has just launched a new Call for Investment process that will determine its investments in community and agency partners for the 2013-2015 time period. To support this process, and better understand the Bold Goal impact areas, United Way’s Research Council developed three short regional assessments that show, at a fairly high level, how things stand in our community in the three Bold Goal areas.
In this post, I’ll explore some of the data and highlights from the Regional Assessment for Education and the interconnections between the areas.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
There has been a lot of attention recently on school performance and the school rating system in Ohio. Ohio schools and districts can be classified in one of six rating categories: Excellent with Distinction, Excellent, Effective, Continuous Improvement, Academic Watch, and Academic Emergency. These categories are based on three factors: performance indicators, performance index, and value added.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at data for two of the three factors that make up Ohio school rating: performance index and value added.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
A key focus for Kentucky is preparing each student for college/career. One aspect of Kentucky’s accountability system is the Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS). The EPAS was developed by ACT, Inc. in response to the need for all students to be prepared for high school and the transitions they make after graduation.
EPAS provides a longitudinal, systematic approach to education and career planning, assessment, instructional support, and evaluation. It focuses on a number of key transition points that young people face.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
The high school graduation rate is a key outcome indicator that we track as a region to understand how many students are successfully completing high school. It is a key outcome for the Strive Partnership and it is one of the three education focused Bold Goals for our region coming out of this recent comprehensive community engagement effort led by United Way.
It’s also one of the most confusing due to the numerous ways in which high school graduation rates can be calculated. As a result, local education, policy, and business leaders are left wondering which graduation rate statistics are the most credible. This post is an update of a brief that I put together a couple years ago intended to provide an overview of the different types of graduation rate calculations, some of the challenges associated with each method, and steps being taken to improve our understanding of graduation and dropout rates. It is critical that we have an accurate picture of how many students are completing high school.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
Postsecondary completion is an important outcome indicator to track, since it represents a milestone at the end of formal education. Postsecondary completion can be any formal education after high school, including degree programs, certificates, or advanced training. Through the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) site at the National Center for Education Statistics, we are able to take a look at the total number of credentials awarded for all colleges and universities in the Greater Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky region. This represents the total output of a higher education institution in a given academic year. The latest data available is for the year 2009, and I have pulled data by postsecondary institution, subject area, and credential awarded (including Bachelor’s Degrees, Associate’s Degrees, and Certificates).
By: Geoff Zimmerman
This month, I’m going to highlight a recent report that explores the close connection between education and the economy at a national, state, and regional level. The report was released by the Alliance for Excellent Education and is titled Education and the Economy: Boosting State and National Economies by Improving High School Graduation Rates. As part of this study, an economic model was created that demonstrates the economic benefits of improving high school graduation rates. The model, developed by Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc., calculates the gross increase in important economic factors such as individual earnings, home and auto sales, job and economic growth, spending and investment, tax revenue, and human capital based on reducing by half the number of students from the Class of 2010 who failed to graduate on time. The Alliance has calculated economic findings for the more than 220 U.S. metro areas, as well as findings for the nation and each state.
By Geoff Zimmerman
The Building a Grad Nation summit was held in Washington, D.C. in March and was hosted by several national organizations, including America’s Promise Alliance – an organization founded in 1997 by General Colin and Alma Powell. The Alliance’s top priority is ensuring that all young people graduate from high school ready for college, work and life. The Alliance has a set of strategies to reach this goal, including Grad Nation, Community Action, Gallup Student Poll, and Dropout Prevention.
Grad Nation is a national movement to mobilize Americans to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st Century workforce. In addition to the summit in March, a national report was released, highlighting the progress of states and districts in their ability to raise their graduation rates. The report also highlights specific reforms, policies, and practices that are helping towards this effort.
Featured among the nation’s successes this year is a case study on Cincinnati Public Schools.
By: Geoff Zimmerman
Last month, we took a look at local educational attainment data - the percentage of the population that has attained various levels of education by age 25. That told us how our region is doing at the “end” of the traditional education pipeline. This month, we’ll look at the beginning of the pipeline and explore how we are doing when children arrive at school. Increasing kindergarten readiness is one of the most important goals we can tackle together as a region – it truly sets the foundation for learning in primary and secondary education and all the way up through postsecondary and beyond.
