In June 2008, Governor Deval Patrick released his Education Action Agenda, a comprehensive strategic plan that charts the course for the next phase of education reform in Massachusetts. The Action Agenda set as a primary goal the creation of an integrated system of education to meet the learning needs of every student in the Commonwealth, thus providing all students with the supports and skills necessary to meet the stateâ??s rigorous educational standards, and to help them become successful and productive members of the workforce and their communities. Governor Patrick established the Child and Youth Readiness Cabinet (the Cabinet), comprised of the Secretariats of the state agencies, with primary responsibility for serving children, youth and families. In April 2009, Public Consulting Group (PCG) was retained to clarify the crossagency vision for a statewide integrated data sharing and reporting system as outlined by the Governor and the Readiness Cabinet, and to draft a strategic plan with actionâ?Ìoriented recommendations to help the Cabinet begin to make concerted, measurable efforts toward achieving its vision.

This report investigates a number of education and training programs involving employers in efforts to help disadvantaged young adults attain postsecondary credentials leading to career track employment. Our model programs meet four basic criteria: 
  1) Getting low-income youth and young adults postsecondary credentials that will allow them to enter and advance in career track employment. 
  2) Working with employers in industry sectors important to the region's economy. 
  3) Maximizing employer roles and commitment.
  4) Demonstrating portability, scalability, and replicability.

Connecticut's Dropout Crisis - This crisis not only ensures a life of poverty for too many of our young people but also is weakening our economy by depleting the workforce of capable employees.  It's also costing the government billions of dollars in social services and lost tax revenue. Realizing that improving dropout rates is a key to the area's economic success, Our Piece of the Pie, in conjunction with Capital Worforce Partners and with additional funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Connecticut Office of Workforce Competitiveness, commissioned a study to examine the problem. The study, conducted by Dr. Andrew Sum of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, examined the social and economic impact of high school dropouts. He presented his findings at the Governor's Dropout Summit on October 19. The numbers are staggering.

Prepared By: Joseph McLaughlin,  Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada - Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
Prepared for: Our Piece of the Pie, Hartford, Connecticut

This report presents the number of high school graduates, the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), and dropout data for grades 9 through 12 for public schools in school year 2006-07. The counts of graduates, dropouts, and enrollments by grade (which serve as the denominators for the graduation and dropout rates) are from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Common Core of Data (CCD) nonfiscal surveys of public elementary/secondary education. The data for this collection were reported to the NCES through the U. S. Department of Education's EDFacts data collection system by state education agencies (SEAs). These data represent high school graduates receiving regular diplomas and dropouts for the 2006-07 school year.

The Fiscal Consequences of Dropping Out of High School and Failing to Complete Additional Years of Post-Secondary Schooling in Connecticut

Prepared by: Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada, Joseph McLaughlin, with Sheila Palma, Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

Prepared for: Our Piece of the Pie, Hartford, Connecticut

October 2009

An ever-increasing proportion of high school students in the United States today aspire to graduate from college. Yet statistics indicate that the percentage of college students receiving bachelorâ??s degrees has remained relatively constant over the past 25 years, that it now takes on average 6 years to get a four-year college degree, and that somewhere between 30 percent and 60 percent of students now require remedial education upon entry to college, depending on the type of instruction they attend. Also, over the past 25 years, SAT and ACT scores have risen only slightly in math and have been relatively constant in reading, high school grade point average has gradually risen, and the proportion of students taking college preparatory courses has grown as well. Given these statistics, what must be done to create a more aligned educational system that prepares students for college success? This paper tells you how.

The Advanced Placement Expansion project of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) was one component of a large-scale initiative launched in 2005 to redesign the American high school.  Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, and Wisconsinreceived funding to expand Advanced Placement (AP) courses to minority and low-income students at 51 pilot high schools in rural and urban school districts. The NGA Center, working in partnership with the College Board, has demonstrated that it is possible for states to raise rigor and get results at scale.

This paper focuses on the 10 actions that states should take to ensure that all stakeholders use state longitudinal data effectively for continuous improvement.