College-Going Data to Drive School Improvement

AASA - Driving K-12 Reform Through a College-Access and Success Agenda

AASA is proud to offer this toolkit, Driving K-12 Reform Through a College-Access and Success Agenda, to school and district leaders across the country. The toolkit, developed with College Summit, offers resources and strategies to use college enrollment data to, in our words, 'Own It, Understand It, and Act On It' for the purpose of improving K-12 and post-secondary outcomes. The toolkit has a self-assessment to gauge the current college going culture in your district, case studies, articles, and, on the final page, bold text links the reader to AASA webinars, federal regulations, and other resources that can help you and your team.

If you want to engage in online discussion on this important topic, join our forum here.

Webinars

Driving School Improvement through a College Access and Success Agenda
April 30, 2012
Research demonstrates that when school leaders emphasize post-secondary preparation and matriculation over high school graduation as an end goal, drop-out rates decrease and academic performance increases. In a school with a college-going culture, students understand the relevancy of high school to their future. They are able to “connect the dots” between their high school studies and their hopes, dreams and aspirations. High Schools dedicated to launching all of their students to career and college success – what some call “Launchpad High Schools” - measure their success on post-secondary attainment, enjoy structures that provide the kind of meaningful connection all adolescents need to set goals and persevere through obstacles.

Speakers:
Bryan Joffe, AASA
Keith Frome, College Summit
Robert McCord, AASA Research Professor in Residence

>> View WebEx Recording [1 hour]
>> Download PowerPoint Presentation

Building a College-Going Culture: Lessons from School Leaders
March 28, 2012

AASA and College Summit have held regional meetings across the country, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on building a college-going culture and using college-going data to drive reform. This webinar will share lessons learned from the field and best practices for driving K-12 improvement through a college access and success agenda.

Presenters:

• Superintendent Heath Morrison, Washoe County, Nev.
• Principal Mark Lenoir, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Corona-Norco Unified, Calif.
• Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator April Moore, Corona-Norco Unified, Calif.

>> View Webex Recording [1 hour]
>> Download Presentation [ppt]

Activities

As part of the agreements made in the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, in September 2011, state agencies will report the college enrollment and credit accumulation rates for students from all districts and high schools.

Districts should be ready for the release of this data and prepared, conversant, and knowledgable about college enrollment rates in their community.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded AASA to brief school system leaders around the country in 2011-2012. AASA has held regional meetings in Hartford, Conn., Arlington Heights, Ill., Atlanta, Ga., Dallas, Texas, Portland, Or., San Diego, Cal., and a superintendent and principal training at the National Conference on Education (NCE) in Houston, Texas.

These meetings, along with tandem webinars, informed our work with best practices from school leaders working on the ground to drive college-access and success.

StudentTracker for High Schools

AASA has partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse to bring tools and resources to high schools and districts that provide depth of research on enrollment trends, benchmarking, and tracking student success after high school.

The new National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker 2011: http://research.studentclearinghouse.org/studenttracker.html

StudentTracker enables school leaders to follow their students' progress anywhere in the country. With the only national database of postsecondary student records, leaders receive reliable, real-time information on student dropouts, transfers, and out-of-state enrollments which are difficult for schools to track on their own.

Leaders have access to a suite of standard reports at their fingertips and are also able to generate specific reports on key data elements of their choosing.