Upcoming AYPF Events
Forum – Dual Enrollment: A Strategy to Improve College and Career Success – February 10, 2012
Increasingly dual enrollment is becoming a strategy to support and encourage more students into postsecondary education and beyond. Yet, the research is only beginning to allow us to understand the long-term impacts on student success as well as understand the necessary design elements for student success. This forum will review the range of research conducted by the National Center on Postsecondary Research, as well as discuss ways that dual enrollment has been/can be used as a strategy to promote college and career readiness for all students. Presenters will include Julie Alexander, Florida Department of Education, Greg Darnieder, U.S. Department of Education (invited), Katherine Hughes, Community College Research Center and National Center on Postsecondary Research, and Cecilia Speroni, Mathematica Policy Research and Community College Research Center.
AYPF Publications and Resources
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Forum Brief – Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It – November 18, 2011
The vast majority of youth in developed nations finish high school, many more than in the United States, where the national high school graduation rate is about 70%. In his new book Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It, Russell Rumberger, Professor of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara offers a comprehensive overview of the dropout crisis in America, and addresses the fundamental questions of who drops out, why they drop out, and what happens when they do. Rumberger identifies challenges in current reform efforts, including an insufficient targeting of the true dropout factories, inadequate funding, and a lack of attention paid to the cost, sustainability, and scalability of interventions. Following Rumberger’s presentation, a panel including Daniel Fuller, Vice President, Communities In Schools, Elizabeth Grant, Special Assistant, US Department of Education, and Cassius Johnson, Associate Vice President, Jobs for the Future, provided their insight for policy reform at the federal, state, and local levels to reduce the incidence of high school dropouts.
AYPF Employment and Internship Opportunities
Internship Opportunities at AYPF for Summer, 2012
AYPF is hiring interns for the Summer semester. Internships at AYPF are substantive in nature, and interns are integral members of our team. Interns are expected to engage in a variety of activities, including researching and analyzing data, writing fact sheets and summaries, and planning and helping to run forums and briefings on Capitol Hill. Please visit our website and apply by February 29, 2012.
Recommended Readings and Resources
Check these out – recommended reading from the AYPF staff
Schooling in the Workplace: How Six of the World’s Best Vocational Education Systems Prepare Young People of Jobs and Life Harvard Education Press
This report authored by Nancy Hoffman explores the vocational education programs in a wide range of countries, and focuses on six in particular: Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland. Hoffman finds that these programs, which all successfully integrate work and learning, share a fundamental commitment to helping young people find successful careers. Framing this discussion is a focus on the circumstances and persistent challenges faced by American schools. Moving beyond a survey of the six “foreign” programs, the book is organized around the policy and practical challenges facing the United States, and uses themes provided by these global examples to offer potential solutions.
State High School Tests: Changes in State Policies and the Impact of the College and Career Readiness Movement Center on Education Policy
This 10th installment of CEP’s annual study of high school exit exams and other assessments finds that fewer states are requiring students to pass a high school exit exam, though testing in other areas has increased. The report, based on a survey of all 50 state departments of education, discusses state policies associated with high school exit exams, college entrance exams (such as the ACT or SAT), and college and career readiness assessments.
Helping Newcomer Students Succeed in Secondary Schools and Beyond Center for Applied Linguistics.
Adolescent newcomer students are at risk in our middle and high schools, and districts across the United States have been looking for effective program models to serve them. Helping Newcomer Students Succeed in Secondary Schools and Beyond has been written for educators and policymakers to focus attention on these newcomer adolescent English language learners at the middle and high school grades and to communicate promising practices for serving their educational and social needs. The report is based on a three-year national research study, Exemplary Programs for Newcomer English Language Learners at the Secondary Level, conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics on behalf of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. This research project consistent of a national survey of secondary school newcomer programs; compilation of program profiles into an online, searchable database; and case studies of 10 of these programs, selected for their exemplary practices.
The Road Ahead: A Look at Trends in the Educational Attainment of Community College Students American Association of Community Colleges
This brief presents data on educational attainment at community colleges, with an eye to what the data portend. One extremely positive conclusion can be reached: Educational attainment for all key populations is increasing at community colleges. The investments made in a community college education, by individuals and by society as a whole, are paying off. Over the past 20 years, the percent increase in credentials awarded has been double the percent increase in enrollment. These findings are even more pronounced for students of color. Consistent with other research, actual rates of transfer for students are much higher than commonly reported as well.
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional development organization based in Washington, DC, provides learning opportunities for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers working on youth and education issues at the national, state, and local levels.
AYPF events and publications are made possible by a consortium of philanthropic foundations: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York , State Farm Insurance, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and others.
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UPCOMING AYPF EVENTS
AYPF PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
AYPF EMPLOYMENT AND INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
RECOMMENDED READING AND RESOURCES
