• Webinar – Predictors of Postsecondary Success: Tools focused on Postsecondary Enrollment and Completion (Monday, June 2)
• Webinar – Promoting partnerships between K-12 and Expanded Learning through competency-based approaches (Thursday, June 12)

AYPF EVENT DETAILS

Webinar – Predictors of Postsecondary Success: Tools focused on Postsecondary Enrollment and Completion, Monday, June 2nd, 2:00-3:30pm EDT 

Building on the brief, Predictors of Postsecondary Success, which summarizes research that identifies student skills, behaviors, and other characteristics that predict future academic and workplace success, this webinar will explore the development and use of the National College Access Network’s Common Measures.  Grounded in the research, Common Measures were developed to help college access and success program better understand and utilize relevant data to improve their desired outcomes.  Through use in a range of communities across the country, the measures have been helping in supporting collaborative efforts to ensure all students have access to and are successful in postsecondary endeavors.  Presenters include Becky Smerdon, Deputy Director, College and Career Readiness and Success Center at AIR, MorraLee Keller, Director of Technical Assistance, National College Access Network, Bill DeBaun, Program Analyst, National College Access Network, and June Giddings, Post-Secondary Coach & GCPASS Program Coordinator, Houston A+ Challenge.

Webinar – Promoting Partnerships Between K-12 and Expanded Learning Through Competency-Based Approaches, Thursday, June 12^th, 1:00-2:30pm EDT 

Many education systems are beginning to embrace a more student-centered learning environment in which students can develop their own personalized pathways and progress through the educational pipeline by demonstrating mastery in a variety of settings. In such a competency-based learning environment, policymakers and practitioners can now think more flexibly about what counts as an educational opportunity. Expanded learning opportunities that take place beyond the traditional school day, either at school in community-based organizations or in real-world settings, can be utilized as a key partner with schools to promote academic advancement and college and career readiness for all students. This webinar will articulate why expanded learning should be seen as an important contributor to a student-centered and competency-based learning environment; describe the role of competency-based expanded learning that can go as far as leading to high school credit; identify what conditions must exist to promote this work; and provide examples of communities that are developing such initiatives. Presenters include: Kim Carter, Executive Director, QED Foundation, Alexis Menten, Executive Director, Afterschool and Youth Leadership Initiatives, Jennifer Portillo, Denver Center for International Studies, and Beth Colby, Senior Program Associate, Innovation Lab Network, Council of Chief State School Officers

AYPF PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES

Ready for Success Blog The Ready for Success Blog, operated by College and Career Readiness and Success Center at the American Institutes of Research, provides practitioners and policymakers with many posts related to college and career readiness. Topics span the field of strategies which help prepare students for postsecondary education and beyond, including accelerated learning; dropout prevention and recovery; increased learning time; and federal, state, and local policy initiatives to name a few.

Webinar Recording – Using Student Surveys: Implications for State and District Policy This webinar focused on the use of student surveys at the district and state levels. Elaine Allensworth, from the Consortium on Chicago School Research, discussed the Illinois Five Essentials; Kendra Wilhelm, Denver Public Schools, talked about the LEAP (Leading Effective Academic Practice) work in Denver that is DPS’s system of evaluating the performance and supporting the growth of teachers, andAmy Farley discussed the Colorado Legacy Foundation’s work on using student surveys with pilot districts, including rural districts.

Webinar Recording – Reaching Postsecondary Success: Pathways for Youth in Transition from Foster Care Youth in transition from foster care face many unique challenges on the path to postsecondary success. Lack of access to resources like housing, academic advising, and a trusted adult mentor often hinder these youth from enrolling in and completing postsecondary education. States and postsecondary institutions, recognizing these needs, are dedicating resources to improving the experiences and outcomes of youth in transition from foster care. In honor of National Foster Care Month, the American Youth Policy Forum hosted a webinar on May 14th entitled “Reaching Postsecondary Success: Pathways for Youth in Transition from Foster Care”. This webinar featured Michael Leach, Director of Independent Living at the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services; Mary Jo Sekelsky, Ed.D., Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of Michigan-Flint; and Gabriella G., a Michigan student transitioning out of foster care and enrolled in the MPowering My Success program at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Forum Brief – Re-Engaging Dropouts: Local Innovations & New Opportunities for Federal Policy This forum examined local progress and federal policy connections to support systematic efforts to re-engage dropouts in education drawing upon a growing body of experience in the multi-city Reengagement Network hosted by the National League of Cities (NLC). Andrew Moore of the NLC Institute for Youth, Education, and Families provided an overview of reengagement activity nationwide, drawing upon a newMunicipal Action Guide on the topic. Eric Dregne of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, Iowa discussed recent progress and partnerships of Re-Engage Dubuque. Robert Sainz of Los Angeles’ Economic and Workforce Development Department described early results from a unique workforce-school district reengagement partnership supported by the Workforce Innovation Fund. Allie Kimmel, Legislative Assistant, Representative Jared Polis (CO-2) provided closing remarks.

Click here to view all AYPF publications

Click here to find all briefs and reports

RECOMMENDED READING AND RESOURCES

Check these out – recommended reading from the AYPF staff:

Building State Capacity and Productivity Center (BSCP Center) The SEA of the Future: Building the Productivity Infrastructure
The BSCP Center has published the third volume of its SEA of the Future series. Edited by CRPE’s Betheny Gross and Ashley Jochim, the essays are intended to help state education agencies support more productive and innovative practice across their districts and schools. Together, these essays describe a “productivity infrastructure” intended to provide a foundation for the work of SEAs.

Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL) Compelling Evidence of the Need for Strong Investments In Adult Education
The Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL) is a national public charity dedicated to developing adult education, ESL, and workforce skills in America. On Thursday, May 15^th, CAAL held a Capitol Hill briefing on improving adult literacy, in cooperation with Senator Jack Reed’s Office. The presentation slideshow is included in the link above.

Community College Resource Center Accelerating the Integrated Instruction of Developmental Reading and Writing at Chabot College
This paper uses qualitative and quantitative data to compare the outcomes of students at Chabot College who participated in an accelerated, one-semester developmental English course and their peers who participated in a two-semester sequence. The sample included first-time students who entered college between summer 1999 and fall 2010; students were tracked for up to five years. To better understand the quantitative findings, the authors draw on data from interviews with faculty, administrators, and staff; student focus groups; and classroom observations. The authors posit that the benefits of an accelerated course structure are amplified at Chabot College by a developmental English curriculum that is well aligned with college-level English and that develops critical academic literacy skills.

Community College Resource Center Increasing Access to College-Level Math: Early Outcomes Using the Virginia Placement Test
In spring 2012, the Virginia Community College System introduced a new math placement test, known as the Virginia Placement Test–Math (VPT). The system also implemented a new placement policy, with different math competencies required for the entry-level college math courses in liberal arts and STEM programs. This brief examines differences in students’ college math enrollment and completion rates before and after the introduction of the VPT and the new placement policy.

The National Center on Time and Learning Time for Teachers: Leveraging Expanded Time to Strengthen Instruction & Empower
This study examines 17 high-performing and fast-improving schools around the country that have taken advantage of expanded school schedules to provide students with more time for engaging academic and enrichment classes and teachers with more time to collaborate with colleagues, analyze students data, create new lesson plans, and develop new skills. On average, U.S. teachers spend approximately 80 percent of their time on instruction, while the international average for countries reporting data to the OECD is 67 percent. Meanwhile, teachers in the schools featured in Time for Teachers spend 60 percent of their expanded school schedule on direct instruction with 40 percent of their time on collaboration, coaching, one-on-one support, and other activities.

The Center on Education Policy and the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools A Guide to Federal Education Programs That Can Fund K-12 Universal Prevention and Social and Emotional Learning Activities
The Center on Education Policy and the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools created this user-friendly guide that highlights 15 federal elementary and secondary education programs where the statutory language or the regulations/guidance that accompanies a program appear to permit funds to be used to support universal prevention programs and social and emotional learning initiatives. The guide also provides examples of schools, districts, and state education agencies that have successfully supported their prevention programs with federal education dollars.

The Wallace Foundation The Wallace Foundation New Education Advocacy Organizations in the U.S. States
In this report, political scientists Paul Manna (College of William and Mary) and Susan Moffitt (Brown University) identify 60 such organizations across the country and explore how they – and their funders – are seeking to inform state-level discussions about education as well as state policies that influence the nation’s schools. The publication also offers a case study of Advance Illinois, an education advocacy organization that began work with Wallace support in 2008.

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, The Wallace Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and others.