State Leadership in Improving High Schools for More Students.

The High Schools That Work (HSTW) program is geared to help public high schools meet high standards for many more students by building educational programs around college-preparatory-level academic studies and challenging career concentrations. The program is based on the belief that almost all students can learn advanced-level academic and technical concepts when they are nurtured in an environment of high expectations and support. Based on the results of the 1998 HSTW Assessment of more than 34,000 students at 770 HSTW sites in 22 states, this report answers 3 questions: (1) What progress is being made in getting more career-bound students to meet the HSTW performance goals? (2) Which school and classroom experiences are associated with higher achievement? (3) How can states move toward getting 85 percent of career-bound students to meet the HSTW performance goals? If states' political and educational leaders share the Southern Regional Education Board's belief that rigorous vocational studies can motivate more students to complete an upgraded academic core, and if these leaders accept the lessons described in this report, they need to help more schools and students benefit from these experiences. This effort includes integrating some of the essential practices from the HSTW initiative into state accountability systems and broadening state assessments to link quality vocational studies and challenging academic studies. (DFR)