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betterhighschools.org Linking Research and Resources for Better High Schools

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Linking Research and Resources for Better High Schools

The National High School Center is a central source of information and expertise on high school improvement issues for the Regional Comprehensive Centers. In helping the Regional Comprehensive Centers build capacity of states across the nation to effectively implement the goals of No Child Left Behind relating to high schools, the National High School Center identifies effective programs and tools, offers user-friendly products and provides high-quality technical assistance to support the use of research-based approaches within high school learning communities.


Photo: A female highschool student talking to a teacher

Spotlight

New Document Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation
Seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released by America’s Promise Alliance. The report found that about half of the students served by public school systems in the nation’s largest cities receive diplomas. Students in suburban and rural public high schools were more likely to graduate than their counterparts in urban public high schools, the researchers said. Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually. (April 2008)

New Document Technology Counts 2008: STEM: The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center have released the 11th Annual Technology Counts report. Technology Counts 2008: STEM: The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics examines the educational community's response to the United States’ perceived failings in preparing students to thrive in a high-tech global economy. The report includes interactive online state data comparisons and individual state reports, as well as several feature stories on how states are strengthening STEM education, the effectiveness of the federal role in STEM, how teacher colleges are incorporating technology into courses in new ways, and the focus some programs are taking on increasing STEM interest and achievement among underrepresented groups. (March 2008)

Award for Breakthrough Middle and Secondary Schools
The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the MetLife Foundation are calling for entries in the search for the nation's top "Breakthrough Schools." Applicants should be high achieving middle or high schools, or schools that are making dramatic improvements in student achievement, whose best practices and outstanding results can inform other schools as they further their own improvement efforts. Honorees will be chosen based upon documented success in implementing strategies aligned with the three core areas of NASSP's Breaking Ranks II publication. Those three areas are collaborative leadership; personalization; and curriculum, instruction and assessment. (March 2008)

 

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The National High School Center is administered by the American Institutes for Research through a grant by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education.

Learn about the National High School Center’s Subcontractors.

The contents of this Web site were developed under a grant (Grant #S283B050028, CFDA Subprogram 84.283) from the Department of Education. Information presented in this site does not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education, and does not imply endorsement by the Federal Government.