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Advancing the Dual Agenda in High School Reform

Advancing the Dual Agenda in High School Reform is an initiative that Jobs for the Future (JFF) employs to achieve its goal of doubling the numbers of low-income young people who enter and complete postsecondary education. Started in 2007, Advancing the Dual Agenda is a multiyear effort to encourage states to adopt and implement policies that will promote high achievement and high graduation rates. The initiative advocates prioritizing the adoption of high achievement and high graduation rate policies by states, including supporting effective pathways from high school to college and aligning high school graduation standards with college entrance standards. The initiative will target 8 to 12 states through a mixture of policy and advocacy work to build states' capacities to create and strengthen schools that achieve the dual agenda, as well as to develop enabling policies. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Advancing the Dual Agenda is also undertaken by partner organizations including Achieve, Inc.; the Alliance for Excellent Education; and the Data Quality Network; as well as their respective state networks.

Advancing the Dual Agenda promotes:

  • Both high achievement and high graduation rates
  • The expansion of effective pathways through high school and into college, characterized by high achievement and high support, including alternatives for those not on track to graduate
  • The development of state and district capacity to create and scale up quality schools and better-aligned secondary/postsecondary systems

The initiative supports the work of other initiatives—including the American Diploma Project, the Data Quality Campaign, and dual enrollment options—embracing varying methods of high school reform to achieve its goal of high achievement, high graduation rates, and high college graduation rates.

Related Research Base

Although little research supports any of the individual initiatives, studies have shown that mastery of challenging coursework in high school is the best indicator for degree attainment for students who attend 4-year colleges.[1] Initiatives such as dual enrollment programs allow high school students to enroll in college courses and receive both high school and college credit, thus limiting cost as a barrier to college education. Students in the dual enrollment program called Early College High Schools, for example, outperformed other students in their district on states’ standardized math and English language arts exams and had a 90% attendance rate as well as 90% promotion rate.[2]

[1] Adelman, C. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

[2] Early College High School Initiative. (2008). Portrait in Numbers. http://www.earlycolleges.org/Downloads/portrait%20in%20numbers9.pdf. Retrieved March 3, 2008.