info@cpacnyc.org https://sites.google.com/a/cpacnyc.

org/cpacnyc/home College and Career Readiness (Standards and CTE Programs)

College and Career Readiness Benchmarks define the qualities and achievements that students need to complete in order to be ready and able to enroll and succeed in college, postsecondary training opportunities, and gain entry into meaningful careers. This term has been the catch-all phrase for the last two years. It is very important to understand why this term and action towards these goals of being college and career ready are so important. June 2011 Graduation Rate for all students was 74%. When calculating that number with college and career readiness metrics that number drops to 34.7%. Asian and White subgroups drop by less than 50% where Hispanic, Black and American Indian drop to 25% and lower. This metric becomes important to the determination of success in college and careers as well as drop out rates. There is also a financial burden. At a NYS Legislative joint budget hearing on higher education in Albany Wednesday Feb. 1, 2012. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) New York's high schools are struggling to prepare graduates for college and it is costing the state $70 million in revenue, State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said New York spends more on remedial education for its high school graduates than it does on funding eight entire SUNY campuses and half of all students who enter the community college system need remedial and developmental education and that's why taxpayers spend tens of millions in an attempt to help them succeed. We also have to admit that not everyone is meant for college and many of our children have abilities to be successful in Careers that we can bridge from our High Schools and prepare them early with Career Technical Education Programs. (CTE) CPAC will be focusing on college readiness regarding the standards and for career readiness the CTE programs. Standards The DOE and NYSED have an interesting history of accountability on standards and testing. DECEMBER 2002 The states education commissioner, Richard P. Mills reports Students are learning more than ever. JANUARY 2003 New York becomes one of the first five states to have its testing system approved by federal officials under the new No Child Left Behind law. The Princeton Review rates New Yorks assessment program No. 1 in the country. SPRING 2003 Teachers in New York complain biology and Earth Science tests too easy and the physics test too hard. The state Council of School Superintendents finds the physics scores so unreliable, it sends a letter to colleges urging them to disregard the test result. Dr. Mills calls the tests statistically sound and in accordance with nationally accepted standards. JUNE 2003 Scores on the state algebra test are so poorly calibrated that 70 percent of seniors fail. After a statewide outcry, officials agree to throw out the results. The Princeton Review says that ranking New York first was a mistake. OCTOBER 2003 A special panel appointed to investigate the math fiasco concludes the test cant accurately predict performance, was created on the cheap and was full of exam questions that were poorly worded and confusing. MAY 2004 Scores have risen on elementary and middle school state reading and math tests. SPRING 2005 New York City fourth graders make record gains on the state English test, up 10% from the year before FALL 2005 The federal tests (NAEP), considered more rigorous than the state tests, show a drop in New York City reading scores. Eighth-grade test, 19 percent are proficient in 2005, compared with 22 percent in 2003. SEPTEMBER 2007 New Yorks national assessment test results have eighth-grade reading scores lower than in 1998. Approved by CPAC

JUNE 2008 Newly released state test scores have math scores for grades three through eight at 80.7 percent proficient, up from 72.7 in 2007. JUNE 2009 In the previous decade, average SAT verbal score drops to 484 from 494; the math SAT score drops to 499 from 506. The national assessments fourth-grade reading scores are stagnant for four years, and the eighth-grade scores are lowest in a decade. State tests have 81 percent of students proficient in math, and 68.8 percent are proficient in English. In November the mayor is elected to a third term, again riding the coattails of sweet city scores. JULY 2010 Finally someone Dr. Tisch, the chancellor of the Board of Regents has the sense to stand up at a news conference and say that the state test scores are so ridiculously inflated that only a fool would take them seriously., State scores are to be scaled down immediately. 68.8 percent English proficiency rate becomes a 42.4 proficiency rate. Shael Polakow-Suransky, chief accountability officer says "Whether there has been any progress at all during the Bloomberg years is questionable. The citys fourth-grade English proficiency rate for 2010 is no better than it was in February 2001.FEBRUARY 2011 The citys 64 percent graduation rate is called into question. The state announces a new accountability measure: College and Career Readiness. By this standard, the graduation rate for New York City in 2009 was 23 percent. NOVEMBER 2011 New York is one of two states in the nation to post statistically significant declines on the National Assessment tests. John B. King, the education commissioner, says the state is certainly going in the wrong direction, but has a plan to spur students achievement. The new Common Core Learning Standards will help get them there, he says. (10 Years of Assessing Students With Scientific Exactitude, Michael Winerip.) Common Core is implemented and 2013 state tests grades 3-8 will incorporate the Common Core curriculum for the first time. A letter from the Chancellor goes out February 2013 "... We expect these new tests to be more difficult to pass, at first. But this change is important. It's going to help our schools broaden students' options for the future. Students, teachers, and parents need to understand where students are on the path to graduating prepared for college and a good job." "You may be wondering if this change will affect how students are promoted to the next grade and admitted to screened schools. Though the State is introducing new tests this year, New York City will align promotion standards to the Common Core over time. In past years, decisions about summer school were made based on estimates of each student's performance level on the State tests: 1, 2, 3, or 4. This year, because the tests are new, we cannot predict how the State will determine performance levels. Instead, we will look at students' overall scores-how many questions each student got right. Students with the lowest scores will be recommended for summer school." Kentucky apparently dropped 30% using Common Core curriculum. CTE Programs Career Technical Education (CTE) programs are changing, evolving and innovating to better serve the countrys needs. It is creating an educational environment that integrates core academics with real-world relevance. CTE is developing a productive workforce ready for the careers of today and tomorrow through technical knowledge, innovation, skill development and entrepreneurship. By preparing students who are ready for both college and career, CTE is crafting effective and efficient educational pathways through high school and postsecondary education to help students achieve their goals. As more data is gathered, the impact and return on investment of CTE in terms of student achievement is clear. Students in CTE programs have a higher-than-average high school graduation rate. The average high school graduation rate for students concentrating in CTE programs is 90.18% compared to an average national freshman graduation rate of 74.9%. (1) High-risk students in CTE programs are 8 to 10 times less likely to drop out of high school in 11th or 12th grades (2). Students concentrating on CTE programs in high school are more likely to attend college and stay there to graduate. Seventy-nine percent of CTE concentrators enrolled in postsecondary education within 2 years of high school graduation (3). Seventy percent of students concentrating on CTE stayed in postsecondary education or transferred to a 4-year degree program (compared to overall average state target of 58%)and transitioned to postsecondary education or employment by December of the year of graduation from high school (3). As CTE students attaining degrees and credentials, our nation develops a highly educated workforce ready for the high demand, high skill jobs that will keep America at the forefront of the global economy. (http://www.careertech.org/ ) The Advisory Council for Career and Technical Education is charged by state law with the task of advising the Department of Education on the development, administration and evaluation of policies and programs relating to Career and Technical Education. It is composed of volunteers from industry, labor, colleges, as well as the non-profit sector and defines its mission as assisting the Department of Education to provide all students with relevant and meaningful programs where they will acquire high-level academic and workforce preparation skills. Proposal Part I Standards: We need a consistency is our assessments and how we handle the results. While we may not like the outcomes, the city and state is invested in Common Core, and believe this is the cure-all for all of our students to achieve. That being said we need to ask if our students cannot achieve in Common Core this year how will they progress next year. We do want rigorous standards so when our Approved by CPAC

children reach Middle School the proficiency levels don't drastically drop. Increasing the standards in Elementary school may be the answer as opposed to wondering why our Middle Schools are failing. If our children cannot be proficient in Math or English in Middle and High School, moving them to the next level will only be harder until they master the skills needed. This will ultimately create more students who need remediation as opposed to less. Our schools are so concerned with moving children up as long as they pass because the schools will be held accountable and become a "failing school" according to the DOE that will be on the closing list. We are asking for rigorous standards, consistency in the promotion standards and academic support for our students not achieving the College and Career Readiness metrics for grades 3-12, the tested grades.

Proposal Part II CTE: We want to see that: New York remains one of the 42 states committed to support the development of Common Career Technical Core expressing their commitment to the development of quality Career Technical Education (CTE) through common standards. The programs implemented in NYC schools shall be of quality and supported by their respective industry. Schools that have existing structures that support a particular type of industry i.e. building and construction should not change the type of industry focus to a point that the supplies and structures located in a school would have to be completely changed and disposed of. CTE programs will not be hastily placed in our schools without proper business and academic support to aid in its success. Changing the Regent certification rules to count the completion of a two-year rigorous CTE sequence as one Regent exam in the appropriate subject will set CTE students on a more direct path to graduation. The city and state can create incentives for businesses to invest in CTE partnerships to aid in the success of CTE programs

A proven element in the success of CTE programs is an active and well integrated connection to the world of work. Properly managed partnerships between educators and industry can ensure the continued relevancy of CTE programs, assist in the recruitment and development of a well-motivated and prepared corps of CTE teachers and provide work-based learning opportunities and resources for students and their schools. Strong and sustained industry partnerships will connect students to adult role models and signal to students the eventual return on the investment of time and effort in their high school studies. Workbased learning experiences will extend learning beyond the classroom, allowing students to understand the demands of the workplace and see how their academic course work relates to their future goals and opportunities

(1) U.S. Department of Education, Office of VOAE, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006,Report to Congress on State Performance, Program Year 2007-2008 (2) Kulik, James, Curriculum Tracks and High School Vocational Studies, University of Michigan, 1988 (3) U.S. Department of Education, http://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2010report/fy2010-apr.pdf 10 Years of Assessing Students With Scientific Exactitude, Michael Winerip.

Approved by CPAC

http://www.careertech.org/ http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/CTE/Partnerships/default.htm

Approved by CPAC