EDUCATION + UPWARD MOBILITY Post-secondary education is a life changer for young people growing up in poverty. With a four-year college degree, 90 percent will achieve upward mobility out of poverty. But other post-secondary degrees take less time and money to complete, and those who hold them also earn wages that far exceed the poverty line. Bachelor s Degree Associate s Degree Technical Certificate $69,000 $56,000 $51,000 $45,000 $47,000 $38,000 $32,000 $31,000 $27,000 Poverty Line: $19,530 Year 1 Year 5 Year 10 Many Pathways to Prosperity Sources: Pursulng the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations, The Pew Charitable Trusts (Juiy 2012); Mark Schneider, The Value of Sub-baccalaureate Credentials, Issues In Science and Technology (Summer 2015); 2013 Poverty Guidelines, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfmtithresholds.
A CIVICS LESSON IN DEMOCRACY CIVICS EDUCATION IS ESSENTIAL to sustain OUR Constitutional Democracy. Yet research shows our young people aren t learning much about civics or history. READING AND MATH ARE WEAK. HISTORY AND CIVICS ARE EVEN WORSE. Proficiency Rates, Eighth-Grade NAEP Exam* Math 36 percent Reading 36 percent Civics 23 percent History 18 percent Yes, our schools must ensure that all students are prepared for college and career, but equal attention must be given to A Third C citizenship Every high school graduate in America should have the knowledge and skills they need to: Participate in civic affairs in a thoughtful manner Respect individual worth and human dignity Assume personal, political, and economic responsibilities Promote a healthy constitutional democracy Become an independent member of society SourceS: NAEP Data Explorer, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed August 11, 2015. *Proficiency rates for most recent NAEP examination in each subject: 2013 for math and science; 2014 for civics and history.
PUBLIC, PRIVATE, OR CHARTER: Let Parents Choose. School choice is growing and it works. A D.C. study reveals the impact of voucher programs on African American students. High School Degree 70% 91% College Enrollment 36% 43% Four-Year Private College Attendance 9% 14% Voucher Program Control Over the past decade, enrollment in charter schools has soared! 2000 2005 1 mil 2007 1.2 mil 2008 1.3 mil 2009 1.4 mil 2010 1.6 mil 2011 1.8 mil 2012 2.1 mil 0.4 mil Charter schools are testing better than public schools in urban regions. Worse Same Better Yet research shows our young people aren t learning much about civics or history. Math Overall Democracy. Constitutional U.S. sustain to ESSENTIAL IS EDUCATION CIVICS 24 33 43 Reading Overall 16 46 38 Sources: Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics; NAEP Data Explorer, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed August 11, 2015; Urban Charter School Study, The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (March 2015).
MAKING OUR BEST AND BRIGHTEST THE BEST IN THE W RLD Results from PISA s 2012 assessment reveal how poorly America s high achievers compare to those in other countries. S. Korea Japan Switzerland Belgium Netherlands Germany Poland Canada Finland New Zealand Australia Estonia Austria Slovenia France Czech Republic OECD Average United Kingdom Luxembourg Iceland Slovak Republic Ireland Portugal Denmark Italy Norway Israel Hungary UNITED STATES Sweden Spain Turkey Greece Chile Mexico MATH % OF STUDENTS AT OR ABOVE PISA S TOP LEVELS IN MATH AND SCIENCE SCIENCE 5% 15% 25% 35% 25% 15% 5% Japan Finland Australia New Zealand Estonia Germany Netherlands S. Korea Canada United Kingdom Poland Ireland Slovenia Switzerland Belgium OECD Average Luxembourg France Austria Czech Republic Norway UNITED STATES Denmark Sweden Italy Hungary Israel Iceland Slovak Republic Spain Portugal Greece Turkey Chile Mexico We ve made significant progress in preparing our lowest-achieving students to succeed academically, but we ve neglected our brightest students. It s time to make their learning a priority too. Whom do teachers make a top priority? Who is most likely to get oneon-one attention from teachers? 5% 4% Struggling students Academically advanced students 9% 63% 7% 81% It s equal Average students Source: Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett, Results from a National Teacher Survey, FDR Group (June 2008); lntemational Data Explorer. See International Data Explorer, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educatlon Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.
EDUCATION REFORM: ACCOUNTABILITY IS WORKING Decades of education reform have given rise to better test scores, especially among poor and minority children. Those better scores have driven an increase in graduation rates. PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE Latino African American 15% 8% 10% 14% 11% 7% MATH READING GRADUATION (1999 to 2012) (1999 to 2012) (2003 to 2012) Sources: NAEP Data Explorer, U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, accessed August 11, 2015.
Disorder is the Enemy of Learning So why is the Obama administration discouraging rigorous discipline? A Public Agenda survey revealed that student behavior and discipline issues were top of mind among teachers. Say the school experience of most students suffers because of a few chronic offenders Say they would be more effective if they weren t spending time dealing with disruptive students Say they have been accused of unfairly disciplining a student say that disruptive students are allowed to stay in school. Discipline...helps prepare students for the real world. In that world, when you assault your co-worker or curse out your boss, you don t get a restorative circle, you get fired. -Eva Moskowitz Source: Teaching Interrupted: Do Discipline Policies in Today s Public Schools Foster the Common Good?, Public Agenda (May 2004); Eva S. Moskowitz. Turning Schools Into Fight Clubs, Wall Street Journal (April 1,2015).