Whether through transfer and articulation, through grants that bring disconnected learners back to higher education or through short-term credentialing and applied bachelor's degrees, four-year institutions remain integral to career pathways systems beyond the traditional degree pathway. They also have a clear role in supporting all learners,…

State policymakers are in a unique position to enable the innovations in education necessary to prepare students for a rapidly changing world. Working with 8,000 educators nationwide, the Aurora Institute identified the top 10 issues to address in state policy for transforming the K-12 education system: (1) Profile of a Graduate; (2) Innovation…

Allowing high school students to fulfill a math or science high school graduation requirement via a computer science credit may encourage more student to pursue computer science coursework. This Education Trends report is an update to the original report released in April 2015 and explores state policies that allow or require districts to apply…

Competency-based education--also known as proficiency-based, mastery-based, and performance-based education--has received increased attention in recent years as an education approach that may help ensure that students graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills necessary for college and their careers. In competency-based education,…

Poverty has been linked to reduced workforce opportunities, reduced college-going rates, increased social-emotional challenges, and even negative health consequences. Postsecondary educational opportunities, offered during high school, that contribute to the acquisition of social capital may improve academic outcomes for students from impoverished…

Awarding credits based on student mastery of content and skills can remove barriers to increasing student readiness for college and careers, according to a new issue brief released by the National Governors Association. This brief shows how governors can lead efforts to foster alternative methods of awarding credit by working to: (1) Build…

Our country has been trying to address the graduation crisis in many ways. We are seeing the impact of the efforts to improve graduation rates over the past twenty years including agreement among states to implement a common cohort-based graduation rate, research-based efforts to improve the transition to 9th grade, increased academic and social…

Throughout the United States, administrators and teachers in American high schools face mounting pressure to increase the academic rigor of their curriculum in an effort to prepare students for postsecondary education and workforce success. Career and technical education (CTE) courses have often been overlooked in the public debate about making…

Virtual schooling is a rapidly growing and, to many, an increasingly troubling phenomenon. In a decade, online education has grown from being a novelty act to an established mode of education, consisting of asynchronous, computer-mediated interaction between a teacher and students over the Internet. Although exact figures are hard to come by,…

This exploration into competency-based innovation at the school, district, and state levels suggests that competency-based pathways are a re-engineering of this nation's education system around learning--a re-engineering designed for success in which failure is no longer viable. This discussion draws on interviews and site visits with innovators…

More than half of all Denver Public Schools (DPS) students who start in the ninth grade do not graduate within four years. If DPS is to significantly impact this graduation crisis, it must prioritize the implementation of systemic and research-based strategies around prevention, recuperation, and recovery of off-track students. With a 100 percent…

This paper outlines criteria for the award of certificates and associate in arts (A.A.), associate in science (A.S.), and associate in applied science (A.A.S.) degrees in Colorado community colleges. Certificate programs, regardless of their duration, are defined as those designed primarily to lead to employment immediately upon completion and…

In response to legislative examination of student tuition and fees in Colorado postsecondary education, this paper outlines the position of the Colorado State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education on the policy issues of expense base, sector pricing, and unit pricing. The State Board's Policy BP 4-20, reprinted in the document,…

A research project was undertaken to analyze the effect of increased science and math high school graduation requirements and to develop models to minimize the impact of these increases on vocational course enrollments. Data from survey instruments sent to Colorado's 174 school districts, state directors of vocational education, and state…

A study examined the effect that increased high school graduation requirements are having on Colorado vocational enrollments and explored products and models for educators in school districts to use in minimizing any such adverse effects on enrollment. The study entailed a literature review, a survey of state high school science and mathematics…