>Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 10:33:10 -0500

>From: "Desrochers, Angela" <Angela.Desrochers at ed.gov>

>Subject: FW: OVAE Review, December 2004

>

>

>THE REVIEW

>

>(Vocational and Technical Education; High Schools; Adult Education and 

>Literacy; and Community Colleges)

>December 16, 2004

>Susan K. Sclafani, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary

>Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE)

>U.S. Department of Education

>

>Angela Desrochers-Editor

>

>The Review is a monthly update from the Office of the Assistant Secretary 

>at the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education.

>

>The full text of the OVAE Review can be viewed at 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html> 

>

>

>

>Greetings from the Assistant Secretary 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html> 

>

>

>The end of 2004 is a good time to express appreciation for the progress we 

>have made and make our resolutions for a better 2005.  Career and 

>technical education reaches most high schools in America and provides 

>opportunities for students to discover career options they wish to 

>pursue.  In the best programs, students develop knowledge and skills in a 

>career area that are reinforced in their rigorous academic courses as 

>well.  They leave high school ready to pursue a career or further 

>education without the need for remediation. They may have community, 

>technical, or four-year college credits that certified their skills or 

>gave them the head start on their career preparation.  These students are 

>lucky.  However, there are many students who leave high school without the 

>academic or career skills required for success.  Over 30 percent of 

>them-even more in urban areas-leave school before graduation, prepared at 

>best to get a minimum wage job, but not a career.  Others graduate from 

>high school, but fail to meet the entrance requirements in their career 

>area or in higher education.  For all of these students, other programs 

>must provide the remediation required to prepare them for career success. 

>(click on link for full story)

>

>

>The Movers and Shakers

>

>Paint Valley High School 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html> 

>

>

>The November 16, 2004, airing of Education News Parents Can Use focused on 

>the issue of dropout prevention.  The show, entitled Dropout Prevention 

>and Recovery: Catching Students Before It s Too Late, featured educators 

>and administrators at the federal, state, and local levels discussing one 

>of the most pressing problems plaguing the nation s high schools: how to 

>keep students in school.  While this is a fundamental concern to 

>educators, the problem goes beyond simply keeping students in 

>school.   Today, educators must find ways to better prepare students for 

>their future in a knowledge and technology driven world.  Although much 

>has been spoken of the need to address this problem, examples of success 

>are few and far between.  Paint Valley High School (PVHS) in Bainbridge, 

>Ohio, is one such success story that was featured on the program. (click 

>on link for full story)

>

>

>SECONDARY, CAREER, AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

>

>Second Annual National High School Leadership Summit Held in DC December 

>2-3 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>

>

>Almost 1000 educators, policymakers, and business leaders from across the 

>country gathered in Washington on December 2-3, 2004, for the U.S. 

>Department of Education s second National High School Leadership 

>Summit.  The event was part of the administration s effort to coordinate 

>and strengthen the high school improvement efforts that are encouraged by 

>the No Child Left Behind Act and to ensure that high schools fully prepare 

>American youths for further education, successful careers, and effective 

>citizenship.  The summit is part of a series of efforts under the 

>department s Preparing America s Future: The High School 

>Initiative.   During the year, OVAE organized eight regional summits that 

>engaged state teams to develop their high school improvement plans. (click 

>on link for full story)

>

>OVAE Sponsors Closing the Achievement Gap Focus Group Meeting 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>

>

>On December 1, 2004, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education 

>sponsored the Closing the Achievement Gap Focus Group Meeting.  The 

>purpose of the focus group meeting was to explore how large comprehensive 

>high schools are able to narrow the achievement gap while maintaining high 

>student retention and graduation rates.

>

>Teams from four schools were selected to participate based on an analysis 

>of four years of disaggregated school-level mathematics and reading state 

>assessment data.  These schools had shown success, over a period of years, 

>starting in 1999 through 2002, in closing the achievement gap between 

>African-American and/or Hispanic students relative to their white 

>peers.  (click on link for full story)

>

>Assistant Secretary Susan Sclafani and Deputy Assistant Secretary Hans 

>Meeder participate in the ACTE Conference 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>

>

>On December 9, Assistant Secretary Susan Sclafani and Deputy Assistant 

>Secretary Hans Meeder participated in the Association for Career and 

>Technical Education's annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Susan 

>addressed the opening general session of several thousand career and 

>technical educators and administrators.  In her remarks, she discussed the 

>need for students in the 21st century to have some form of postsecondary 

>education and training to acquire a good job and secure a good 

>future.  She also stressed that career and technical education (CTE) plays 

>a major role in that preparation for students and acknowledged that states 

>have made considerable progress over the past few years to (1) increase 

>the academic course taking achievement of students in CTE; (2) develop 

>better linkages among secondary schools, postsecondary institutions, and 

>employers; and (3) build, from the ground up, accountability systems to 

>report on the outcomes of students who pursue CTE. (click on link for full 

>story)

>

>  New Report Released

>State Dual Enrollment Policies:  Addressing Access and Quality 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>

>

>Policy-makers and educators continue to seek options for helping more high 

>school students transition successfully to postsecondary education.  This 

>interest stems, in large part, from evidence that many young people leave 

>high school unprepared for college, despite their stated intentions to 

>pursue higher education.  Dual enrollment is one option that appears to be 

>gaining momentum.

>

>Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to simultaneously earn 

>credit toward a high school diploma and a postsecondary degree or 

>certificate.  These programs offer young people an opportunity to get a 

>head start on their postsecondary education and can give them first-hand 

>exposure to the academic and social demands of college-level work.

>

>PISA Results Show Need for High School Reform 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html> 

>

>America's 15-year-olds performed below the international average in 

>mathematics literacy and problem-solving, according to the latest results 

>from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).  The test, 

>given in the spring of 2003, assesses the abilities of 15-year-old 

>students from 41 countries (including 30 of the most developed) to apply 

>learning to problems with a real-world context.

>

>U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said the results point to the need 

>for reform of the nation's high schools. "The PISA results are a blinking 

>warning light," he said. "Its more evidence that high standards and 

>accountability for results are a good idea for all schools at all grade 

>levels." (click on link for full story)

>

>ADULT EDUCATION AND LITERACY

>

>States Send Cross-Agency Teams to Youth Forums 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html> 

>

>

>The 2003 White House Task Force Report on Disadvantaged Youth articulated 

>a set of broad goals for serving the disadvantaged youth.  The 

>comprehensive high school of the past is not sufficient to engage all 

>students, help them achieve rigorous academic standards, and stay in 

>school to complete secondary education successfully.  In addition to 

>transforming the K-12 system, we need to engage relevant partner systems 

>such as labor, human services, and justice to address the needs of these 

>youth, particularly the most at-risk and disadvantaged youth. (click on 

>link for full story)

>

>

>

>COMMUNITY COLLEGES

>

>Community College Working Group, November 2004, Washington, D.C. 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>

>

>In November 2004, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education of the U.S. 

>Department of Education hosted a National Community College Working Group 

>of 15 community college presidents and chancellors from across the 

>country.  College leaders engaged in timely discussions about federal 

>support with assistant secretaries and directors from five federal 

>agencies or offices that provide funding to community colleges.  The 

>presidents and chancellors were invited to the Washington, DC, meeting 

>because their colleges have been particularly successful in obtaining 

>funding from a variety of federal departments and programs.  Discussions 

>focused on how to integrate funding from multiple sources, how federal 

>funding is linked to strategic planning and institutional priorities at 

>the college, and suggestions on how to make the process more 

>productive.  Federal offices participating in the discussions included the 

>U.S. Department of Education s OVAE and Office of Postsecondary Education, 

>the U.S. Department of Labor s Employment and Training Administration, the 

>National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture s 

>Science and Education Resources Development office.   (click on link for 

>full story)

>

>

>NEWS FROM AROUND THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

>Deputy Secretary Gene Hickok Announces Resignation 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html> 

>

>On December 2, 2004, Deputy Secretary of Education Gene Hickok announced 

>his resignation from the U.S. Department of Education after four years of 

>helping to implement historic education reforms across the nation.

>

>In a letter to President Bush, Deputy Secretary Hickok said, "Your 

>unwavering dedication to reform education has given birth to a new era in 

>this country. Today, we talk about accountability and results. We confront 

>the achievement gap instead of closing our eyes to it. We talk about 

>making the promise of America real for all of America's children. (click 

>on link for full story)

>

>John H. Hager Assumes Duties as Assistant Secretary for Special Education 

>and Rehabilitative Services 

><<http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/ovaereview/orev121604.html>

>

>John H. Hager, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, has been sworn in 

>as assistant secretary for the U.S. Education Department's Office of 

>Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). The Senate 

>confirmed Hager for the post before its Thanksgiving recess.

>

>In his new position, Hager will lead the office that administers federal 

>special education programs for America's 6.8 million children and youth 

>with disabilities. His office also promotes employment opportunities for 

>adults with disabilities and sponsors research to improve the lives of 

>individuals with disabilities of all ages. Hager's service career has 

>included numerous leadership roles with a number of disability 

>organizations.  (click on link for full story)

>

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