Education Update – Just the Facts

1. Education Update – Just the Facts Central Florida Education Summit 2013 Cheryl Oldham Vice President, Education Policy US Chamber of Commerce

2. Institute for a Competitive Workforce 501(c)(3) affiliate of the U.S. Chamber Works to ensure that businesses have access—today and tomorrow—to an educated and skilled workforce. Promotes high educational standards and effective workforce training systems so that they are aligned with each other and with today's rigorous business demands.

3. The Crisis: National For the first time in history, kids in America are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents. A third of American students do not complete high school, a third of students require remediation upon entering college. By 2020, 123 million American jobs will be high-skill, high-wage, but only 50 million Americans will be qualified to fill them.

4. Of 34 OECD Countries, U.S.A. Ranks 12th in Reading Literacy

5. Of 34 OECD Countries, U.S.A. Ranks 17th in Science

6. Of 34 OECD Countries, U.S.A. Ranks 25th in Math

7. The U.S. spends more money per student than all but one other OECD country

8. Central Florida – the Good Florida is a national leader in education reform. High standards, strong teacher effectiveness policies, and expansive school choice options. Has made unprecedented gains over the past decade improving student achievement and closing the achievement gap. Leads the nation in students participating in AP courses, particularly for low-income and minority students. Florida’s A–F school grading system provides transparent data about its schools and has served as a model for many other states.

9. Central Florida – the Bad For every 100 Florida students, only 76 will graduate from high school, only 51 will attend college, and only 32 will earn a baccalaureate degree within six years. While four of seven central Florida counties exceed the average state graduation rate, their low-income and at-risk students graduate well below that rate. Central Florida is home to 50 D and F rated schools, meaning students lack consistent access to high quality schools. Proficiency rates statewide, and those of disadvantaged students, are low, especially in science. In central Florida, most students are not proficient in reading and the vast majority of 8th grade students are not proficient in math.

10. Central Florida – the Ugly In central Florida counties, low-income student graduation rates range from 67% to 55%. At-risk student graduation rates are below 50% in all but two counties. Statewide, more than 100 high schools are considered “dropout factories” because graduation rates were 60% or below from 2008–10. Fifty-four percent of Florida students attending two-year colleges needed remediation. If Florida’s high schools prepared students for college, the state could save as much as $224 million in college remediation costs and lost earnings. Florida, including the counties of central Florida, needs to build on the state’s impressive record of achievement gains as it implements even more rigorous standards and assessments. It cannot afford to lower standards or abandon its commitment to implementing Common Core State Standards.

11. Common Core Standards • Bipartisan initiative of state leaders • Led by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and National Governors Association (NGA) • Developed K-12 standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics

12. Why Common Standards?

13. Common Core State Adoption

14. Myth vs. Fact MYTH: Common Core is an effort of the federal government to nationalize education and force states to teach all students the same way. FACT: Common Core is a state-led initiative by governors, state superintendents, and nonprofit agencies to modernize education standards. Congress nor the U.S. Department of Education was involved in the development of Common Core, nor have they mandated Common Core adoption.

15. Myth vs. Fact MYTH: Common Core standards represent a national curriculum and tell teachers what to teach FACT: Common Core is a set of standards that outline what students should know and be able to do at a particular grade level in order to be on track for college and beyond. Curriculum – the map, schedule, and method for teaching standards – will be a “locally controlled” decision left up to individual school board members and school administration and teachers to construct. Common core is the WHAT, districts/teachers will determine the HOW.

16. Myth vs. Fact MYTH: Common core is an Obama Administration initiative designed to teach children socialism and collect data to share with the Federal government. FACT: Common Core State Standards Initiative was created before the Obama Administration. A result of Governors and state chiefs recognizing the gap between high school expectations for students and what students are expected to do in college and career was inexcusable.

17. Myth vs. Fact MYTH: The English language arts standards (ELA) require more non-fiction reading. This mean we aren’t teaching literature anymore. FACT: Common Core standards call for 70% of ALL texts (not 70% of English Language Arts texts) read in 12th grade to be nonfiction, which includes content area texts, such as science and history. This was done to support literacy instruction in other content areas and underscore the role that all teachers must play in literacy efforts. This will help ensure students are graduating high school adequately prepared to read rigorous college and career-level material, a majority of which are informational texts. Classic literature will still very much be a part of curriculum taught in Language Arts classrooms.

18. Myth vs. Fact MYTH: Common Core State Standards are not any better (or are worse) than existing state standards FACT: Fordham Institute study (2010) confirmed that CCSS are superior to standards currently in use in 39 states in math and 37 states in English. For 33 states, the new standards are superior in both math and reading. FACT: According to analysis by ACT, ¾ of students entering college “were not adequately prepared academically for first-year college courses.”  FACT: A 2009 study by NAEP found no state had reading proficiency standards as rigorous as those on the internationally benchmarked NAEP 4th grade exam. Only one state, Massachusetts, had an 8th grade test as rigorous as the NAEP exam. Worse still, a large number of states had reading proficiency standards that would qualify their students as functionally illiterate on NAEP.

19. What Business Leaders Can Do Know Florida’s timeline and plan Advocate for high-quality Common Core implementation with your state elected officials Prepare the public for an anticipated drop in test scores Engage in the public dialogue on Common Core via social media, op-eds Talk to your local superintendent(s) about forming partnerships with the business community to help students and parents know what it takes to be career-ready

20. What Business Leaders Can Do • Inform parents in your company about the standards • PTA Parent Guides www.pta.org/parentguides • Develop informational tools and resources to educate business leaders in your state • Kentucky Chamber of Commerce www.kychamber.com/standards • Pennsylvania Business Council - http://www.pa-commoncorestandards.com/

21. THANK YOU! Contact Information: Cheryl Oldham Vice President, Education Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President, Institute for a Competitive Workforce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation 1615 H Street NW Washington, DC 20062 Phone: 202-463-5494 Email: coldham@uschamber.com