Tony Simmons, High School for Recording Arts, is a frequent presenter and advocate for alternative accountability policies and practices that his school embraces.  Last year, he described how HSRA uses recording albums, student workshops, group study advisories and other methods to demonstrate mastery of state standards without being limited by seat time.   This year, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton kicked off the statewide  “GEAR UP” week at Tony’s school in recognition of the urgent need to help low-income and underrepresented students prepare for a postsecondary education.   Read about his school’s impact on state policy in the article below.
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http://www.insightnews.com/education/14132-governor-dayton-wants-high-school-students-to-gear-up

​Last year, Susan Miller (State University of New York), presented with a team of experts about finding meaningful accountability measures for over-age under-credit students.  As the article below explains, that work is impacting  students’ lives today.
http://ny.chalkbeat.org/2015/09/28/for-charter-schools-serving-overage-or-homeless-students-typical-metrics-dont-add-up/#.VgrYp3nJAdW
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This year, leaders of that effort will present at the 2015 Alternative Accountability Policy Forum in San Diego  by answering the question, What Key School Design Elements Effectively Support Off-Track Youth?
Leslie Talbot, Aretha Miller and Robert Clark will lead a Conversation Session that includes a “gallery walk” of perspectives and collaboration to learn from each other, determine how the Pathways to Opportunity Project findings may fit other school systems, synthesize the information, and garner consensus.  

The 2015 Alternative Accountability Policy Forum will include 6 conversation sessions intended to build on attendee’s expectations of collaboration and networking by providing a modicum of structure which builds on the in-house expertise.  Conversation sessions are led by education leaders with recognized national expertise in the Conversation Session topics and experience in convening veteran practitioners.   The Policy Forum also includes 24 presentation sessions on topics ranging from Understanding Trauma Exposure to WIOA Implementation.

​If you haven’t registered for the Nation’s leading conference about policies and practices supporting off-track youth, join us today!

Be sure to check the 2014 Event Materials page - located under "Agenda" in the website navigation - to access presentation files and other resources provided by the event speakers.

Each attendee will receive a printed version of the full policy forum booklet at the event. However, if you aren't able to join us you can click here to download an electronic copy of the booklet. 

For everyone interested in following the conference, the backchat can be found on Twitter at #AAPF14. 

We will provide links to presentations and other resources as well as updates about the proceedings. 

We invite you to join in the conversation!

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has just released a summary of the key provisions of the newly enacted Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.  The paper provides an overview of WIOA’s provisions and a platform for developing your own strategies and partnerships.  One of the paper's co-authors, Kisha Bird, will be a speaker at the 3rd Annual Alternative Accountability Policy Forum.

Federal law now requires that at a minimum 75% of available state-wide and local are funds be spent on workforce investment services for out-of-school youth.  Federal law also expands and improves eligibility for youth services.  Title I now reflects the full range of “opportunity youth” from 16 to 24.  

The Alternative Accountability Policy Forum will include workshops on WIOA and new opportunities for schools serving opportunity youth.  Now’s the time to fully understand WIOA provisions as the Department prepares to develop implementing regulations.  

Experts available at the Policy Forum include CLASP's Senior Policy Analyst Kisha Bird; Opportunity Nation’s Director of Government Affairs Melanie Anderson; and the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy Jessica Cardichon.  

All of these experts worked with Congress on the development of WIOA and will provide an insider’s view of it provisions and potential.

View the CLASP report, "New Opportunities to Improve Economic and Career Success for Low-Income Youth and Adults: Key Provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)."

NoDropouts.org published an article this week entitled "Why we can't measure dropout recovery students the same way as we measure others." The post was in response to data presented to the Duval County School Board in Florida. The school board responded to district data on credit completion of the district's dropout retrieval programs. The programs were criticized for the low number of credits earned by its students. The NoDropouts.org article illuminates issues when it comes to evaluating dropout retrieval.

From the article: "Dropout recovery programs serve students who have already left school once before. Often these students have come and gone multiple times. Research tells us these students are commonly years behind in credit attainment, and even further behind in actual educational attainment.

"In most cases, they’re still facing the issues that pushed them out of school in the first place — and in many cases those obstacles have only increased in the time they’ve been away from school."

The presentation of such skewed data in Duval County is further evidence of the relevance of alternative accountability and the need to create more appropriate methodologies to evaluate the success of schools focused on serving overage and undercredited students.

Read "Why we can't measure dropout recovery students the same way as we measure others."

Connected by 25 highlighted the 3rd Annual Alternative Accountability Policy Forum.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

"We’ve made incredible progress in the past decade in recognizing the graduation crisis, stepping up investments in dropout prevention, high school reform and re-engagement (which we used to call multiple pathways to graduation). However, states are still the biggest player in developing an aligned system that is designed to re-engage vulnerable youth in completing high school and moving on to further post-secondary education and training. And we still don’t have the infrastructure to support it. That’s why the policies to raise the age students can leave school to 17 and 18 have not been balanced with policies to raise the age that students can receive an education in the K12 system, with its significantly higher funding than adult education, to 20, or higher."

The practitioners and advocates that gather at the Third Annual Accountability Policy Forum are doing the work that we failed to invest in two decades ago. They started meeting because it was important, not because there was foundation support. They are forming alliances with other groups, such as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, that share the concerns that accountability systems are inadequate to respond to over-age, undercredited students."

Read the article here.