Education Leaders Meet in Washington, D.C., to Discuss Issues Surrounding College and Career Readiness

NEW YORK, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- With only 70 percent of American students receiving a high school diploma, and 53 percent of those who make it to college requiring remedial help, McGraw-Hill Education and its Center for Digital Education hosted a daylong symposium this week to identify ways to improve college and career readiness for all U.S. citizens.

Opening the first College and Career Readiness Symposium, Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies, discussed the economic ties to education, noting, "At the end of the day, college and career readiness is all about American competitiveness. Without properly preparing our students for their paths, academic or otherwise, we'll only exacerbate our economic problems."

Keynote speaker Greg Darnieder, special assistant and senior advisor on college access to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, cited dropout rates among today's students as one of the key barriers to President Obama's goal of ensuring the U.S. has the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. Mr. Darnieder noted that Americans must not underestimate the role that adult education and non-traditional students will play in reaching the Obama administration's college-completion goal. Mr. Darnieder also outlined four crucial steps in addressing both high school and college performance:

• identifying best practices in collecting data on student performance and tracking student outcomes and success through the postsecondary level,
• establishing common core standards in math and reading,
• identifying quality teachers through leadership teams that focus on the needs of young people, and
• creating state programs that focus on the bottom 5 percent of schools that are underperforming.

Also contributing to the symposium were distinguished panelists from organizations such as the American Association of School Administrators, the GED Testing Service, Unigo.com, and the National Center for Women and Information Technology. The extensive interchange of ideas led to the identification of several key issues that should be addressed to prepare students for college, career and life. Those issues include:

• defining what education means at each level of the K-16 system,
• closing gaps between high school and college expectations in readiness,
• ending our reliance on academic proficiency alone as a measure of student success,
• leveraging technology and tools such as social networks to connect with today's students.
• expanding student learning and collaboration opportunities outside of the classroom, and
• implementing creative, interdisciplinary programs that include STEM initiatives and facilitate 21st century learning experiences.

"As a first step, we must answer the question, 'what is high school for?' and come to a consensus on the role we ultimately want schools to play in students' lives," said Jeff Livingston, senior vice president of McGraw-Hill Education's College and Career Readiness Center. "It is important that we challenge the traditional model of college and career preparation in secondary education and eliminate the idea that high schools must have different roles for students on different paths. If we develop students' skills in critical thinking and their ability to apply their knowledge to complex issues and problems, they will have the necessary tools to succeed regardless of the path they follow."

Additional information from this event, including insights from symposium participants and keynote speaker Greg Darnieder, is accessible at www.twitter.com/mheducation. Conversations about the event can also be followed on Twitter using the event hashtag #CCR2010.

About McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading innovator in the development of teaching and learning solutions for the 21st century. Through a comprehensive range of traditional and digital education content and tools, McGraw-Hill Education empowers and prepares professionals and students of all ages to connect, learn and succeed in the global economy. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education