Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth - March 2006
This report from the American Youth Policy Forum documents what committed educators, policymakers, and community leaders across the country are doing to reconnect out-of-school youth to the social and economic mainstream. It provides background on the serious high school dropout problem and describes in-depth what twelve communities are doing to reconnect dropouts to education and employment training. It also includes descriptions of major national program models serving out-of-school youth.

Reinventing the American High School for the 21st Century - January 2006
This paper from the Association for Career and Technical Education outlines the organization’s vision on what high schools should be and how career and technical education (CTE) can contribute to reform and redesign efforts. In the position statement, ACTE promotes a number of CTE strengths and resources that will help improve the nation’s high schools and help prepare students for postsecondary education and the 21st century workforce.

First in the Family: Advice on College from First-Generation Students - December 2005
Organization: What Kids Can Do
What Kids Can Do has released a new book, First in the Family: Advice on College from First-Generation Students. The organization interviewed first-generation students enrolled in college to collect their insights and learn about the challenges they faced. The book is intended to help students following in their footsteps and the teachers, counselors, and other adults who support them.

“It's Kind of Different": Student Experiences in Two Early College High Schools - September 2005
Organization: Jobs for the Future
Jobs for the Future (JFF) recently released this publication that draws on the preliminary results of a long-term study. "It's Kind of Different" focuses on Wallis Annenberg High School in Los Angeles, CA, and Dayton Early College Academy in Dayton, OH. This booklet captures student, teacher, administrator, and parent perspectives on early college high school.

Career Academy National Standards of Practice - December 2004
Organization: Multiple Career Acadamy Organizations
Developed by an informal consortium of career academy organizations, the Career Academy National Standards of Practice, are framed around ten key elements of successful implementation, drawn from many years of research and experience from all parts of the country.

College Readiness for All Toolbox
Organization: Pathways to College Network
College Readiness for All is a toolbox to help school and college outreach practitioners increase college preparation and access for all students. The toolbox is a systematic, research-based approach designed to help you increase the number of students preparing for postsecondary education. The toolbox contains strategies, tools, resources, and stories about successful schools and programs. The toolbox is the collective work of more than 30 national organizations in the Pathways to College Network dedicated to increasing college preparation, access, and success for all students.

Career Planning Begins with Assessment: A Guide for Professionals Serving Youth with Educational and Career Development Challenges - May 2004
Organization: National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
This Guide includes information on selecting career-related assessments, determining when to refer youth for additional assessment, accommodations, and legal and ethical issues in testing.

America's Choice High Schools
Organization: National Center on Education and the Economy
America's Choice high schools aim to prepare every student to graduate ready to do rigorous college-level work. Every student is expected to be a competent reader and writer and to complete algebra and geometry by the end of 10th grade. America's Choice high schools are organized into a lower division (traditionally 9th and 10th grades) and an upper division (11th and 12th grades).

Breaking Ranks II
Organization: National Association of Secondary School Principals
Written as a field guide, Breaking Ranks II was developed to improve the learning experience of every student by providing high school principals and their leadership teams with illustrations of possible entry points or areas in which to begin reform, strategies for implementing successful reform, and profiles of successes, challenges, and results of implementation. Breaking Ranks II focuses its strategies in three key areas:
I. Collaborative Leadership, Professional Learning Communities, and the Strategic Use of Data
II. Personalizing the School Environment
III. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Career Academies
Organization: National Academy Foundation
The mission of the National Academy Foundation (NAF) is to sustain a national network of career academies to support the development of America's youth toward personal and professional success in high school, in higher education, and throughout their careers. NAF Academies represent business/school partnerships that prepare young people for future careers through a combination of school-based curricula and work-based experiences.

Career Clusters
Organization: National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium
A Career Cluster is a grouping of occupations and broad industries based on commonalities. The sixteen career clusters provide an organizing tool for schools, small learning communities, academies and magnet schools. Career clusters link what students learn in school with the knowledge and skills they need for success in college and careers. Career clusters identify pathways from secondary school to two- and four-year colleges, graduate school, and the workplace, so students can learn in school and what they can do in the future. This connection to future goals motivates students to work harder and enroll in more rigorous courses.

Charter Schools and Early College Initiatives
Organization: National Council of La Raza
This link connects to the Charter School Development Initiative (CSDI) which provides grants, regional “cluster” meetings, training and technical assistance, and the Early High School Demonstration Project which is supporting 12 high schools across the U.S. where students will graduate with a high school diploma and up to two years of college credit.

Coalition of Essential Schools
Organization: Coalition of Essential Schools
CES stands for certain essential elements of good practice: Schools and classes have to be small enough so that teachers and kids have warm, trusting relationships and so that instruction can be personalized. Students should be engaged in authentic tasks and assessments should be directed at providing information to improve teaching. Schools should work actively to redress the inequities that have plagued our educational system.

Early College High School Initiative
Organization: Jobs for the Future
Early College High Schools are small schools from which students leave with not only a high school diploma but also an Associate's degree or two years of college credit toward a Bachelor's degree. By changing the structure of the high school years and compressing the number of years to college degrees, Early College High Schools have the potential to improve graduation rates and better prepare students for entry into high-skill careers. This approach helps people acquire the education and experience they need to succeed in life and a family-supporting career.

First Things First
Organization: Institute for Research and Reform in Education
First Things First provides a clear but flexible framework for reform that districts and schools can adapt to their specific needs. Using the FTF framework, schools focus on three goals:
I. Strengthening relationships among students and adults.
II. Improving teaching and learning.
III. Reallocating budget, staff and time to achieve the first two goals.

High Schools That Work
Organization: Southern Regional Education Board
High Schools That Work is the largest and oldest of the Southern Regional Education Board’s school-improvement initiatives for high school and middle grades leaders and teachers. More than 1,000 HSTW sites in 31 states are using the HSTW framework of goals and key practices to raise student achievement.

Springboard and Gates Alternative High Schools Initiatives
Organization: The College Board
SpringBoard is a unique program designed around the rigorous College Board Standards for College Success. These Standards identify the skills and competencies students need to be prepared for college. SpringBoard has backward-mapped these competencies from grade 12 down to grade 6. This enables you to provide a systematic, seamless and rigorous curriculum throughout middle and high school to better prepare students for college success. The result is that students will be better prepared for participation in the Advanced Placement (AP) Program and for college success.

Talent Development High School
Organization: Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University
The Talent Development High School Model is a comprehensive reform model for large high schools facing serious problems with student attendance, discipline, achievement scores, and dropout rates. The model includes organizational and management changes to establish a positive school climate; curricular and instructional innovations to prepare all students for high-level courses in math and English; parent and community involvement to encourage college awareness; and professional development to support the recommended reforms.