Nex+Step for Arkansas' Future

Community Leaders

< Arkansas Department of Education Business Leader Research on Preparedness of High School Seniors for Entering the Workforce November 2006 (PDF) >

< The National Perspective: a PowerPoint presentation by Matt Gandal (PC / Mac) >

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What you need to know about High School Redesign.
What is High School Redesign and why does it affect the business community? We want to institute a curriculum that works; a curriculum that prepares students for the next step of their lives, so that they do not need remediation, and are prepared to succeed. We want to create a viable workforce that is capable of putting Arkansas back on the right economic track.

Why High School has to change.
As a business leader, you know better than almost anyone why our High Schools need to take a new look at how we educate. You see firsthand how unprepared entry level employees can be, forcing you to compromise productivity and profit in order to train and retrain a workforce that doesn’t understand the realities of working a “real” job.

Support the future success of your business
In order to make Next Step work, we need the cooperation of the entire community, especially the business community. We need your feedback on how to prepare students to enter the workforce. We need you to encourage students to enter Next Step by requiring completion of the program. For the good of the future of our children, our state and your business, we must put our support behind Next Step.

Arkansas: Blazing the trail
Because Arkansas is one of leaders in the national movement to redesign High School, this change can seem even more daunting. We don’t have a model to follow because we are the model. We are the example. And we can prove to the country, and the world, that Arkansas is up to the challenge; all the while making our state a better, more prosperous place.

The failure of high school.
Why focus on high school? Statistics show that the failure in our education system is happening between 8th and 12th grade. As students leave middle school, their interest and achievement levels in math and science are similar to the rest of the world, but by the end of high school, those levels drop dramatically. To succeed in today’s global economy, Americans on all levels of the employment spectrum need to know and be able to do more than ever before.

Two tracks to nowhere
It is nothing short of a gigantic mistake to box students into a two track system: Work-bound and college-bound. This system just doesn’t make sense anymore. The same skills are required for a high school graduate, no matter what they want to do after they receive their diploma. As an employer, you need an employee who can read, write, communicate clearly, research, analyze information and solve problems.

Why a new high school can fix your business
Whether your workforce is coming to you from college or straight out of high school, the current system isn’t just failing our students, it’s failing the business community. Businesses lose $16 billion dollars annually on lost productivity and remedial costs to train workers who are not prepared to enter the workforce. It is the goal of Next Step to create a workforce that does not need remediation, but is equipped to excel from the first day.

Supporting Next Step is a sound investment
Why should you support Next Step? To save money on training and remediation, for one thing. To have a more effective workforce. To ensure your business not only survives, but thrives in the ever-more competitive global marketplace. High schools have to change so that you can get the workers you need.

The FAQs
Not convinced that we need Next Step? Still think the U.S. is leading the world? Take a look at these astonishing statistics.

America’s literacy rate is only 73%; one of the lowest among industrialized nations.
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The United States’ university dropout rate is 38%; one of the highest among industrialized nations.

The old ways just won’t work anymore.
Today’s job market requires much more of employees, from executives to engineers, from doctors to dock workers, and here’s the proof:

Percentage of white collar office workers with “some college” has increased from 37 to 60 percent; the share of those with a bachelor’s degree has almost doubled from 20 to 38 percent.
Percentage of factory workers with higher education has increased fourfold in the past thirty years, from 8 to 31 percent.
39% of recent high school graduates now enrolled in college, and 46% of those who went directly into the job market, say they were not prepared.
College professors and employers estimate that four out of ten graduates are not ready for higher education or employment.
Research indicates that the level of preparedness required of entry level jobs is not lower than that needed to enter college.

Kids are not being prepared for college.
Among the students who opt to pursue higher education, we are finding more and more evidence that the high school curriculum is not in line with college expectations.

Only 34% of high school students take a course load that is considered adequate for college preparation.
Only 32% of high school students are actually considered “college-ready.”

Want to know the big picture? When we fail our kids in school, we establish a cycle of failure that continues throughout life.

We lose $17 billion annually on lost productivity and remedial education in postsecondary institutions and the workplace for skills that should have been learned in high school.
76% of college students who take remedial courses in reading never earn a degree.
63% of college students who take remedial courses in math never earn a degree.
67% of prison inmates nationwide are high school dropouts.

Don’t continue the cycle of failure and regret…
88% of students said they would work harder if their high school demanded more of them, set higher standards and raised expectations.