No state can afford to have the percentage of young people who are failing to finish high school remain at the present levels nor can they afford to ease the standards. This document discusses the following 10 strategies that states can implement to raise achievement and increase high school completion rates: (1) Initiate a transition program for middle grades to high school; (2) Require schools to develop an extra-help system aimed to assist students recover when they fail a grade or a course and to pass highstakes exams; (3) Require that every student develop a five-year program of study that covers four years of high school and one year beyond; (4) Require high schools to provide students access to quality career/technical studies in high-demand, high-paying career fields; (5) Require every high school teacher--academic, technical, fine arts and other--to be trained in how to use content-literacy skills and study skills to help students become independent learners in the teacher's subject matter; (6) Require every high school to develop a formalized initiative for the transition from high school to college and careers; (7) Expand the use of technology in high school to improve achievement on core academic courses to help students recover when they fail a course and to meet standards on exit exams; (8) Examine state policies and their impact on improving graduation rates; (9) Develop a special emphasis on the lowest-performing high schools in the state, including those that have the lowest achievement and the lowest high school completion rates; and (10) Create a state leadership academy directed at developing a team of district and school leaders for the chronically low-performing, low-completion-rate high schools.