Challenge to Lead sets ambitious goals to help states ask the right questions to improve student access to college through better alignment of the policies that govern the transition from high school to college and careers. To help answer them, this special report provides a one-page summary of each SREB state's policies, programs and requirements…

Many rural high schools use technology to provide greater opportunities for students, but most rural high schools do not use technology to meet student and teacher needs nearly as often, or as effectively, as they could. A critical need exists for the development of state level policies and programs for all schools, especially targeted to rural…

Challenge to Lead calls for every student to earn a high school diploma that prepares him or her for college and a career. One indicator of progress toward this goal is the success rate on high school graduation tests required by states. Comparisons of Southern Regional Education Board, SREB, state policies, however, show that high school tests…

If Southern Regional Education Board, SREB, were to grade states today on the middle grades goal, only a few would earn high marks; most are still struggling, and that goes for most of the rest of the nation as well. That does not mean that student achievement is not improving or that SREB states have not developed some key policies and promising…

The Southern Regional Education Board was the first education organization in the nation to stress that states not only should set goals for education but also should measure progress toward those goals and monitor trends. Now, the SREB Challenge to Lead Goals for Education in the 21st century make a dramatic statement: "SREB states can lead the…

The "Challenge to Lead" goal for early grades students is first about student achievement in reading and mathematics. The goal is that students in the early grades, regardless of their economic status, school location, ethnicity or gender will be as proficient in reading and mathematics as youngsters anywhere in the nation. "Challenge to Lead"…

Goal 9 of twelve Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Challenge to Lead goals is that every school regardless of its student population, location or surrounding economic circumstances has a leader who can work with faculty to increase student learning. This report discusses progress toward this goal since 2002 in the 16 SREB states. It also is…

State accountability goals for high schools must give equal emphasis to raising standards and increasing the percentages of students entering grade nine and earning high school diplomas four years later. High school completion rates between 1988 and 2000 declined in all but eight states. Many high schools in states with declining graduation rates…