ToolkitRespondingtoMediaInquiries



AASA Back-to-School Toolkit Talking Points:

These talking points are designed for you to use in your back-to-school outreach and communication with education reports and community members. Use this information as a starting point, supplementing with the good news and successes of your school district.

AASA grants permission to AASA members to use and reproduce this material, in whole or in part and by any means, without charge or further permission.

• Schools are safer. Over the last decade (from the 1999-2000 school year), the number of schools reporting an incident of violent crime fell by more than 20 percent. Further, an April 2012 poll found that 84% of parents believe their child is safe in school.

• Student smoking is down. The percentage of teenagers smoking regularly is at an all-time low. Reports of daily smoking are down for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders.

• Teens report lower rates of heavy drinking. Alcohol use, including binge drinking, continues its long-term decline among teens, reaching historically low levels in 2011 in all grades surveyed (8th, 10th and 12th grades). This statistic fell to 22% in 2011—a decline of nearly one half since 1981.

• Schools are meaningfully engaging parents. Educators, parents and students all report an increased sense of parent engagement: Most teachers report that their school helps parents understand what they can do at home to support student success in school; students agree that parents and teachers work together to support student success; and parents and teachers alike are reporting lower rates of lack of parent engagement.

• Student achievement is on the rise. According to the Center on Education Policy, student achievement in reading and math has improved since 2002. In addition, achievement gaps among groups of students have narrowed. The study attributed the rise to efforts by American educators to raise academic achievement.

• Student achievement is up on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the most widely recognized national assessment tool.

← Scores on the NAEP reading assessment for both 4th and 8th grades were higher in 2009 than in 1992.

← Both 4th and 8th graders performed better on the 2009 NAEP math assessment than they did in 1990.

← Between 1994 and 2010, scores on the 2010 NAEP U.S. history assessment were increased for 4th, 8th and 12th graders than in 1994.

← On the NAEP civics assessment, the average score for 4th graders was higher in 2010 than scores in both 2006 and 1998.

← Fourth graders scored higher on the 2010 NAEP civics assessment than in all other assessment years.

• The nation’s public schools continue to outperform private and charter schools. In 2006, the National Center for Education Statistics found that public school students do as well as or better than their private school and charter school counterparts. These findings extended to students from low-income families. Among students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, public school 4th graders outperformed their charter school counterparts in reading and math.

• More students are prepared for college. The percentage of public school graduates achieving a grade of “3” or better on the Advanced Placement exam nearly doubled in the last decade, growing from 10 percent in 2000 to 18 percent in 2011. A score of “3” on the college-level exam is considered predictive of college success.

• More students are completing a challenging curriculum. The percentage of high school graduates completing advanced coursework (Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or honors) is up in all content areas:

▪ Calculus: 11 percent in 2009, up from 7.9 percent in 2000 and 1.6 percent in 1982.

▪ Biology: 22.4 percent in 2009, up from 16.3 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1982.

▪ Chemistry: 5.9 percent in 2009, up from 3 percent in 1982.

▪ Physics: 5.7 percent in 2009, up from 3.9 percent in 2000 and 1.2 percent in 1982.

▪ Foreign Language: 8 percent in 2009, up from 5.4 percent in 2000 and 1.2 percent in 1982.

• Dropout rates are falling, and more students are graduating in four years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the high school dropout rate fell from 6.1 percent in 1972 to 3.4 percent in 2009. Between 2005 and 2011, there was an 11 percent reduction in the rate of students not graduating from high school in four years.

• High school graduates are enrolling in college at record rates. Between 1975 and 2010, the percentage of students enrolling in college immediately after high school grew from 49 percent to 68 percent, a trend that held for White students, black students and Hispanic students.

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