WICHE Publications Archive

This evaluation addresses how business-education partnerships involved in the national State Scholars Initiative (SSI) administered by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) are influencing high school student course-taking.

2009 ~ 24pp. ~ PDF ~ 2.37 MB~ DOWNLOAD

This report details what has been learned from the experiences of WICHE's State Scholars Initiative business-education partnerships and school districts. It provides data on the impact that an SSI-type initiative can have on students, schools, and districts and offers a roadmap for future leaders who are designing programs that leverage the input of the business community to promote a rigorous high school curriculum, including innovative ideas, lessons learned, and promising practices.

2009 ~ 16pp. ~ PDF ~ 786 KB~ DOWNLOAD

This document is the annual evaluation report from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) for the period October 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009. This is also NCHEM’s last evaluation report of SSI state performance under WICHE’s State Scholars Initiative program administration with federal funding.

2009 ~ 123pp. ~ 2 MB~ DOWNLOAD

This policy brief underscores the need to define academic rigor, demonstrates how students today receive a confusing array of messages about what is necessary in high school and required in college, and outlines suggestions for how to create systems of education that are more responsive to the needs of students entering a rapidly changing world.

2008 ~ 12pp. ~ PDF ~ 224 KB~ DOWNLOAD

This report summarizes the central issues addressed at the National Summit on Academic Rigor and Relevance, hosted by the State Scholars Initiative on April 29-30, 2008, in Boston, Massachusetts. The summit brought together almost 300 participants: business leaders, policymakers, educators, administrators, and others. Participants were asked to examine the role and effectiveness of the business community in driving national education reform conversations; and to discuss policy reform efforts to increase academic rigor and improve academic relevance in high school. Thirty-six states and territories were represented. Speakers included: Phyllis Hudecki, executive director of the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition; Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development and SSI Advisory Board member; Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate in physics, resident scholar at the Illinois Math and Science Academy, and SSI Advisory Board member; Mark Milliron, CEO of Catalyze Learning International; Lorena Riffo Jenson, chairwoman of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Roy Romer, former governor of Colorado and superintendent of the Los Angeles; David Longanecker, WICHE President; Troy Justesen, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education; and Belle Wheelan, president of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

2008 ~ 16pp. ~ PDF ~ 1.5 MB~ DOWNLOAD

This year-in-review publication highlights the key achievements in 2007 for the State Scholars Initiative (SSI). Highlights include SSI successes in new member states, continuing success in SSI veteran states, the latest data on SSI’s impact on business community participants and integration with state and national education policy initiatives and a look ahead to SSI’s National Summit on Academic Rigor and Relevance and student data collection efforts.

2008 ~ 12pp. ~ PDF ~ 2 MB~ DOWNLOAD

SSI uses business-education partnerships at the state and community levels to encourage students in middle and high school to pursue a more rigorous course of study in high school than they might otherwise have taken. This is a listing of participating businesses, listed by state.

2008 ~ 4pp. ~ PDF ~ 178 KB~ DOWNLOAD

Highlights academic, economic, and national security reasons for including foreign language as an essential component of a rigorous high school curriculum.

2008 ~ 2pp. ~ PDF ~ DOWNLOAD

5 full size posters, 12in x 18in

2007 ~ 5pp. ~ PDF ~ 2.2 MB~ DOWNLOAD

• ADDITIONAL DETAILS, LINKS, AND DOWNLOADS +

  Postcards also available

  6-up on 8.5" x 11" ~ PDF ~ 2.2 MB DOWNLOAD

Many people ask why physics is part of the State Scholars Core Course of Study: is it really that important to postgraduate success in college, work, and life? The answer is yes, according to researchers, employers, and high school graduates.

2007 ~ 2pp. ~ PDF ~ 169 KB~ DOWNLOAD

• Tuition and Fees in the West: 2001-2002, January 2002

• Tuition and Fees in the West: 2000-2001, March 2001

• 2000 Legislative Overview: Part 1, June 2000 | Part 2, November 2000 

• Differently Abled Students in Postsecondary Education, October 1999 

• Teacher Quality and Teacher Shortages: The Need for Policy-related Information, September 1999 

• Public Policy and Higher Education in the West:  A Tuition and Fee Update, December 1998

• Is Access to College in Jeopardy in the West? Projections of High School Graduates to 2012, August 1998

• Welfare Reform in the States: Where is Higher Education?, August 1998

• Policies on Faculty Reward Structures: Report from the States, June 1998

• Reinventing Higher Education Finance: The Impact of Information Technology, May 1998

• Independent Higher Education in the West: Building Access Capacity, April 1998

• 1999 Legislative Overview: Part 1, July 1999 | Part 2, Sept. 1999

• 1998 Legislative Overview : Part 1, August 1998 | Part 2, December 1998

• Endangered Access: Western State Policies for` Managing Higher Education Growth, November 1997

• On the Edge:  Growth and Access in Four Western States,  November 1996

• Quality Assurance in Distance Education, April 1996

• College Student Migration, December 1995

««WICHE Policy Insights