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High school athletics has become a complex maze of rules and regulations in some states. At the crux of the issue is fairness, which is debated through school boundaries, student eligibility and recruitment rules for high school coaches. Now, two states are taking the proverbial bull by the horns to address these issues in an effort to make high school athletics a level playing field once again.

The Public v. Private Debate in Ohio

Recent talks about splitting teams from private and public schools into separate tournaments in Ohio appear to be on the back burner. A new proposal to combine schools in the state to a single tournament structure that would bring “competitive balance.” According to a report in the , the new proposal came about after months of work by a competitive balance committee for the state.

Previous referendums involved penalizing private schools that have a winning tradition or offering additional help to schools with serious socioeconomic issues. The new proposal does away with these factors, and instead adjusts enrollment numbers for each school based on students that live outside the school’s district. Private schools would also be evaluated based on the district where they are located, according to the .

“It is generally believed that in addition to the size of enrollment, students on a team’s roster who are from outside that school’s geographic boundary or attendance zone does affect athletic success,” Dan Ross, commissioner

Dual-enrollment programs have become a popular way for high school students to explore the world of college curricula prior to their high school graduation. These programs typically exist between high schools and neighboring community colleges, offering students the chance to earn college credits – often tuition-free - while still in high school. The rising popularity of dual-enrollment has led many students and their parents to explore the potential benefits of such a program in their own academic endeavors. Check out these benefits of a dual-enrollment program – as well as some of the possible reasons why dual-enrollment may not be the best choice for you.

What is Dual-Enrollment?

According to the website for Columbia State Community College, dual-enrollment is a program that provides the opportunity for qualifying juniors and seniors in high school to take college-level courses. The courses may be offered on the community college campus or right at the high school. Specific laws involving eligibility, tuition rates, and earned credit opportunities vary from state to state.

In many cases, there is no tuition charge for high school students participating in the dual-enrollment program – a huge boon to those concerned about the cost of higher education. Other programs might involve a tuition fee, although it is often highly discounted from what students will pay after graduating from high school. High schools are generally responsible for overseeing dual enrollment programs.

This video explores the suitability of dual enrollment.

Graduation rates are on the rise at high schools across the county, putting the nation on track to achieve a 90-percent graduation rate by the year 2020. However, not all students are faring as well as those numbers make it sound, and plenty of factors may still impact the country’s ability to meet that completion goal. Check out the potential reasons why some states are seeking exponential increases to their own graduation rates, and why some students are not reaping the benefits of those improvements.

New Report Shows Encouraging Numbers

According to , the positive news comes from a recent report titled, “Building a Grad Nation,” co-authored by a leading expert on dropout rates from Johns Hopkins University, Robert Balfanz. Balfanz and his team noted that graduation rates are improving in an eclectic listing of states that include Texas, Tennessee, and Alaska. The report did not include numbers from Oklahoma or Kentucky since those states used a different formula from the rest to calculate their graduation rates.

The report lists the top performers in terms of graduation rates as Iowa, Vermont, and Wisconsin, which led the country with rates at nearly 90 percent. A handful of states still showed plenty of work ahead in their completion efforts. New Mexico and Nevada fell at the bottom of the pack, with graduation rates that barely reached 60 percent. Nationwide, graduation rates have increased from 71.7 percent in

Jobs are ready and waiting in the United States today. Unfortunately, there are not enough skilled workers ready to fill those posts, according to many in the business sector. With that mantra in mind, the state of education in the U.S. appears to be facing a major overhaul. The focus is shifting from preparing all students for a four-year postsecondary education to providing at least some of those students with the skills necessary to find lucrative careers shortly after high school. Introducing technical education, revamped and ready for the 21st-century global market.

Skills Shortage in the U.S.

The training gap has been one that has slowly evolved over recent decades. Generations past were able to land good jobs right after high school, in manufacturing and other industries that benefitted from high school classes in technical subjects that were once known as “shop” courses. However, the workplace began to change, with manufacturing jobs requiring new skills as technology took over the assembly line. Unfortunately, the public school curriculum did not change with the time, and “shop” classes now considered irrelevant gradually became obsolete.

My San Antonio hinted at a change that is currently beginning to sweep high schools nationwide, by highlighting a portion of President Obama’s recent State of the Union Address. In his speech, the President stated that in order to compete on a global level with countries like Germany, high schools in America would need to do a better job of preparing high school students for

College completion rates are up with students from Boston 51����s, suggesting that even large urban school districts with many challenges can find the right formula for success. In Boston, that success may be attributed to a number of factors, most notably a new program dubbed Success Boston. As this city revels in positive numbers in a recent report, other school districts nationwide may be viewing the Boston trend with interest as they try to increase their own college graduation numbers.

Numbers from “Getting Closer to the Finish Line”

The reports on the release of a new report, “Getting Closer to the Finish Line,” which showed the number of college degrees earned by Boston 51����s students has increased sharply in recent years. The report, compiled by the Boston Foundation, found that nearly half (49.2 percent) of all students that entered college after graduating from Boston schools in 2006 completed college within six years. That figure was a significant increase from 40.2 percent of students in the class of 2000 that earned their college degrees in the same time frame. Degrees include bachelor and associate degrees, as well as certificate programs.

The new Boston numbers also exceeded the national average, which showed around 47 percent of students completed college within six years. When one considers that Boston 51����s is a district riddled by high poverty rates and ESL families, the new figures are even more impressive.

“We are evidence that