PASS Act - Pathways for All Students to Succeed

Bill Summary

The PASS Act (S.611) will improve America's high schools by:

• Creating a new focus on literacy, mathematics, and academic counseling,
• Improving the accuracy of graduation rates, and
• Helping low-performing schools implement proven reforms.

The PASS Act Will Improve Graduation Rates and Help Narrow the Achievement Gap

America's high school graduation rate hovers around 69 percent, with barely half of minority students graduating. The majority of dropouts read below the ninth-grade level. The PASS Act (S.611) will help narrow the achievement gap and boost graduation rates by:

• hiring academic coaches to focus on reading and math skills
• and hiring academic counselors to develop individualized graduation plans with students and their families.

The PASS Act Will Help Reduce the Need for Remedial Education

When students leave high school without adequate reading and math skills, students, employers – and America's economy - pay the high cost of remedial education. Sixty-three percent of students enrolled in community colleges are enrolling in at least one remedial course. By ensuring students graduate proficient in reading and math, the PASS Act will help students become more successful in post-secondary education, training, and employment.

The PASS Act:

• Funds Reading and Math Coaches: Provides resources for schools to hire (and provide in-service training for) mathematics and literacy coaches. Coaches will assist teachers in grades 6-12 with research-based instruction. There will be at least one coach for every 20 teachers.

• Funds Academic Counselors: Provides funds to increase the number of academic counselors in our nation’s poorest high schools from an average ratio of 1 counselor per 485 students to a ratio of 1 counselor per 150 students. Counselors will help students and their families create six-year graduation plans that define education goals, evaluate students, and pinpoint support services.

• Improves the Accuracy of Graduation Rates: Provides schools with funding to collect, disaggregate, and report accurate graduation rates. Currently, incomplete, inaccurate data make it difficult to diagnose and address problems facing specific student populations.

• Helps Low-Performing Schools: Provides grant aid for schools “in need of improvement” to innovate. This funding will enable districts to implement comprehensive school reform models that have demonstrated success in raising student achievement.

Funding Levels: Literacy coaches - $1 billion; Math coaches - $1 billion; Academic Counseling - $2 billion; Educational agencies assistance - $50 million; Low-Performing school grants - $500 million.