The Penn Foster Blog

The high school graduation rate in the United States hit 81% in the 2012-2013 school year, the highest it's been since states adopted a new, uniform method for calculating graduation rates five years ago. This measurable improvement in our nation's schools, revealed in new data from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, is something that "we can take pride as a nation in," according to U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. "This is a vital step toward readiness for success in college and careers for every student in this country, and these improvements are thanks to the hard work of teachers, principals, students and families."

 

20-25% of students who inquired about enrolling at Dorsey Schools didn't have the GED or High School Diploma that they need to enroll. Dorsey Schools noticed this discrepancy and began looking for a way to enroll this population of potential students. After implementing a High School Completion program, they found that the majority of these students matriculated into their schools, and that these students are more confident and motivated learners after having gone through the program. Denise Fox Pratt, VP of Institutional Effectiveness at Dorsey Schools, spoke during a breakout session at the 2014 ACICS Annual conference about the three criteria they were looking for in a High School Completion partner.

2015 is an exciting year for Penn Foster. We celebrate 125 years in education and honor a history that has shaped Penn Foster (formerly known as International Correspondence Schools) into the profound educational institution it is today.

 

This week we presented Penn Foster's vision for the future of education at SXSWedu during a Future15 session. This Tedx-like format is designed for educators to present their ideas on what education might look like in the future. Our FastClass bus concept brings together four major components:

Career schools continue to seek out new marketing channels to help improve recruitment and drive enrollments, but the quality of the student is important for driving retention and graduation outcomes. Often times, career colleges are turning away potential students because they lack a high school diploma or other POG credential. The Penn Foster Career Schools: 2014 Year In Review inaugural industry survey and data analysis provides the following insights:

Discover other ways to connect prospective students to your career school in the Career School Guide to Increasing Enrollments now.  

It's not uncommon for career schools to turn away prospective students because they lack the proper POG credential. Without another option, career schools continue to face declining enrollment and lower graduation rates.

GOOD collaborated with Hyperakt to examine the qualifications that Americans workers hold, and compared them to the requirements of our current workforce and the workforce of the future. What did they find? Our workforce is in need of individuals with higher education levels. Since 1973, the number of jobs that require at least some college has more than tripled, while those that require just a high school diploma have remained the same. An educated population is crucial to having a productive workforce. Check out the infographic below to learn more about the state of educating the workforce of the future.