Life After High School: Which Postschool Outcomes Matter for Students With and Without Disabilities in Restructured High Schools?

The focus and quality of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices in U.S. high schools continues to be challenged by business and government leaders, university admissions officers, and parents (“Reality Check 2000,” 2000). In response to the widespread interest in higher levels of student achievement, governors, state legislators, and others have called for new academic learning standards and assessments to ensure that students leave high school ready to enter college or the new information and learning-intensive economy. Since the early 1990s, many high schools have adopted new strategies for teaching and learning designed to provide students with challenging and cross-disciplinary curricula as well as engaging learning opportunities that enable them to see how knowledge is used and developed in adult life. In some communities, these reform strategies have resulted in new charter schools or theme-focused magnet schools. In other communities, the focus is on significantly restructuring comprehensive high schools to create small learning communities, portfolio graduation requirements, personal learning plans for all students, or community service and workplace learning opportunities for all students.