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Written Assignment 3: Executive Summary (25 points)
Due in D2L Dropbox at 11:59 the day before your final presentation; bring 1 printed copy to class the day of your presentation
An executive summary is one of the most important components of any report or paper that
you will write “in the real world.” Often stakeholders and/or key decision makers do not have
the time to read a lengthy document or, in your case, listen to a final policy speech. Executive
summaries are written literally for an executive, key decision maker or stakeholder. An
example of an executive summary of a good policy speech is below.
The executive summary should include the major details of your policy speech beginning with
your thesis statement. Following this, you should write a brief encapsulation of your status
quo, need for change, your plan and the advantages of the plan. End the summary with a
phrase that illustrates your recommendation that will make it easy for your audience to
remember.
In ‘the real world,’ executive summaries are no longer than 10% of the original document. For
this assignment, your executive summary should be NO LONGER than 1 page. You still must
follow APA in-text citation rules and include a reference page. Feel free to be creative and
include pictures or develop a creative format.
Use your space effectively! Think of this as the one tool necessary for another
person/organization to either implement or advocate for your plan.
Executive Summary - Why Arizona Must Teach Comprehensive Sex Education in Public Schools
In an industrialized nation, no one should get pregnant or become a parent before they are ready for all the responsibilities children bring. However, this is not occurring in the United States. The United States has a teen pregnancy that is three times higher than that of other industrialized nations (NPR Staff, 2012). Arizona has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the United States (Rough, 2009) so clearly its policy of teaching abstinence-only sex education in public schools is not preventing teenagers from having sex or getting pregnant. Because teen pregnancy has many consequences and costs, Arizona must look at the need to prevent teen pregnancy, then look at a plan of teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools, and finally look at the advantages to teaching comprehensive sex education.
Status Quo/Need Arizona has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation with approximately 62 births for every 1,000 females ages 15-19 (Rough, 2009). Arizona currently mandates that if public schools choose to teach sex education, the education must be abstinence-only (Innes, 2010). However, research has found that states that teach abstinence-only have higher rates of teen pregnancy than states that teach comprehensive sex education (ScienceDaily, 2011). Also, 45% of female and 52% of male high school students in Arizona have reported being sexually active (Eaton et al., 2010), so abstinence-only education is clearly not stopping teens from having sex. Teen pregnancy has consequences. Teens who were not in poverty before becoming pregnant are more likely to fall into poverty after becoming teen parents and teens who were in poverty before getting pregnant have a harder time getting out of poverty after becoming teen parents (NPR Staff, 2012). Children of teen parents are more likely to be teen parents themselves, drop out of high school, or be incarcerated at some point during adolescence (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2011). Stephanie Hernandez, a Chandler, Arizona teenage mother, understands the difficulty of being a teen parent, "Everything is so much harder with a baby. It's harder to go to school; it's hard to just hang out with your friends. Everything is a process" (Rough, 2009). Teen pregnancy also costs taxpayers money. In 2008, teen pregnancy cost Arizona approximately $303 million (National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2011).
Plan The plan is to implement a policy of teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools in Arizona. Students would still be told that abstinence is the only 100% effective way of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, but they would also be given medically accurate information about how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Advantage
The advantages of this plan are that Arizona already has the money to fund the teaching of comprehensive sex education from a grant from the Personal Responsibility Education Program (SIECUS, 2012) and that by teaching comprehensive sex education Arizona will be able to lower its rate of teen pregnancy and mitigate the consequences and costs that come along with teen pregnancy.
In conclusion, Arizona needs to begin teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools instead of abstinence-only in order to lower its rate of teen pregnancy, and in doing so mitigate the consequences and costs that come along with teen pregnancy.
Written Assignment 3: Executive Summary Rubric (25 points)
Name:
Structure – 12.5 pts Poor – 6 Fair – 7.5 Average – 9 Good – 10 .5 Excellent – 12 1 Missing: Status Quo, Need, Plan, Advantage
Lacks detail and explanation
2 Incomplete: Status Quo, Need, Plan, Advantage
Lacks detail in plan Problem unclear
1 area Under- developed: Status Quo, Need, Plan, Advantage
Lacks detail or plausibility
Contains all: Status Quo, Need, Plan, Advantage
Lacks detail
Contains all: Status Quo, Need, Plan, Advantage
All specific, clearly identifies problem & solution Citations & References – 2.5 pts 0 1 1.5 2 2. None included (in-text nor references)
Neither in-text nor references are APA
Slight revision to both in-text and references in order to be APA
Slight revision to be APA – either for in-text citations or References
APA Citation used properly In-text AND References
Organization – 5 points 1 2 3 4 5 Introduction & conclusion: Missing Disorganized Facts are copied/pasted
Introduction & Conclusion: 1 Missing or Ineffective No logical organization
Introduction & conclusion: simple Logical organization
Introduction & conclusion: effective, engaging Logical organization
Introduction & Conclusion: inviting, call to action Logical organization Sentence Fluency – 3 points 1 1 .5 2 2 .5 3 Choppy, incomplete, rambling, Repetitive FLUFF
Simple; occasional connecting words FLUFF
Attempts compound & complex sentences FLUFF
Some flow & rhythm, strong & varied structure 1 - 2 sentences: need improved
Natural rhythm and flow; varied length structure Invites reader to continue Mechanics – 2.5pts 0.5 1 1.5 2 2. 7+ spelling errors 6+ grammar errors Too long/short
6 spelling errors 3 - 5 grammar errors Too long/short
3 - 4 spelling errors; 1 - 2 grammar errors’ 1 page
1 - 2 spelling errors 1 page
No spelling or grammar errors Uses page effectively
