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U.S.
Department of Education Addresses High School Issues
By
Tom Kertes
But
what about the high schools?
In the midst of improving fourth-grade test-scores all over the
country – largely due to all kinds of imaginative programs aimed
at improving elementary education – the concern about high school
students somehow hasn’t kept pace. “What can we do about this
intolerable situation?” was the question examined by the panel
of distinguished educators at the U.S. Department of Education
Satellite Town Meeting, hosted by U.S. Undersecretary of Education
Gene Hickok.
“When
President Bush talks about ‘No Child Left Behind’, he means just
that,” the Undersecretary stated in his opening remarks. “Yet
the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows 12th Grade
achievement declining at the same time that the dropout rate is
increasing. There are still millions of high school students reading
at very low levels – in fact, there has been no improvement in
reading in over 15 years. And, even though college admissions
overall are up, almost 50 percent of our college students still
require remedial courses.”
“School
accountability is one of the main principles of the President’s
“No Child Left Behind” program,” concluded the Undersecretary.
“Obviously, in face of the increasing global competition and the
revolutionary changes in technology, we must do something. What
are we doing to raise the academic achievement of our high school
students?”
For starters, the entire panel agreed that “we must increase the
rigor of the high school experience.” “As the economic and workplace
demands have risen, the college demands are now appropriately
higher,” said Carol D’Amico, Assistant Secretary for Vocational
and Adult Education. “Our high schools must respond to that demand.”
But how? Jim Connell, President of School Reform, suggested his
First Things First model, “already successfully implemented in
a number of high schools all across the country.” “Wyandotte H.S,
in Kansas City is one of the best examples,” he said. “This was
a large failing school we broke up into 8 smaller academies, each
with only about 150 students. Each academy has a specific career
theme, focusing directly on employment in a particular vocation.
This theme is emphasized all day along with, and not in place
of, an increasingly rigorous general curriculum. The practical
career theme, along with the increased individual attention afforded
to students, has created a sense of community that is truly rare
in schools. We use a ‘whole school approach”, whereby the students,
rather than be pitted in competition against each other, are held
against a high standard they’re all expected to achieve. And we’re
proving that there is no reason why all students can’t
be proficient.”
Through the Wyandotte experience, Connell has found that “relationships
in schools, both between the students and between the adults and
the students, are all-important. The smaller learning environments
have really helped – but what counted the most was an increase
in trust.”
In addition to Mr. Connell’s findings, Jesse Register – the Superintendent
of Tennessee’s large Hamilton County School System – suggested
the tying together of “teacher accountability by measurable standards
to a pay increase incentive plan to reward entire faculties.”
“And if there is no improvement,” Register added, “a change in
the leadership, and in the faculties, must be the next step.”
The crucial requirement of drastically raising reading levels
can be better accomplished by “increased dialogue between researchers
and practitioners,” said Germantown H.S. Principal Gloria Pelzer
of Pennsylvania. “Just over the past few years, there have been
significant advances in our understanding of how children learn
to read. I think the communication of that better understanding,
which is presently lacking, is extremely important.”
“Research
shows that improved reading skills not only make learning easier
but motivate students to learn enthusiastically and learn more,”
Pelzer said. “At my school, we started an intensive reading program
in the 9th grade and, a few years later, we doubled
out 12th grade enrollment. And that was anything but
a coincidence, I think.”#
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