Saying far too many high school graduates are ill-prepared for college and the workforce, the nation’s governors called Tuesday on educators, politicians and business officials to work together to radically redesign high schools that are outdated and ineffective.
During a news conference in Washington, the National Governors Association unveiled its five-point “action agenda” to reform American high schools, which governors argue have been left behind during two decades of radical education reforms. The plan calls for strengthening graduation requirements, improving the quality of teaching and leadership in high schools, and restructuring the governance system to create a more seamless transition from kindergarten through graduate school.
“The agenda we are unveiling today is crucial to the future of the nation,” said Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, chairman of the National Governors Association. “We owe it to the youth and our nation to redesign American high school and make it a cutting-edge institution once again. The future health of the economy and democracy depends on our answering this call.”
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Association officials released the plan in preparation for a summit this weekend that will bring governors, business leaders and educators together in an effort to create political momentum to launch a wholesale reform of high schools.
Improving the nation’s high schools has been the talk of Washington since early last year when a series of reports and test results suggested U.S. teenagers are falling behind. American students rank below their international counterparts on achievement exams, and the nation’s dropout rate stands at 30 percent, according to recent studies.
President Bush put high schools at the top of his second-term education agenda when he called for a $1.5 billion expansion of his No Child Left Behind initiative. Bush wants to focus more attention on students lagging in the upper grades, partly by requiring them to sit for achievement assessments annually from 9th through 11th grade.
Bush and the governors association make their case by pointing to troubling statistics. During the news conference, Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio said fewer than 20 percent of 9th graders make it to on-time completion of a college degree. He said universities and community colleges spend about $2 billion each year to provide remedial education to freshmen with lagging reading, math and writing skills. Deficits in basic skills also cost businesses billions in lost productivity, he said.
“Students can make it to the top of the K-12 ladder only to find that they still cannot reach the bottom rung of success for the rest of their lives,” Taft said.
Denise Cardinal, spokeswoman for the National Education Association, said teachers union officials are pleased politicians are focusing attention on education but cautioned that reform efforts should take into account that many high schools are working well.
“We hope they develop an agenda that incorporates the types of things that make many of the nation’s high schools successful,” Cardinal said. “There are a lot of great high schools out there, and we should take a hard look at what they are doing right.”