raising_our_sights

RaisingOur Sights

No High School SeniorLeft Behind

National Commissionon the

High SchoolSenior Year

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is pleased to have served as the home of the National Commission on the High School Senior Year

and encourages discussion of the Report's recommendations.

Additional copies of this report are available for $8.00 from the Foundation:

Senior Year ReportThe Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

CN 5281Princeton, NJ 08543-5281

e-mail: [email protected] address: www.woodrow.org

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

Founded in 1945, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that seeks to sponsor excellence in individuals

and institutions. The Foundation supports education in the liberal arts on the principle that public life must be informed by the sustained and rigorous acts of

thinking that great education sponsors and exercises. The goal of the Foundation is to translate compelling ideas into practical and innovative programs.

Raising Our Sights:No High School Senior Left Behind

Final Report

National Commission on the High School Senior Year

October 2001

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N O H I G H S C H O O L S E N I O R L E F T B E H I N D

In the agricultural age, postsecondary educationwas a pipe dream for most Americans. In the

industrial age it was the birthright of only a few.By the space age, it became common for many.

Today, it is just common sense for all.

—National Commission on the High School Senior Year

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Table of ContentsPreface 4

The Need to Raise Our Sights 7Goals for the American High School 9Goals for the Senior Year 11

Sidebars:The Economic Returns of More Education 8Relative Performance Decline 10High Schools That Work 12

The Need for a Preschool to Postsecondary Emphasis 13No High School Senior Left Behind 16

Sidebar: New Solutions to Enduring Problems 14

Recommendations The Triple-A Program 19Improve Alignment 20Raise Achievement 22Provide More (and More Rigorous) Alternatives 22

Sidebars: P-16: Making It Happen 21Testing’s Tower of Babel 24The New Shape of Postsecondary Education 26More (and More Demanding) Options 30

A Final Word 34

Appendices 35A. Acknowledgments 36B. Meetings, Guests, and Speakers 37C. Model Programs 44D. Papers and Other Materials Prepared for the Commission 51E. Notes 52

National Commission on the High School Senior Year

Hon. Paul E. Patton (Chair)Governor, Commonwealth of Kentucky

Jacquelyn M. Belcher (Vice Chair)President, Georgia Perimeter College

Rex BolingerPrincipal, Angola High School, Indiana

Gene BottomsSenior Vice President,

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)

Beth B. BuehlmannExecutive Director, Center for Workforce Preparation,

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Hon. Louis CalderaFormer Secretary, U.S. Department of the Army

W. Robert ConnorDirector, National Humanities Center

Harry J. CookChairman, English Department,

Eastern Technical High School, Maryland

Joyce ElliottTeacher, English Department,

Robinson High School, Arkansas

Milton GoldbergExecutive Vice President, National Alliance of Business

Lovey HammelPresident, Employment Enterprises Inc.

Gary K. HartFounder, Institute of Education Reform,

California State University

Betty J. HinesPrincipal, Southwestern High School, Michigan

Stella M. JonesLicensed School Counselor,

North Community High School, Minnesota

Dana LarkinParent Advocate,

Parents for Public Schools, Mississippi

Leon M. LedermanResident Scholar,

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

Peter McWaltersCommissioner, Rhode Island Department of Elementary

and Secondary Education

Eduardo J. PadronDistrict President, Miami-Dade Community College

Karen PittmanSenior Vice President,

International Youth Foundation

Stephen R. PortchChancellor, Board of Regents, University System of Georgia

Charles B. ReedChancellor, California State University

Delfy Peña RoachExecutive Director, Parents for Behaviorally Different Children

Hon. Sue W. ScholerMember, Indiana General Assembly

Nancy Faust SizerLecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jeremy SollySenior, Rex Putnam High School, Oregon

Donald M. StewartPresident, Chicago Community Trust

Sr. Mary Frances TaymansAssociate Executive Director,

National Catholic Educational Association

Mary ThornleyPresident, Trident Technical College

Hon. Andy WomackRetired State Senator, Tennessee

StaffCheryl M. Kane Executive Director

Ed Ford Education Adviser to Governor Paul E. PattonStephanie A. Duckworth Associate to the Executive

Director

R A I S I N G O U R S I G H T S

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The Commissioncalls for the TheTriple A Program

to improve alignment, raise

achievement, andprovide more

(and more rigor-ous) alternatives

In June 2000, the U.S. Departmentof Education, the CarnegieCorporation of New York, theCharles Stewart Mott Foundation,and the Woodrow Wilson National

Fellowship Foundation established apartnership to sponsor the NationalCommission on the High School SeniorYear. The sponsors asked theCommission to closely examine students’experiences in the last year of highschool and recommend ways to improvethem.

To advance its work, the Commissionsupported the development of severalmajor papers, reviewed relevant litera-ture, conducted eight extensive focusgroups with high school graduates, exam-ined a survey completed by one of theCommissioners, heard testimony fromexperts, and held three formal meetingswith leading experts and stakeholders todiscuss the senior year. Drawing onthese efforts, the Commission issued itsfirst report in January of this year. Thatreport, The Lost Opportunity of the SeniorYear, outlined the Commission’s majorfindings; it made no attempt to presentrecommendations.

Since January, the Commission hasused that report as the basis for a nationalconversation with educators, citizens, parents, policymakers, and students.The conversation was designed to obtaina sense of how the education communityand the public reacted to the findings.At a seminar organized by the Education

Commission of the States, theCommission also met for two hours inApril with an education representativefrom every state. The advice received atthese meetings provided direction andhelped the Commission frame its sugges-tions on how to proceed.

In this document, Raising Our Sights,the Commission calls for raising the bar.This report refines the findings from the last report into a strategy theCommission calls the “The Triple-AProgram” — improve alignment, raiseachievement, and provide more (andmore rigorous) alternatives . Untilrecently, Americans have taken 13 yearsof education (from kindergarten throughgrade 12) to be a sufficient preparationfor life and work. In the emerging 21st

century, all Americans will require twoadditional years of formal education andtraining at some point after they leavehigh school.

The “Triple-A Program” appears at aparticularly opportune time. Congressand the White House are near agreementon the President’s “Leave No ChildBehind” program, directed primarily atlow-income students in elementaryschools. As a practical matter, the Triple-A concept offers the opportunity toextend this valuable program into thesecondary school years. The nation can-not afford to leave any high schoolseniors behind.

This report outlines the need to raiseour sights to prepare more students for

Preface


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Hon. Paul E. Patton (Chairman)GovernorCommonwealth of Kentucky

Jacquelyn M. Belcher (Vice-Chairwoman)PresidentGeorgia Perimeter College

college and an increasingly complexworld of work, to enroll more students inrigorous academic programs, to providegreater economic returns, and to ensurethat our democracy continues to flourish.The Commission urges the nation toestablish a more unified system of educa-tion, stretching from preschool to post-secondary education, in which students ateach level will know exactly what mustbe done to advance to the next. In thissystem, standards, curriculum, and assess-ment efforts will be integrated with closer linkages between postsecondaryeducation and K-12.

The Commission calls for more (andmore rigorous) alternatives to traditionalsenior years that merely prolong “seat-time” by encouraging the developmentof capstone projects, the development ofmeaningful internships, and opportuni-ties to take college-level courses. Theseefforts will raise educational achieve-ments and aspirations so that all students

have access to the rigorous academicscurrently offered only to the so-called“college-bound”.

While a high school education was suf-ficient for the demands faced by earliergenerations, children of the 21st centurywill need at least two years of postsec-ondary education, defined broadly toinclude adult education and training.The Commission’s “Triple A Program”will help prepare students for these high-er levels of education and greater chal-lenges of the future.

We want to thank our colleagues onthe Commission for their hard work. Weare grateful for the efforts of our staff.Above all, we appreciate the contribu-tions of the many people who took thetime to share their views with us sinceJanuary. We listened intently to theiradvice and always tried to do justice towhat they had to tell us. Without theirassistance, we could not have completedour work.

While a highschool educationwas sufficient forthe demandsfaced by earliergenerations, children of the21st century willneed at least two years ofpostsecondaryeducation

It is time the nation raised its edu-cational sights. That was the cen-tral message of the Commission’sJanuary report, The LostOpportunity of the Senior Year. In

that document, the Commission calledfor a brighter and more productive senioryear for all American students. Butbefore the nation could do that, thereport said, it needed a better sense ofwhere it stood.

The familiar world of the last 25 to 50years no longer exists. The Cold War isover. The “melting pot” is boiling. Thedomestic economy has become global.Jobs lost at home turn up overseas.Industrial waste threatens local commu-nities and acknowledges no nationalboundaries. Public health problems vaultoceans and continents. The global villagehas truly come of age.

In this environment, American high-school graduates are expected to competewith their peers from abroad. And yes-terday’s luxury of an education beyondhigh school has become today’s necessity.The standard to which we are called isdemanding. It is nothing less than

reshaping the inherited belief that 13years of schooling from kindergartenthrough grade 12 provides an adequatepreparation for today’s students. In itsplace, we must put forth the more radicalidea that Americans, whatever their back-ground, must have 15 years of educationand training over the course of their lives.

The picture the Commission present-ed in January was deeply troubling.Educational institutions, families, andcommunities are not meeting the educa-tional needs of more than 50 percent ofthe students enrolled in public and pri-vate schools in the United States.National data support that bleak assess-ment. In 1997, only 43 percent of highschool seniors reported themselves to bein demanding “academic” programs,compared with 45 percent in “generaleducation” and 12 percent in vocational education programs.1 Among 1998 grad-uates, according to the U.S. Departmentof Education, just 44 percent earned theminimum number of academic creditsrecommended in 1983 by the NationalCommission on Excellence in Educationin its seminal report, A Nation at Risk .2


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Educational institutions, families, andcommunities are not meetingthe educationalneeds of morethan 50 percentof the students

The Need toRaise Our Sights


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The Economic Returns of More Education

A college degree always has been a valuable asset. Everything elsebeing equal, higher education correlates with higher income. In recent

years, the returns for more education have become even more pro-

nounced. Time and resources invested in education are returned to students many times over in the course of a lifetime.

One analysis indicates that, although women receive fewer benefits

than men at every stage, both men and women earn more the higher upthe educational ladder they climb. A male high school dropout makes

only 39 percent of what a male with a college degree can expect to

earn; even with a high school diploma, the male earns, on average, only56 percent of what the college graduate makes. For women, the corre-

sponding figures are 39 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

The More You Learn, The More You EarnThis figure reveals that as both men and women complete more educa-

tion, both receive greater incomes; however, the economic returns tomen consistently exceed those to women. A female high school

dropout can expect to earn about $12,500 a year, while a female with a

graduate degree can expect an annual income of nearly $44,000. Thecorresponding figures for men are about $21,900 and $72,000.

Source: Building a Highway to Higher Ed. (New York, Center for an Urban Future, n.d.)

Graduate degree

Bachelor’s degree

Some college/AA degree

Diploma

High schooldropout

Earnings in Thousands

$10 $20 $30 $40 $50 $60 $70 $80

Females

Males

About 53 million students wereenrolled in the nation’s schools in 1997and 1998, according to the U.S.Department of Education. Based onthese figures, nearly 30 million of themare being poorly served by their institu-tions and communities. This is truewhether one accepts the students’ reportthat just 43 percent are in “academic”programs or the federal estimate thatonly 44 percent have completed a rigor-ous high school program. Poorly pre-pared students are likely to flounder oncethey graduate. Unless our educationalpriorities change, these young people willstruggle to get by on a series of dead-end,high-turnover jobs. They are being prepared for a future that already hasvanished.

Yet the challenge of responding to thissituation is even more daunting than theCommission’s January report acknowl-edged. It now turns out that Americanprimacy in higher education is a thing ofthe past. Degree and certificate comple-tion in higher education and other post-secondary options has always been one ofthe great glories of the United States.Whatever the anxieties about its elemen-tary and secondary schools, the nationalways took pride in the fact that noother nation approached us in the propor-tion of adults graduating from college.3

Yet in recent years, according to surveysfrom the 30-nation Organization forEconomic Cooperation and Development(OECD), other countries have begun tocatch up with the United States in highereducation.4 In these 30 nations, includ-ing most of Europe, North America,Japan, South Korea, Australia, and NewZealand, college enrollment has grown by20 percent on average since 1995, with

one in four young people now earning apostsecondary degree.5

Equally startling, according toOECD’s most recent report, is that, forthe first time, the United States’ college-graduation rate is not the world’s highest.Great Britain, Finland, the Netherlands,and New Zealand have surpassed theAmerican college graduation rate6, anaccomplishment that even a few yearsago would have struck many as incon-ceivable. Indeed, on average acrossOECD countries, a 17-year-old alreadycan look forward to 2.5 years of “tertiary education” (leading to a bache-lor’s degree or the equivalent) — ofwhich two years will be full-time study. 7

Resting on its educational laurels is a luxury the United States no longer canafford.

Goals for the American High School

The United States is undergoing eco-nomic, social, and demographic changesevery bit as unsettling as any encoun-tered by previous generations. Thequestion facing us is how to prepare peo-ple for changes of this magnitude. TheCommission does not hesitate to say thatschools, education, scholarship, andlearning always have been the preemi-nent public tools helping individuals con-nect with their communities and the larger culture. They must continue toserve that role in the future.

What do we want high schools toaccomplish? This Commission unequiv-ocally responds that the primary goal ofhigh schools should be graduating stu-dents who are ready (and eager) to learnmore, capable of thinking critically, and


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Relative Performance Decline

Findings from a number of international assessments of student per-formance dating back to the 1970s reveal that the academic achieve-

ment of American secondary school students is not up to international

standards. The most recent effort, the Third International Mathematicsand Science Study (TIMSS) surveyed the mathematics and science

achievement of students in more than 40 countries in grade 4, more than

30 in grade 8, and more than 20 in grade 12.One analysis of the TIMSS data indicates that American students’

performance relative to their foreign peers diminishes as they move

through the elementary, middle, and secondary school years.This figure reveals that 4th-grade students in seven nations performed

higher than U.S. 4th-graders in mathematics; U.S. 4th-graders did just

as well as 4th-graders from six other nations; and 4th-graders from 12nations performed less well than U.S. 4th-graders in mathematics.

Grade 8 and grade 12 columns can be read in the same way.

Source: Youth at the Crossroads: Facing High School and Beyond. (Washington, DC: The EducationTrust, 2000.) Paper presented to Commission by Kati Haycock, October 2000.


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50%

0%

100%

Grade Four

Higher than U.S.

Grade Eight Grade Twelve

7

6

12

20

14

7

14

5

2

Same as U.S.

Lower than U.S.

comfortable with the ambiguities of theproblem-solving process.

Education and learning are the 21st

century’s economic equivalent of oil,steam, and raw materials in the 19th and20th. Yet it is also quite true that thepurpose of schools, as Albert Einsteinonce argued, should not be the produc-tion of graduates who are simply “usefulmachines” in the economic sphere.Schools have a larger purpose — thedevelopment of fully formed humanbeings.

Our schools serve not simply economicends, but social and democratic purposesas well. If our democracy is to continueto prosper, all Americans must possessthe high levels of literacy, numeracy,logic, and the capacity to think criticallythat were once thought to be needed byonly a select few.

All Americans will need to be comfort-able with the scientific method, quantita-tive tools, and technology. All will need aknowledge of history (of both the UnitedStates and the world), an understandingof government and democratic values,and an appreciation for how the arts andliterature enrich the human conditionand expand its possibilities. And, becausethey will be asked to decide complicatedpublic questions (often on the basis ofincomplete and conflicting information),all citizens will need to be thoughtfulobservers of current events. In the workplace, everyone will need a mindequipped to think.

Standards-Based ReformGuided by the work of national profes-sional associations, states are setting newgoals and higher standards for curricula.

These efforts have been visible for adecade or more in English, mathematics,science, geography, languages, music andthe arts, and other areas. The NationalScience Education Standards developedby the National Research Council aretypical of these efforts. At the secondarylevel, the standards have the effect ofrequiring all students to take a minimumof three years of science and three ofmathematics. Students interested in pur-suing careers in science, technology, engi-neering, or medicine will almost naturallytake Advanced Placement electives intheir fourth year of high school. For allstudents, the fourth year also providesthe opportunity for applying sciencelearning to such inherently interdiscipli-nary subjects as environmental science,computer arts, high-quality technology-based learning, and the like.

Goals for the Senior YearAgainst that backdrop, we should be clearabout the purposes of the senior year.Instead of functioning as a rest stopbetween the demands of elementary andsecondary education and whatever fol-lows, the final year should serve as a con-summation of what already has beenaccomplished and a launching pad forwhat lies ahead.

As every parent, teacher, and adminis -trator understands, the senior year doesnot stand in isolation. Everything thatleads up to the final year helps contributeto its success (or failure) and everythingthat follows, either in education or work,should lead out of it. As such, the senioryear should be the culmination of pri-mary and secondary education, withclearly articulated high standards for leav-


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Everything thatleads up to thefinal year helpscontribute to its success (or failure) andeverything thatfollows, either in education orwork, should lead out of it


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Fifteen years ago, the Southern RegionalEducation Board (SREB) set out to raise

the achievement of the majority of high

school students – those who go to work,enter the military, or attend an open-door

two- or four-year college. Since then, the

SREB’s “High Schools That Work”(HSTW) initiative has grown from a hand-

ful of pilot sites to more than 1,100 high

schools in 35 states, about 5 percent ofall American high schools. These schools

work toward a common goal of teaching

an upgraded academic core and concen-tration that will prepare students for

further learning and the workplace.

The HSTW-recommended curriculum

consists of:

Language Arts Four credits in college-

prep/honors courses in which students

are required to read eight to 10 books ayear, write and rewrite many short papers,

and complete at least one major research

paper annually.

Mathematics Three credits, including at

least two in high-level courses such as

Algebra I, geometry, or Algebra II.

Science Three credits in lab courses,

including at least two in high-level courses such as college-prep Biology,

Chemistry, Physics, and Anatomy/

Physiology.

Concentration Four credits or their

equivalent in an academic concentrationin either mathematics/science or the

humanities above the academic core or a

concentration of career/technical studies.The broad career/technical field also

focuses on developing students’ ability to

read and interpret the language of thefield, apply mathematics to problems in

the field, and understand technical con-

cepts needed for continued learning.Students pursue the career/technical

concentrations in their schools, regional

technical schools, community colleges,and special work-based programs.

Senior Year SREB recommends thatstudents spend half their time enrolled in

higher-level academic courses, including

mathematics or science.

High Schools That Work:Upgrade Academic Concentration

ing school, for which students should havebeen preparing for four or more years.

The senior year also should be theembarkation point that launches thewell-prepared student toward success inpostsecondary education or the ever-more-complex workplaces of the new

economy. 8 The high school senior yearand graduation, therefore, become not somuch a finish line as a relay station.Today, the handoff is fumbled and thebaton too often dropped. Tomorrow, thesenior year should be the place whereone leg of the educational journey ends

and science, between physics and mod-ern biology, and between the sciencesand history and society. If teachers are given the time for collegial profes-sional development, high school seniorswill know how to use their learning, how to connect key ideas within andamong the disciplines, and even how toleaven the rigor and discipline of sciencewith the wisdom and insights of the humanities.

The revolutionary reform of curriculaencouraged by the standards movementcan convert senioritis into a preparationfor life in the 21st century. We alreadycan see that this will be a new world ofintensive technology, quantum progressin information science, and powerful sci-entific advances affecting everythingfrom human life to the weather. Theseawe-inspiring changes are not somethingsolely for scientists, engineers, and tech-nicians. They are for all Americans, forevery high school graduate faced with thejoys and responsibilities of earning a liv-ing, raising a family, and making the day-to-day decisions required to play a part incommunity and national affairs.

The Need for a Preschool toPostsecondary Emphasis

Unfortunately, within the context of cur-rent school structures, it is hard to imag-ine reaching either these broad goals forthe American high school or the morespecific goals for the senior year. Thechallenge in part is a lack of shared visionabout how to proceed; it also revolvesaround structural problems within thesystem itself. The reality is that thissociety has created at least three separatepublic systems of education in the


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Scheduling SREB recommends thatschools consider some form of block

scheduling to make it possible for students

to earn 32 credits, rather than the traditional24. A block schedule permits students to

take four courses in math and science and

in the concentration.

The Good News It works. Students com-

pleting the full program have averagescores in math and science that reach the

“proficiency” level on National Assessment

of Educational Progress (NAEP)-basedexams. They have average scores in

reading that permit them to succeed in

work and further learning. At experiencedHSTW sites, 63 percent of students took

math as seniors, and 52 percent took

science. Most students (85 percent) who partici-

pated in the assessment in these schools

completed the recommended math curricu-lum, and 62 percent completed the science

program. As larger percentages of students

at HSTW schools enroll in higher-levelcourses, these forgotten students are

beginning to look more and more like col-

lege-prep students.

and the baton is passed as seamlessly andsmoothly as possible so that young peo-ple enjoy a powerful boost into andthrough the leg that follows.

A feature of the 21st century highschool should be an emphasis on connec-tions between subjects — between math

New Solutions to Enduring Problems

“Splendid isolation” may once have described accurately higher educa-tion’s attitude toward public schools, but that is beginning to change.

l Nearly 20 states already have created K-16 or P-16 Councils to rampup performance, improve teacher preparation, and strengthen relation-

ships between schools and two- and four-year institutions.

l At public institutions as widespread as Arizona State University, Iowa

State University, Ohio State University, Salish Kootenai College on

Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation, and the University of Wisconsinat Madison, academic leaders have a history of active engagement in

addressing the substantive challenges facing schools in their states and

regions.

l From the establishment of the Holmes Group in the 1980s to the

progress of the National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education,academic officials have been working with school leaders on standards

of excellence in teacher preparation.

l The National Science Foundation’s PRIME Program brings science and

engineering graduate students directly into K-12 classrooms.

l The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has created a

National Council on Education in the Disciplines to bring top scholars

and schoolteachers together to work on how to introduce curricular sub-stance in high school and college.

l The Teachers as Scholars Program, launched at Harvard University,has spread in two years to 25 campuses.

Sources: Kellogg Commission the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, The LearningConnection (Maeroff, Callan, and Usdan, eds.), and communication from Robert Weisbuch,Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, July 12, 2001.


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United States.The first system was developed at the

turn of the last century by a group knownas the Committee of Ten. It was quiteexplicitly directed at outlining a course ofstudy to prepare young people for collegework. This “college-preparatory” systemeducates 5-to-18-year-olds and professesto prepare them for postsecondary educa-tion. On its very face, this system is notdoing enough. While nearly three-quar-ters of all graduates will enroll in a post-secondary program immediately, the K-12system continues to behave as thoughpreparing about 43 percent of graduatesfor postsecondary work is adequate.

The second system was established forthe non-college-bound. Developed dur-ing a period when fewer than half of all18-year-olds graduated from high school,and perhaps 10 percent of all graduateswent to college, this second public sys-tem aims to prepare graduates for work.Initially called a “vocational” program,through a process of mitosis it has splitand split again.

First, a “general” education programwas created. Later, several different vari-ations of both “vocational” and “general”education were added. A recent com-mentary on curricular splintering com-pleted by a major urban newspaper con-firmed the daily experience of teachersand parents. It identified a bewilderingsmorgasbord of academic work. Coursesmasquerading under the same namerange from “special education” to “modi-fied” to “mid-level” and “academic,” to“college-preparatory” and “honors”tracks.9 On a transcript, a course identi-fied as Algebra I may cover basic mathe-matics and addition for students in oneclass, while addressing exponents and

equations for students in another. Tenth-grade English classes may address writingand complex short stories under oneteacher, while down the hall a coursewith the same title worries about verbs,punctuation, and parts of speech. Forthe purposes of our analysis, all of thenon-college bound tracks are counted asone of the three systems.

The third public system was designedto offer higher education, universally andat low prices, to every high school gradu-ate. Until recently, this system main-tained itself in splendid isolation from itselementary and secondary schoolbrethren. Although this system isresponsible for preparing the teachersemployed in the first two, it has bridledat suggestions that it should be account-able for teacher quality. While espousingplatitudes about quality and standards, itshowed little interest in monitoring theteaching quality of its own faculty orensuring the quality of the teachers itprepared. Fortunately, these attitudesare beginning to change.

In the modern world, all three systemsmust draw closer together and viewthemselves as part of a common endeavor.

In this report, the Commissionaddresses many of the challenges thatdiminish the value of high school in gen-eral and the senior year in particular.These challenges force too many collegestudents and entry-level workers intoremedial programs. The report also pro-vides a strategic approach to encourageK-12 and higher education to becometruly one system, a common endeavorfocused on helping students reach highstandards every step of the way. TheCommission’s work therefore merges the

In the modernworld, all three systemsmust draw closer together, coming to viewthemselves as part of a common endeavor

standards-based school reform move-ment, which has become the focus ofefforts in practically every state, withemerging new efforts to create a P-16 sys-tem of education – from pre-schoolthrough postsecondary education.10 The“P-16” movement is an important nextstep not only in school improvement and improved coordination of state education systems, but also in the effortto improve the performance of postsec-ondary education.

In a standards-based system that linkspostsecondary education with publicschools, students will begin school at theage of five or six ready to learn. Thosestudents who are not will be identifiedearly and provided with the targeted sup-port and help they need to gain the read-ing and mathematics skills required tosucceed in school later.

President Bush’s “Leave No ChildBehind” program can help guarantee thatno student will be warehoused during hisor her years in elementary education.The elementary school will ensure thatall students have the reading and mathe-matics skills needed to succeed and dealwith the rich content and skills presentedat the secondary level. Similarly, thebroader standards-based reform move-ment, supplemented by the assessmentprovisions of “Leave No Child Behind”will ensure that students are not trackedinto a curriculum that guarantees aca-demic failure and dead-end employment.

No High School SeniorLeft Behind

If this Commission’s recommendationsare accepted, the new contribution willbe to ensure that no high school senior is

left behind. A high school diplomashould again become a mark of accom-plishment, not simply recognition of seattime accumulated. High school gradua-tion will gain new meaning. Graduateswill now meet the skills and standardsexpected by employers in the new econ-omy and by admissions officials and academic deans in institutions of postsec-ondary education. All students whobegin work, start an apprenticeship, orenter college or proprietary school will be equipped to succeed from the veryfirst day.

Students who do not reach the senioryear already have been left behind.Special efforts will be required to reachthem early and keep them in school.Early in their high school experience,certainly by the 10th grade, schoolsshould provide opportunities for ill pre-pared students to catch up. Those stu-dents performing below grade levelrequire additional support services suchas double dosing, tutoring, and accelerat-ed courses.

In the environment the Commissionhas described, dropping out of school is aprescription for trouble. It is unaccept-able that nearly 29 percent of Hispanicyouth aged 16 to 24 have dropped out ofschool, or even that the rates for African-American and white students are 12.6percent and 7.3 percent, respectively. 11

Our society must do better.Four generations ago, an 8th-grade

education would equip most Americansfor the life ahead of them. As recently as25 years ago, a high school diploma wasenough. Today, and into the foreseeablefuture, practically all Americans willrequire two years or more of postsec-ondary education and training. An edu-


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The P-16movement is an important

next step

cation beyond high school, once consid-ered a luxury by many Americans asrecently as 25 years ago, has becometoday’s necessity. In the age of agricul-ture, postsecondary education was a pipe

dream for most Americans. In the indus-trial age it was the birthright of only afew. By the space age, it became com -mon for many. Today, it is commonsense for all.


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The data available to theCommission point tohigh schools challengedby the number ofdemands made on them,

troubled by conflicting signals, trapped intheir own view of themselves, and con-scious that somehow they are not per-forming as well as they should.

In the face of these challenges, a greatdeal of progress has been made in recentdecades in our commitment to advancelearning, improve teaching, raise expecta-tions, and put education at the top of thenation’s policy agenda. This progress hasincluded a new commitment to stan-dards, greater awareness of the need toalign educational programs throughout K-12, and more support for new forms ofassessment and improved accountability.Unfortunately these advances haveoccurred in a piecemeal fashion, theirimpact sometimes diminished by the lackof a larger vision embracing and sustain-ing more coherent change.

Powerful pressures are at workthroughout education to preserve the sta-tus quo. These include: the failure of

elected officials to invest more in earlychildhood education and K-12 teachers,community resistance to new and moredemanding standards, ambivalence fromteachers and administrators about newforms of assessment, internecine squab-bling among administrators and schoolboard members, and a higher educationenterprise that until recently managed tobehave as though it bore no responsibili-ty for the schools for which it preparedteachers and administrators.

Faced with these forces, the very frag-mentation of the reform movement itselfstands as an obstacle to progress. Theproliferation of reform initiatives at thestate and federal levels makes meaning-ful change difficult. And the hodge-podge of panels, commissions, taskforces, study groups, and blue-ribbonoversight committees, each tending hith-er and yon, is hard to keep in focus.

A great deal of difficult work still liesahead. No single “silver bullet” willbring about the changes required in thenation’s education system. Nor can theUnited States succeed if it simply tinkerswith a policy here and changes a practice


The UnitedStates cannotsucceed if it simply tinkerswith a policyhere andchanges a practice there

19

Recommendations:The Triple-A Program

there. What is required is a nationwidecommitment by states and communitiesto provide all students with rigorous andchallenging academic preparation. Whatis required is the building of new bridgesbetween K-12 and postsecondary educa-tion, bridges that are broad, substantial,and frequently used, with traffic runningboth ways. In the final analysis, what isreally needed is profound change in theexpectations of what business as usualshould look like, both in Americanschools and in institutions of postsec-ondary education.

Many states already have begun thework required. Of 24 states attemptingto create a “seamless system of educa-tion,” 18 have begun to think of thiswork as an effort to create a “P-16” sys-tem – that is, a system of educationextending from preschool through fouryears after high school graduation.

In this “P-16” work, an importanttruth has become apparent. The first isthat it is not only the path through highschool that is important for the nation’syoung people, it is the rigor of that pathas well. The bar needs to be raised for allthe institutions responsible for studentperformance (and the adults responsiblefor them) at least as much as it needs tobe raised for the students themselves.

All students should experience a rigor-ous curriculum, presented by qualifiedteachers. All students deserve to be testedon their competence using a variety ofassessment measures. All students areentitled to know that they are progress-ing through the grades on the basis oftheir competence and not because oftheir age or size. All students are entitledto know that high-stakes decisions willnot hinge on a single measure. And all

students should be assured they willreceive the support they need to masterthe material presented.

The Commission calls for a new vision of education that will extend the standard number of years of educationfrom 13 to 15. The goal is to ensure that all young people gain the skillsneeded for the greater demands of the21st century.

The Commission also calls for thedevelopment of a new social compactaround the American secondary school.Convened perhaps by the U.S. Secretaryof Education or a state consortium, itshould be a grand alliance of all thosewhose interests converge around the 12thgrade – parents, students, school leaders,institutions of postsecondary education,employers (public and private) and themilitary. The task of this alliance shouldbe to advance what the Commissionthinks of as the “Triple-A Program”designed to (1) improve alignment, (2)raise achievement and (3) providemore (and more rigorous) alternatives .

Improve Alignment: The nationneeds to take the next step in its long-term educational evolution. It is time tomove beyond separate systems, in whichcurriculum and assessment systems in K-12 and postsecondary education bear lit-tle relationship to each other, to a moreseamless system in which standards, cur-riculum, and assessment efforts betweenthe two systems are aligned and integrat-ed. In truth, what is required is a newcommitment to a single system of “P-16”education, in which the sights of every-one at every level of the system areraised to take into account new require-ments, challenges, and expectations.


20


21

P-16: Making it Happen

In an effort to integrate teaching and learning across the years, about 18states already have created K-16 or P-16 Councils. Some are voluntary

(Maryland); some are legislated (Georgia); and most (Oregon) worry

about the transition from high school to college.

Maryland A voluntary effort launched by the heads of three

separate statewide systems.Maryland’s Partnership for Teaching and Learning, K-16, an effort to

bridge the gap between precollegiate study and higher education, aims

to raise standards and improve teaching up and down the line. Thearchitects – the state university chancellor, the state school superintend-

ent, and the state higher education secretary – began in 1995 to try to

put turf protection aside in an effort to advance educational opportunity.Their goals are to raise academic standards, reform teacher education,

and guarantee equal educational opportunity in all Maryland schools.

Georgia Raising Standards through school-college collaboration.

Georgia has one of the most ambitious “P-16” efforts in the country, one

driven by anxiety about student preparation and equal opportunity.Since 1995, Georgia’s “P-16” initiative has focused on three strategies:

(1) aligning expectations, standards, curriculum, and assessment for stu-

dents from preschool through postsecondary education; (2) providing aqualified teacher in every public school classroom; and (3) providing

enrichment programs for 7th through 12th grade for students at-risk of

not achieving their potential.

Oregon Trying to align proficiency exams with university admissions.

If all goes according to plan, by 2005 Oregon’s seven public universitiesand 17 community colleges will begin using a Proficiency-based

Admissions Standards System (PASS) rather than course credits and

grade-point averages to judge students for admission. It’s still a high-risk effort, one launched in 1993 by the governor and the state boards of

education and higher education. Although some remain unconvinced,

many former skeptics in the academic world have become staunchadvocates of the movement.

Source: The Learning Connection: New Partnerships between Schools and Colleges , Gene I. Maeroff,Patrick M. Callan, and Michael D. Usdan, eds. (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001.

Raise Achievement: Across theboard, the nation needs to raise the bar ofeducational achievement and aspirations.A system that rations demanding college-preparatory programs so that they serveonly a few needs to raise its sights tomake a “college-preparatory-like” cur-riculum the default curriculum for all stu-dents. Every student should be entitledto the high-quality coursework requiredfor success on the job or in postsecondaryeducation. Accomplishing this endeavor,of course, will require that students, par-ents, and educators lift their aspirationsand recognize the importance of prepar-ing for demanding academic work andtraining beyond high school. Raising thebar for students will require investmentsin teaching in the form of professionaldevelopment, reductions in class size,and higher salaries.

Provide More (and More Rigorous)Alternatives: The Commission callsfor moving away from a system in whichthe senior year is just more of the sameto one in which the senior year providestime to explore options and prove knowl-edge and skills. Ideally, every seniorshould complete a capstone project, per-form an internship, complete a researchproject, participate in community service,or take college-level courses. Thischange, like the others, will be extraordi-narily demanding, requiring educatorsand policymakers to raise their sightsbeyond the traditional and the familiarand toward new alternatives for soon-to-be graduates.

The Commission wants to stress that,in calling for all high school students toexperience a demanding curriculum it isnot calling for neglect of those who do

not plan to enroll immediately in postsec-ondary education. Far from it. Sincenearly three-quarters of all high schoolgraduates enroll in postsecondary educa-tion within a year or two of graduation,the Commission’s recommendation sim-ply calls for conforming school practice toeducational reality. The Commissionalso is restating a long-held view ofcountless educators, business leaders, andpolicymakers who are convinced that thebest preparation in high school readiesstudents for postsecondary education,work, and life.12

A more demanding secondary schoolcurriculum will enable these students toenter the workforce immediately, if theychoose to, confident that they have theskills and knowledge needed on the joband, increasingly, in their employer’sclassrooms. They also will be betterequipped to attend college later or enrollin specialized training as their careersdevelop. It perhaps needs also to beadded that as more students receive thepreparation they need to continue educa-tion right out of high school, the morelikely they are to enroll immediately incollege or other postsecondary courses.

Improve AlignmentThe Challenge: Lack of alignmentbetween the curriculum, stan-dards, and assessment systemsof K-12 and postsecondary edu-cation means that students findthemselves poorly prepared forpostsecondary education andwork. Communication gapsbetween the systems contributeto inadequately prepared teach-ers and to unacceptably largenumbers of college dropouts.


22

One of the great success stories of theUnited States is the achievement of pro-viding postsecondary access to more than70 percent of today’s high school gradu-ates. Until recently, this accomplishmentwas without international parallel and itstands as a tribute to both the K-12 andpostsecondary education systems in theUnited States.

Unfortunately, many of these studentsare not being provided with access tosuccess. Inadequate academic prepara-tion is a major reason why only about halfof those who enroll on a four-year campusreceive a degree within six years; evenlarger proportions of enrollees at commu-nity colleges leave without a diploma or acertificate. Sadly, the success rate of dis-advantaged students is well below that oftheir white peers, reflecting systemic bar-riers to their success that extend into theK-12 and the postsecondary universes.13

The standards and assessment land-scape facing high school seniors is full ofenough confusing twists, turns, and cul-de-sacs to leave many students lost andstranded. Students may, in fact, run thegauntlet of four different sets of require-ments governing high school graduation,college admission, obtaining a job, orobtaining permission to enroll in credit-bearing courses once on campus.14 Evenif students must pass a competencyexamination to obtain a high schooldiploma, most of these examinationscover content drawn from the 9th- or10th-grade curriculum. It seems thatonly 10 states have aligned their highschool graduation and college admissionsrequirements in English — and only twohave aligned them in mathematics.15

Many students also mistakenly assumethat two- and four-year college open

admissions policies, rather than place-ment examinations, determine whetherstudents can do college-level work.

In light of this confusion, it is hardlysurprising that about one-third of stu-dents arrive at postsecondary educationalinstitutions unprepared for college-levelwork, many requiring remedial courseson campus. And it helps explain whymore than one-quarter of four-year-col-lege freshmen and close to half of thosein community colleges do not return for asecond year.

The simple truth is that K-12 systemscannot align their curricula and standardswith postsecondary education and workunless both of these systems are muchclearer about the core reading, writing,and mathematics skills students need tosucceed. Corporations and institutions ofpostsecondary education must becomeactive partners in the alignment effort.

Lack of communication between K-12education and postsecondary institutionsalso contributes to the inadequate supplyof qualified teachers. As K-12 systemsmove toward higher standards for theirstudents, they find that teachers are notprepared to teach the more difficult con-tent. Many teacher education programseither are not familiar with the new stan-dards or have not done enough to preparetheir students to teach to them.

RecommendationEvery state should create a P-16Council and charge it withincreasing student access to (andsuccess in) postsecondary educa-tion. These councils should becharged with creating significantand systematic linkages betweenpreschool, elementary, second-


23

Only 10 stateshave alignedtheir high schoolgraduation and collegeadmissionsrequirements in English, only two in mathematics


24

It’s to be expected that some differenceswill exist between testing and assessment

efforts among different levels of educa-

tion. To some extent, each is entitled tospeak its own language. But the degree

to which K-12 and higher education test-

ing and assessment differ threatens tocreate a new Tower of Babel, according

to experts who have examined the issue.

The Standards Movementand the K-16 Disjuncture

Standards-based reform has overlookedthe incoherence in content

and assessment systems in K-12 and higher education.

“Colleges and universities rely on the SAT

I and ACT to provide some nationalassessment uniformity, but neither of

these tests is well aligned with many

recent reforms in K-12 standards. Therelationship between K-12 standards and

college placement tests is even more

chaotic. In 1995, for example, universi-ties in the southeastern United States

devised 125 combinations of 75 differentplacement tests, with scant regard for

secondary school standards.

“Tests at each level — K-12 achieve-ment tests, standardized college entrance

exams, and college placement assess-

ments — use different formats, empha-size different content, and are given under

different conditions, for example:

l High school assessments in

Pennsylvania and Florida rely heavily on

open-ended written work, but the SAT I,ACT, and some Florida college placement

exams use multiple-choice tests to

assess students’ writing skills.Massachusetts’ K-12 assessment also

contains performance items that are dis-

similar to the closed-end multiple-choiceformat of the SAT and ACT.

l California’s new standards test includesmath that is more advanced and difficult

than the SAT and ACT, but Texas’s high

school assessment (TAAS) includes lessalgebra and geometry than the SAT.

Testing’s Tower of Babel

l These councils should include teachersand administrators from elementary, mid-dle, and secondary schools, along withrepresentatives from preschool programsand postsecondary education. Ideally,they also would include legislators, exec-utive branch officials, parents, and busi-ness and labor leaders.

l The work of these statewide P-16councils should address the full range of

ary, and postsecondary educa-tion, linkages that should includealigning standards for highschool graduation, college admis-sion, and enrollment in credit-bearing courses. A special focusof these efforts should beincreasing the college atten-dance and completion rate oflow-income, disadvantaged, andminority students.


25

l Some state K-12 assessments permit stu-dents to use calculators, but many college

placement exams do not.

l Texas has a statewide postsecondary

placement test (TASP), but many Texas

universities also use their own placementexams. Many high school students in Texas

either are confused by or unaware of

college placement standards.

“In addition, many state assessments

do not go beyond 10th grade and do nottest every pupil (they use a matrix sample);

such scores cannot be used for college

admissions or placement. By contrast,Illinois is implementing a new state test to

be given in grades 11 and 12 and plans to

combine a state standards-based assess-ment with ACT.”

Source: Michael W. Kirst, Overcoming the High SchoolSlump: New Education Policies (Washington D.C.: Institutefor Educational Leadership and the National Center forPublic Policy and Higher Education, May 2001).Originally prepared for the Commission and presented inSeptember 2000.

issues discussed in this report. In partic-ular, they should take up the fact thatschool curricula are not aligned with exitexaminations.

l Under the leadership of the P-16 coun-cil, groups representing school adminis-trators and secondary school principals,on the one hand, and university admis-sions and academic officials, on the other,should collaborate in a critical review of

high school and collegiate curricula.Paying particular attention to the link-ages between the last two years of high school and the first two years ofpostsecondary work, these groups shouldexamine how to improve alignment of academic content, admissions proce-dures, and student-performance expectations.

l The councils also should oversee thedevelopment or verification of standardsfor teacher knowledge and performance –standards that reflect K-12 content andperformance requirements for students.All graduates of teacher education pro-grams within the state should be requiredto meet these standards.

l The councils also should examine criti-cal teacher “pipeline” issues, such asrecruitment, training, retention, compen-sation, and training and professionaldevelopment. No ambitious plan toreform schools can succeed while ignor-ing the need to improve teaching and toaddress the needs of teachers.

Although this Commission feelsstrongly about what needs to be done, itunderstands it possesses no authority toimplement these recommendations.Because the Commission’s recommen-dations are not self-implementing, it has suggested that states create a mecha-nism, in the form of P-16 Councils, toimplement these important changes. It is our hope that the research and recommendations of these councils willbe forwarded to appropriate legislativeand state officials for review and implementation.


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The New Shape of Postsecondary Education

College once may have been an idyllic world of young, unmarried stu-

dents right out of high school fitting in a few classes between pledgeweek and fraternity or sorority rush, but those days are past. Today’s

students are older, more demanding, and frequently part time; and the

institutions serving them are almost as likely to be in a shopping centeror corporate training facility as on a bucolic campus.

l Fewer than one-fifth of today’s college students meet the stereotype ofan 18-to-22-year-old living on campus and attending college full time.

l Women, working adults, part-timers, and students drove the enroll-ment bulge of the 1980s and 1990s over the age of 25.

l Today’s new breed of student is interested in four dimensions of post-secondary education: convenience, service, quality, and low cost.

l The students want a stripped-down version of higher education, minusthe plethora of electives and student activities.

l There are some 3,600 institutions of higher education in the UnitedStates, enrolling about 15 million students.

l About one-third of those institutions are community colleges enrollingabout one-half of all students and experiencing double the growth rate

in student enrollment of four-year institutions.

l One of the fastest growing degree-granting institutions in the United

States in the last 20 years is University of Phoenix, a for-profit institution

offering a limited number of majors, few electives, and instruction bypart-time faculty during the evenings and weekends.

l More than 1,000 “corporate universities” already exist, providinginstruction and training for their own workers in everything from food

preparation to high-end electronics assembly.

Sources: Arthur Levine, “Privatization in Higher Education,” Higher Expectations: Essays on theFuture of Postsecondary Education, National Governors Association, 2001, and Digest of EducationStatistics, 1997. Bob Davis and David Uessel “Prosperity – The Coming 20-Year Boom and Whatit Means to You.”

Raise AchievementThe Challenge: Recognizing thatin the world they are entering, allstudents will need more than ahigh school education, levels ofachievement for all Americanhigh school students must beimproved dramatically to preparethem for the demands of life,work, and further learning.

The soaring American economy of thepast decade and the prosperity accompa-nying it often have masked the conse-quences of the fact that our schools stillsort young people into those we expectto go to college and the “rest.” Yet, theincreasing importance of intellectual cap-ital in today’s knowledge economyrequires that the American high schoolbe transformed from an institution thatprepares a few for further learning intoone that prepares all students for livingand prospering in an increasingly com-plex and interdependent world.

Postsecondary Education for All:The New Common Sense

In this new environment, the high schooldiploma must become a genuine passportto further learning and work, not simply acertification of time spent in class. Highschool itself no longer can be viewed asthe culmination of anyone’s education.To continue to grant high school diplo-mas to students who have not completeda rigorous and demanding program ofstudies is to foreclose their opportunitiesand consign them to a lifetime of low-paying drudgework.

Recent research indicates that highschool graduates who follow a “collegepreparatory” program are more likely to

enroll in and complete college than students who complete a “regular” highschool diploma program. The Commis-sion points this out not because there isanything novel about this finding, butbecause high schools (and parents andstudents) continue to act as though mak-ing it through a watered-down highschool curriculum amounts to the samething as completing a more demandingsequence of courses.

Finally, we want to emphasize that lowexpectations devastate the life chances ofmany low-income and disadvantaged stu-dents. What President Bush has calledthe “soft bigotry of low expectations”cannot be tolerated in the emergingworld. Low expectations lead to studentswho receive algebra without equations,science without laboratories, and litera-ture without reading. They lead also toan education system that producesAfrican American and Latino 17-year-oldswho read at the same level as white 13-year-olds.16 These conditions andresults no longer can be excused or tolerated.

The Need to Raise AwarenessAt every stage of the educational process,student and parental aspirations for fur-ther learning are rarely matched byawareness of the effort required to getthere. People’s reach should exceed theirgrasp, but students should not be allowedto fool themselves. Recent studies of9th-graders and their families, for exam-ple, indicate that although more than 90 percent expect to complete somepostsecondary education, few know whatit means to graduate from high schoolprepared to succeed in college. Indeed,such knowledge appears to be limited to


27

students whose parents graduated fromcollege.

Family resources and knowledge pro-duce the plan and support required forcompletion of the demanding courseworkin the middle and high school years thatlead to success in college. This factpoints to the extent to which low-incomeand minority students are, of necessity,forced to rely on school resources. Ifthese students do not receive advancewarning and guidance within the schools,there are few adults in their homes (nor,perhaps, in their communities) who canoffer advice.

Recent surveys also indicate that thenation’s teaching corps does not alwaysbelieve that all students need the knowl-edge, skills, and attitudes of the tradi-tionally college bound.17 The researchthe Commission has examined indicatesthat about half of all teachers do not con-sider such goals as helping studentsachieve their plans or preparing studentsboth for employment and further learn-ing to be “very important.” Only 38 per-cent consider helping all students pre-pare for college to be very important.18

The nation’s feelings about the appro-priate role of secondary schools and theplace of the senior year in the high schoolexperience are deeply ingrained in theAmerican culture. Too many parents andcitizens accept the traditional function ofthe high school as the Great AmericanSorting Machine. “The high school Iattended was good enough for me, and itshould be good enough for today’s kids,”appears to be a common perception.

Part of what is required to change thisperception involves educating parentsand students about why adequate prepa-ration in the middle school years is essen-

tial to success in high school. Anotherpart involves improving students’ under-standing of the intellectual demandspostsecondary schooling and modernwork will make on them. Yet a thirdinvolves exploring educational optionsand careers as early as the middle schoolyears

With regard to the senior year, teach-ers, parents, and students across thenation agree that the most common termused to characterize the senior year is“senioritis.” The term suggests thatsomehow young people are afflicted witha short-term disease, one as predictableas the flu season that incapacitates youngpeople in terms of academic growth. Inthis final year, time itself stands still, asthe serious work expected in the junioryear and in postsecondary education isput on hold. In communities across thecountry, parents argue that their childrenneed to “take some time off,” “relaxbefore they enter adulthood,” or “enjoythe end of adolescence.” There is littlesense of the final year as a time tostrengthen skills, enhance preparation forpostsecondary programs, broaden experi-ences to include service or demandingwork-based learning, or culminate earlierclassroom experience in a senior project.In fairness to students and their parents,many high school faculty and administra-tors share these attitudes.

RecommendationStates should require school districts to obtain parental per-mission before assigning highschool students to a level below“college-preparatory” courses,which should be the default curriculum for all students.


28

l Because a “college-preparatory-like”curriculum will become the default cur-riculum, elementary and middle schoolsshould re-examine their curricula tomake sure that all students are well pre-pared for demanding work at the nextlevel.

l In every state, use existing knowledgeto create district-level pilot sites whereall students are prepared for, and take,rigorous courses in the middle and highschool years. Evaluate and conductresearch on the factors leading to successin those sites.

l At the local level, create task forces toexamine short-term opportunities for pro-viding larger numbers of students with ademanding and rigorous curriculum.

l At the state and federal levels, elimi-nate all programs that have the explicit orunintended consequence of categorizingstudents into groups so that offeringthem a watered-down curriculum can bemore readily justified. Plans should bedeveloped to redirect program fundstoward support systems aimed at helpingstudents meet higher academic standards.

RecommendationP-16 Councils should pay particu-lar attention to increasing aware-ness of students, parents, andthe general public about theneed for education beyond highschool and the importance ofreshaping the high school froman institution that sorts studentsinto one that helps all of themsucceed.

l Beginning in the middle school years,probably in grade 6, teachers, administra-tors, counselors, and students and parentsshould begin work on a formal “learningplan” for every student. This plan,updated annually, should be a flexible,moving target — an outline of what thestudent hopes to accomplish as a youngadult, accompanied by recommendationsof the ideal education, work, and serviceexperiences to help him or her attainthose goals.

l Teacher preparation and school districtprofessional development programsshould educate all teachers, particularlythose teaching in the middle and highschool years, in the lifelong educationand training needs of today’s students.

l Universities and academic consortiashould publicize their explicit standardsfor first-year undergraduate performanceas well as standards for senior-year per-formance, both for students granted earlyadmission and students admitted later intheir senior year.

l Districts and states should cooperate todevelop “early warning” systems and“reality checks” to identify both middleschool and senior high school students atrisk of being poorly prepared for the nextleg of their educational journey.

l To help students and their parentsgauge their readiness to move on, mockentrance examinations for corporate andunion training programs, as well as forcollege placement, should be offered onhigh school campuses (perhaps as early asthe 10th grade).


29

In pursuit of the recommendations,educators must pay particular attention tothe gifted, the disadvantaged, and stu-dents with disabilities. The public hasspoken clearly on the need to educate allchildren; states need to use funds avail-able under the “Leave No ChildBehind” program in this effort. Theyshould help school districts develop sys-tems that continually diagnose the learn-ing needs of all students (from kinder-garten on) and, where necessary, provideadditional support to those at risk of not

succeeding in demanding courses in themiddle and high school years.

Provide More(and More Rigorous)

AlternativesThe Challenge: Educators andpolicymakers need to develop thewill and fortitude to rethink thelast year of high school and pro-vide demanding options leadingto a seamless transition to further education or work.


30

Across the nation, many experiments

already are pointing the way towarddemanding alternatives that relieve the

tedium characterizing much of high

school work.

LaGuardia’s Middle CollegeHigh SchoolA high school on a college campusSince 1971, the City University of New

York’s LaGuardia Community College hasbeen incubating educational change. It

pioneered the concept of a “middle col-

lege high school,” a high school on a col-lege campus designed to focus on high

school students with the potential for

accomplishing college work who were onthe verge of dropping out of school.

From the lone example of LaGuardia in

1971, the concept now involves some 25campuses around the country. Whether

in New York City, Flint, Michigan, or

Memphis, Tennessee, the emphasis isalways the same – capture students at

risk of failure, often minority and econom-

ically disadvantaged, and turn them on tothe excitement of learning. Different pro-

grams adopt different targets. LaGuardia

addresses the needs of students new tothe United States. In Las Vegas, a similar

effort reaches out to high school sopho-

mores in trouble.

Angola High SchoolA comprehensive high school with busi-ness partnershipsAngola High School in Angola, Indiana,

has developed a flexible, four-block,intensive schedule that allows business

and academic partnerships, accelerated

student curriculum, and extra time incourses for those who need it. The

school’s flexible schedule allows students

to spend up to two hours daily in a learn-ing environment at local industries. These

nine-week experiences connect curricu-

lum to the workplace. This NewAmerican High School has shown signifi-

More (and More Demanding) Options


31

cant achievement improvement over six

years and has been cited as an exemplaryprogram by the University of Minnesota.

Simon’s Rock College A four-year college for young scholarsSimon’s Rock of Bard College is the

nation’s only four-year liberal arts college foryounger scholars. Founded on the idea that

many bright, highly motivated young people

of 15 or 16 are ready for serious collegework, the college was designed to tackle

the tedium and repetitiveness involved in

the transition from the last two years of highschool to the first two years of college.

Launched in the Massachusetts’ Berkshire

area in 1964 as a woman’s college offeringan associate’s degree, it now offers a full

four-year program for men and women.

Sources: The Learning Connection: New Partnerships betweenSchools and Colleges, Gene I. Maeroff, Patrick M. Callan,and Michael D. Usdan, eds. (New York: Teachers CollegePress, 2001.) Building a Highway to Higher Ed. (New York:Center for an Urban Future, nd.)

American schools are properly receiv-ing credit for their efforts to implementstandards-based reform. Although theseefforts are sometimes hard to see fromoutside the system, inside the nation’sschools much is changing. Because thesestandards now are being put in place,they provide the chance to move awayfrom seat time to student competence asa measure of readiness to progress.

Despite these changes, the Commis-sion’s discussions with recent graduatesshow that many students find the final

two years of high school boring and tire-some. One distinguished academicleader, the president of Bard College, hasgone so far as to recommend abolishingthe final two years of high school.19 Hedoes so partially on the grounds that stu-dents are maturing physically much earli-er than they used to, and that highschools, designed to deal with “large chil-dren” are incapable of dealing with theyoung adults they now enroll. Outsidethe school, teenagers often are treated asadults; inside it, that is almost never true.

In recommending a more rigorous anddemanding program of studies for all stu-dents, this Commission has no interest increating a rigid lock-step system. On thecontrary, to the extent possible, youngpeople should be encouraged to finishhigh school at their own pace. Some stu-dents may be able to graduate in threeyears; some may require five. As theymeet the standards, they should beencouraged to move on if they feel ready.The Commission also believes there is agreat deal to be said for creating multiplenew structures for the last two years ofhigh school, developing demandingmechanisms to help students prepare forfurther learning or for work.

Educators should work to provide thewidest possible array of demanding edu-cational alternatives for all students,depending on their progress and theirinterests. Some will want to marrycoursework with community service.They should be encouraged to do so.Others can find employment and intern-ships off campus related to their academ-ic work. Such opportunities are muchmore likely to be beneficial than themindlessness of the part-time, unskilledwork that employs too many teenagers

just looking for a paycheck. Students who already have completed

an Advanced Placement course may finda promising opportunity to enroll forcredit in a college course nearby. By allmeans, schools should make that easy forthem. We believe that middle collegeand dual enrollment options with localcolleges and technical institutes shouldbe encouraged.

Whatever the option selected, itshould contribute to the student’s transi-tion out of high school and into furthereducation or a job. The point is thatthese alternatives can genuinely help stu-dents develop a sense of purpose abouttheir lives. Challenging alternatives suchas rigorous senior year projects can helpconnect students to their futures as citi-zens, employees and employers, and life-long learners.

One of the paradoxes with which theCommission struggled is that K-12 andpostsecondary education institutions fre-quently find themselves doing eachother’s job. Two- and four-year collegesoffer basic secondary school work in reading, writing, and mathematics asremedial classes, while high schools offercoursework for credit in the form ofAdvanced Placement. In effect, theCommission believes it is time to accom-modate institutional theory to institution-al reality. If students are ready for post-secondary work by the age of 16 or 17,they should be encouraged to pursue it.The point is that once the system beginsto take seriously the possibility that allstudents are entitled to diverse options inthe last years of high school, there isalmost no limit to the valuable andworthwhile ways that possibility can be pursued.

RecommendationState and local educators shouldreshape the senior year to pro-vide more learning opportunitiesof all kinds. They should developsound alternative paths(Advanced Placement, dualenrollment in secondary schoolsand postsecondary institutions,rigorous structured work experi-ences, and community service) to provide credit toward gradua-tion for high school students and ease their transition fromhigh school to postsecondaryeducation and the world of work. They should:

l Greatly expand the opportunity forhigh school students to experience thechallenges of college-level work andincrease the number of “middle college”options for older students in the last twoyears of high school.20 Increasing oppor-tunities for dual enrollment (and earlyhigh school exit for college enrollment)will permit students to meet admissionrequirements in the junior or the senioryear. Providing more opportunities forAdvanced Placement programs, using theInternet and distance-learning tech-niques if need be, while seeking out low-income and disadvantaged students forenrollment in these courses, will helpmore students meet higher standards.

l Provide options for service- and work-based learning opportunities for credit.High-quality career programs that inte-grate academic standards with challeng-ing technical content serve many stu-dents well. Service opportunities tied toa demanding curriculum can expand


32

greatly students’ awareness of the worldinto which they will graduate. And high-quality apprenticeships and opportunitiesfor interning (related once again to coursecontent) can remind students of the rela-tionship between their studies and theirfuture after graduation.

l Experiment with efforts to create “vir-tual high schools” that employ distance-learning techniques to provide the high-est quality instruction and programming,particularly in low-income or isolatedrural communities experiencing difficultyattracting well-qualified teachers.

l Require all seniors to showcase anaccumulated portfolio of their workthroughout high school, including a sen-ior project demonstrating their capabili-ties for research, creative thinking, rigor-ous analysis, and clear written and oralcommunication.

l Investigate alternative ways to use andschedule time, including block sched-ules, to provide the flexibility needed toexplore complex subjects in depth andcomplete rigorous projects.

RecommendationIn advancing this work, particu-larly at the middle and secondarylevels, consciously aim to provideall students with strong connec-tions to adults (in and out ofschool) who can help themexplore options for school, post-secondary education, and work.

Recent research points to the fact thatmost teenagers value adult relationshipsand consider their parents to be their

most important influence. Parents,guardians, and other role models need tobe there for young people, both in andout of school. They can be mentors,guides, and counselors as youths navigatethe difficult years of adolescence.

Parents, guardians, and other membersof the extended family are clearly thefirst source of mentors for most children.In cases when they are not available orcannot function as role models, otheradvocates can be mentors. Businessgroups, civic associations, Big Brothersand Big Sisters, the faith community, andolder Americans all can make substantialcontributions. They can help provideadvocates for young people by offeringvolunteer services and assistance withmentoring in schools across the nation.

Although schools have tried to profes-sionalize much of this mentoring functionby assigning it to counseling offices,these offices are frequently understaffed.Data examined by the Commission indi-cate that the average middle- and high-school counselor is responsible for 500students. In Arizona, each counselor isresponsible for 736 students. InCalifornia, counselors find themselvesconfronting 994 students; in Illinois, 700;in Minnesota, 800; and in Utah the figureis 730.21 Overworked and over-bur-dened, counselors cannot do an adequatejob for most of these students.

l State and local education agenciesshould provide the resources needed torealign the roles and reduce the caseloadsof school counselors. Counselors willneed time to oversee the development ofthe “learning plans” outlined earlier andto act as mentors to individual studentswith the greatest need for guidance.


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l State education agencies should workwith local education agencies and leadersin the philanthropic community toemphasize the need for an adult advocatefor every child in every school. Thiseffort deserves the same intensity of statesupport as standards-based reform hasreceived.

l Local community-based organizationsof all kinds, including civic associations,the faith-based community, and commu-nity improvement groups should activelyseek out opportunities to mentor stu-dents through the middle and highschool years.

l Local associations of employers alsoshould be advocates, encouraging theiremployer-members to find ways to freeup employees’ time to work as mentorsin local schools.

A Final WordAmerica’s strength has always rested onits faith in education. Although thenation’s commitment to equal education-al opportunity has been uneven, thisCommission is confident the battle canbe won. Generations of Americans havelaid down the markers defining Americanprogress through education. TheNorthwest Ordinance of 1787 opened upthe American Midwest by setting asideland for the public purpose of schooling.As early as the 19th century, HoraceMann and other philosophers held outthe promise of the benefits of universaleducation. President Lincoln signed intolaw the Morrill Act of 1862, providing forland-grant institutions, “the people’s uni-versities,” in every state. In the last halfof the 20th century, every American pres-

ident put his faith behind the promise ofmore and more schooling for more andmore Americans. Education is not a par-tisan issue. Transcending political differ-ences, the nation’s schools and collegeshave always enjoyed support across thepolitical spectrum.

Now this generation is called on to doits part. Success in the ongoing strugglewill require new energy from us all. Inpursuit of the common sense that an edu-cation beyond high school is now anecessity, not a luxury, it is time to raiseour sights: All Americans deserve theopportunity to pursue their education atleast two years beyond the senior year ofhigh school.

The task of this Commission is to laythat concept in front of policymakers.Turning that policy into reality undoubt-edly will require new legislation, addi-tional funding, novel partnerships, andnew thinking. But policymakers cannotsucceed alone. If this new educationventure is to be crowned with the successof earlier efforts, public officials will needthe support of the American people.Those of us enjoying the blessings offreedom also bear its burdens. All of usshare a responsibility to work together tocreate a common future. The commoneducational task before us today is totake the “Triple-A Program” and use it torealize a new vision of 15 years of educa-tion and training for all.

By raising our sights, this generation ofAmericans will leave behind an educationlegacy rivaling any inherited in our past.We have it within our grasp to make surethat no high school student is left behind.The National Commission on the HighSchool Senior Year offers this report insupport of that great effort.


The commoneducational task

before us is totake the Triple-AProgram and use

it to realize anew vision of

15 years of education andtraining for all

34


35

AppendicesA Acknowledgments 36

B Meetings, Guests, and Speakers 37

C Model Programs 44

D Papers and Other Materials Prepared for the Commission 51

E Notes 52

The Commission is grateful for the con-tributions of many individuals and organ-izations whose assistance made thisreport possible.

Our first thanks go to our operatingpartner, the Woodrow Wilson NationalFellowship Foundation, and to the fund-ing partners (Carnegie Corporation ofNew York, The Charles Stewart MottFoundation, and the U.S. Department ofEducation) who helped make the work ofthe Commission possible. We are espe-cially indebted to Dr. Robert Weisbuch,president of the Woodrow WilsonNational Fellowship Foundation for hisleadership and support. Chris Sturgis,program officer at the Charles StewartMott Foundation; Michele Cahill, seniorprogram officer, Carnegie Corporation ofNew York; and Susan Sclafani, counselorto U.S. Secretary of Education RodPaige, all contributed to our thinking.

We want to acknowledge the extraor-dinary efforts of our executive director,Cheryl M. Kane, in keeping us on task.Dr. Kane helped define the nature of ourinvestigation, organized our work, andsaw to it that we heard from school lead-ers and experts on American education,while insisting in the face of impossibledeadlines and obstacles of all kinds thatwe could get the job done. We also wantto recognize the excellent support wereceived from Stephanie Duckworth,Chris Becker, and Lisa Bush of theWoodrow Wilson National FellowshipFoundation.

We appreciate the contributions of the

senior advisers who provided substantiveguidance throughout our work: Dr.James England, formerly of the PewCharitable Trusts and now with theEducation Commission of the States, andDr. Robert Orrill, executive director,National Council on Education and theDisciplines. We are also grateful to thestaff of the National Library ofEducation, particularly Vance Grant, stat-istician, who helped us to find and verifystatistics in the report.

We are grateful to the education lead-ers who met with the Commission andgave us the benefit of their views. Theyare recognized in Appendix B.

Ed Ford, deputy secretary of theExecutive Cabinet, Office of theGovernor, Commonwealth of Kentucky,made enormous contributions to thework of the Commission. We are greatlyin his debt.

We also want to thank James Harveyof James Harvey & Associates, Seattle,Washington for helping draft this report.

We offer special thanks to PolicyStudies Associates, Inc., which providedsubstantive, editorial, and logistical assis -tance throughout this phase of theCommission’s work. In particular, we aregrateful to M. Bruce Haslam, ElizabethR. Reisner, Michael Rubenstein, ÜllikRouk, and Kim D. Thomas. And we aregrateful for the efforts of Shep Ranbom,Debbie Pickford, and Samuel Lubell ofCommunicationWorks in Washington,D.C. and their assistance with publicaffairs.


36

Appendix A

Acknowledgments

Public Hearings

Jackson, MississippiFebruary 6, 2001

Hosts Guests and Speakers

Parents for Public Governor Ronnie Musgrove, D-MissSchools of Jackson Mississippi

National Parents Reginald Barnes, Superintendentfor Public Schools Cleveland School District

Rebecca Fields, CounselorMadison Central High School

Mississippi Department Daniel Hogan, Vice Presidentof Education Raymond Campus,

Hinds Community College

Richard ThompsonState Superintendent of Education

Public Education Forum Joe Haynes, Executive Directorof Jackson Jobs for Mississippi Graduates, Inc.

Eurmon Hervey, Jr., ManagerDelta Scholars

Valerie Neal, English TeacherPearl High School

Jayne Sargent, SuperintendentJackson Public Schools


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Appendix B

Meetings, Guests, and Speakers

Sister Dorothea Sondgeroth, PresidentSt. Dominic Health Services &St. Dominic-Jackson Hospital

Maggie Wade, AnchorWLBT TV-3 News

Sare Luster, FreshmanRice University

Michael Goggin, FreshmanHarvard University

Curnis Upkins, Jr., Parent of the YearJackson Public Schools

Boston, MassachusettsMarch 19, 2001

Education Resources Institute David Driscoll, Commissioner ofBoston Education, Massachusetts

Northeastern University Richard Freeland, PresidentBoston Northeastern University

Boston Higher Education Joseph Bage, SuperintendentPartnership Brockton Public Schools

Henry M. Thomas, III, President & CEOUrban League of Springfield

Neil Sullivan, Executive DirectorBoston Private Industry Council

Ann S. Coles, Executive DirectorBoston Higher Education Partnership

Jennifer Kilson-Page, Associate Executive DirectorBoston Higher Education Partnership


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James W. Fraser, Dean, School of EducationNortheastern University

Marjorie Bakken, SeniorBrockton High School

Chante Bonds, SeniorBrockton High School

Yessenia Paniagua, SeniorBrockton High School

Amagdalita Simon, SeniorBrockton High School

Shadae Thomas, SeniorSabis International Charter School

Austin, TexasMarch 23, 2001

Charles A. Dana Center Susan Sclafani, Counselor to SecretaryUniversity of Texas at Austin U.S. Department of Education

Houston Independent School District, Henry Cuellar, Secretary of State, TexasHouston, Texas

Texas Business & Education Don Brown, Commissioner of HigherCouncil, Austin, Texas Education, Texas

Hugh C. Hayes, Deputy CommissionerTexas Education Agency

James Ketelsen, FounderProject GRAD

Susie Miller, High School to UniversityServices, University of Texas Pan-American

Jeff Shadwick, PresidentHISD Board of Education


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Frances Wawroski, PrincipalMartin High School, Laredo, Texas

Felipe Alanis, Associate Vice ChancellorUniversity of Texas System

Richard Fonté, PresidentAustin Community College

Ray Marshall, Professor of EconomicsUniversity of Texas at Austin

Steve Palko, Member, Tarrant CountyWorkforce Development Board

Joe Randolph, Statewide CoordinatorTexas Scholars Program

H.G. (Pete) Taylor, ChairmanMilitary Child Education Coalition

Bowling Green, KentuckyMarch 27, 2001

Western Kentucky University Karen Adams, Dean,Bowling Green, Kentucky College of Education & Behavioral

Sciences, Western Kentucky University

Steve Gumm, EngineerBarren County Schools

Ruth Ann Hammer, TeacherBarren County High School

Lois Adams-Rodgers, Deputy CommissionerKentucky Department of Education

Corey Goode, StudentBarren County High School


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Megan Nunn, StudentBarren County High School

Abraham Williams, DirectorHousing Authority of Bowling Green

Theron (Butch) Thompson, FacultyWestern Kentucky University

Linda Gerofsky, Station ManagerWKYU-PBS Television

Krista Seymour, Associate ProducerWKYU-PBS Television

Julia Roberts, ProfessorWestern Kentucky University

James Applegate, Vice President,Kentucky Council onPostsecondary Education

Pamela Burns, Middle School Teacherof the YearCollege View Middle School

Fannie Louise Maddux, ChairPritchard Committee for Excellence

Linda Miller, Director of GuidanceJefferson County Schools

Portsmouth, New HampshireApril 6, 2001

Education Commission of the States, Susan Sclafani, Counselor to SecretaryDenver, Colorado U.S. Department of Education

Ed Ford, Office of the GovernorKentucky


41

James England,Distinguished Senior FellowEducation Commission of the States

Milton Goldberg, Executive Vice PresidentNational Alliance of Business

Cal Frazier, Distinguished Senior FellowEducation Commission of the States

John Lewis, ChairNew Hampshire State Board of Education

Gen OlsonMinnesota State Senator

Ray HolmburgNorth Dakota State Senator

Lamont TylerUtah State Representative

Mike Williamson, Deputy SuperintendentState of Michigan

Charles HudsonLouisiana State Representative

Hazel Loucks, Deputy GovernorIllinois

Jeanne Shaheen, GovernorState of New Hampshire

Steve Reno, ChancellorUniversity System of New Hampshire

Marilyn PetermanBest Schools, New Hampshire


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FULL COMMISSION MEETINGSWashington, D.C.

September 11, 2000

Ted Sanders, PresidentEducation Commission of the States

David Zeiger, Director and ProducerSenior Year

Rochelle Nichols SolomonSenior Program DirectorPhiladelphia Education Fund

Anthony P. CarnevaleVice President for Public LeadershipEducational Testing Service

Honorable Richard W. RileySecretary of EducationU.S. Department of Education

Washington, D.C.October 30, 2000

Kati Haycock, DirectorThe Education Trust

Robert Steen, Vice PresidentFleishman-Hillard Research

Great Barrington, MassachusettsMay 14, 2001

Simon’s Rock College of Bard Bernard F. Rodgers, Dean of the CollegeGreat Barrington, Massachusetts Simon’s Rock College of Bard


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The Commission thanks the many organizations that shared information about their programsand activities to help students prepare for further education and employment. Below, we haveattempted to briefly summarize their efforts.

Programs to Improve Alignment

Aligning Writing Instruction in Secondary and Postsecondary InstitutionsVirginia Beach, VASalem High School and Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, Virginia haveentered a partnership to help high school students prepare for college writing require-ments and reduce the need for remedial instruction in college. Together, the schools areworking to improve student writing by developing and disseminating a model for effec-tive staff development in writing instruction, and validating a multiple measures writingplacement procedure. For more information: Chris Jennings, director of the FIPSE Writing Grant Project,[email protected]

Project Write, Suffolk County Community CollegeLong Island, NYHigh school and college instructors work together to prepare high school students forcollege-level writing. Together, they evaluate student writing portfolios and place stu-dents in appropriate writing courses at the college. The aim of the program is to placecollege freshmen into credit-bearing first-year college writing courses instead of non-credit developmental writing courses.For more information: John Parbst, mailto:[email protected]


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Appendix C

Model Programs

X filesOmaha, NEThis business-education partnership in Omaha, Nebraska, aims to place all students intothe job marketplace with a portfolio, based on community skill standards, in which theyshowcase their skills and talents. An X file portfolio organizes students’ school recordsand skill descriptions, and includes school transcripts, test scores, awards and honors,skill certificates, resumes, internship records, writing samples, letters of recommenda-tion, school highlights, and other evidence that students are ready for employment. Theprogram makes clear to students that employers care about their performance in school.Information learned in school has real-world applications, and earning potential is direct-ly related to skills.For more information: Gerald A. Hoberman, Chairman, Opportunities/Jobs/Careers,(402) 457-2607

The Clipper ProjectBethlehem, PAThe Clipper Project is a research and development initiative, investigating the costs andbenefits of offering Web-based university courses to high school seniors. High school stu-dents who are accepted in Lehigh University’s early admissions program are eligible toenroll in a Web-based version of one of the University’s introductory courses.For more information: http://clipper.lehigh.edu

Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs(GEAR UP)Washington, D.C.Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, GEAR UP aims to significantlyincrease the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed inpostsecondary education. The program provides two kinds of grants. Partnership grantssupport multi-year partnerships of colleges and low-income middle schools, plus at leasttwo other partners such as community organizations, businesses, state or local agencies,or others. These grants increase college-going rates among low-income youth throughcomprehensive mentoring, counseling, outreach, and supportive services. State grantsprovide early college awareness activities, including awareness of financial assistance,and academic support through mentoring, counseling, outreach, supportive services, andscholarships.For more information: www.ed.gov/gearup


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Programs to Improve Achievement

Eastern Technical High School, Baltimore County Public SchoolsBaltimore, MDEastern Technical High School requires all seniors to complete an independent researchproject and showcase portfolio to graduate. The Senior Independent Project (SIP), ayear-long, interdisciplinary process, combines English skills with research focused onsome aspect of the student’s Career Major, such as Allied Health, InformationTechnology, Engineering, or Business Administration and Technology. Students com-pete for significant cash scholarships underwritten by Verizon Communications, one ofthe school’s business partners, awarded for the best research projects and presentations.All students begin their portfolios in grade 9, and the process culminates in the senioryear when students present their showcase portfolios during mock interviews conductedby representatives from local colleges, businesses and industries. The nationally recog-nized high school conducts Leadership Academies four times annually for educators whowish to see models of best practices for seniorsFor more information: Robert J. Kemmery, Principal and Harry J. Cook, English Chair,www.easttech.org

Texas ScholarsKilgore, TXThe Texas Scholars program is based on the belief that it is better to pass an academical-ly challenging course than to get a higher grade in a less substantial class. To becomeTexas Scholars, students must pass the courses in a state-recommended high school pro-gram that concentrates on mathematics, science, computer literacy, and languages.Students who complete the program successfully receive special recognition at highschool graduation, are eligible for college tuition grants, and may receive preference fromemployers when seeking jobs.For more information: www.tbec.org/texas_scholars.html

Just for the KidsAustin, TXJust for the Kids is an initiative to raise academic standards and increase studentachievement that focuses on training educators and the public to analyze school perform-ance data, use the results to spur higher standards, and identify and use best practices.For more information: www.just4kids.org


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New Vista High SchoolBoulder, COGraduating from New Vista High School requires students to complete A or B work inapplied technology, arts, foreign language, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, lan-guage arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Students must also earn credits inan “Individual Student Path,” which can be governed by the entrance requirements of ahighly competitive college or by the requisites of further study in a technical occupationor the arts.For more information: Rona Wilensky, principal, [email protected]

ACTWashington, D.C.ACT provides programs and services to assist students as they get ready for college. Itprovides information about expenses and eligibility for federal aid, course offerings, cam-pus visits and careers. ACT’s Standards for Transition attempt to facilitate students’understanding of academic expectations as they move from middle school through highschool and on to college. Another program, Work Keys, connects schools with businessby measuring students’ work-related skills.For more information: Anna Stewart Critz, Director, [email protected]

Far West EDGE, Inc.Medford, ORFar West EDGE (Energetic Designs for Growth in Education) trains high schools toimplement a Senior Project program. The program requires all graduating seniors notonly to meet the general district graduation requirements, but also to competently com -plete four additional requirements. These additional requirements involve students inselecting a research topic, designing and completing a physical project tied to someaspect of that research, compiling a portfolio that demonstrates their learning journey,and giving an oral presentation to trained judges with knowledge and expertise withinthe student’s selected area.For more information: www.seniorproject.net


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Buhler High SchoolBuhler, KSStudents at Buhler High School begin developing their senior projects with the creationof a reflective student portfolio in which students look back on 11 years of school andassess their readiness for the coming year. They prepare both a “scholastic resume” and“an area of academic accomplishments” summary to help them connect their past educa-tion with their coming years in the “real world,” be it college, work, or the military. InOctober, students participate in Senior Project Kick-Off Day, a half-day of presentationsand counseling that guides the rest of their senior year. Groups of two to six studentswrite formal proposals for their projects and by January dig into their research. Teams ofEnglish faculty score the research projects while students prepare for presentations tocommunity and faculty boards. Students present their final projects on Senior ProjectPresentation Day, traditionally the last Friday in May. For more information: John Knapp, Senior Project Coordinator,[email protected]

Programs that Provide Education Alternatives

Sustaining the Future Through School-to-CareerThis practical toolkit, issued in collaboration with 30 state and local chambers of com-merce across the country, helps chambers team with local schools to enhance workforcedevelopment and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of chamber activities withschools. For more information: www.uschamber.com/cwp

New Trier High SchoolWinnetka, ILTo keep seniors engaged in meaningful educational experiences and create an effectivetransition to the world beyond high school, the school implements a Senior Project andthe Senior Institute. A Senior Project may involve students in community service, aca-demic learning through research or fieldwork, career exploration, or the arts; the SeniorInstitute is a full day of activities and presentations on topics such as personal healthmanagement, self-advocacy skills, conflict resolution, money management, date rape,substance abuse, drinking, and other issues in life after high school.For more information: Janis Dreis and Larry Rehage, senior project coordinators,[email protected] or [email protected]


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GlobalQuestWoolwich, MEGlobalQuest offers select, highly motivated high school seniors the opportunity to spendthe spring semester in a foreign culture, studying its economic, environmental, social,and cultural forces and increasing their understanding of the international and interde-pendent nature of politics and problems.For more information: www.gquest.org

Lansing Area Manufacturing Partnership (LAMP)Lansing, MILAMP is a model school-to-career initiative operated by the Ingham IntermediateSchool District, the United Auto Workers, and the General Motors Corporation. Sixunits of study integrate academic standards and employability skills within a manufactur-ing context. Students attend the LAMP classroom, housed in the UAW/GM TrainingCenter in Lansing, Michigan, for 2½ hours every day during senior year. Certifiedinstructors deliver a curriculum that blends classroom instruction, work-based learning,hands-on experiences, team projects, and interactions with UAW/GM personnel andmentors. For more information: Kathy Tomlanovich, [email protected]

Woodlands Individualized Senior Experience (WISE)White Plains, NYStudents design and carry out their own senior projects in their field of interest throughthis national program. Most of the school day during the second semester is freed up forexperiential learning projects that give students a trial run at career-oriented or collegepreparatory experiences. In exchange for academic credit, students must keep a dailyjournal detailing experiences, readings, interviews, research, and reflection, meet weeklywith a mentor, do research, and make a final presentation, which is evaluated by fellowstudents, teachers, and community members.For more information: www.wiseservices.org


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Maryville High School Senior ProgramMaryville, TNThe school operates three programs for seniors. Senior Inquiry assists seniors in creatinga portfolio of accomplishments for admission to selective colleges. Students build theirportfolios with service, job shadowing, presentations, and the reading and discussion ofsignificant non-fiction works. Senior Transition addresses the needs of all seniors as theyprepare for the next steps after graduation, emphasizing self-assessment and self-direc-tion, team building, current issues, independent living and community service. SeniorIndependent Project allows seniors to identify and design their own program of studiesunder the guidance of a mentor. The school maintains a standing senior transition teammade up of parents, teachers, and students; runs a parent-operated college and careercounseling center; and offers several senior-specific activities including a day-long ethicaldecision-making seminar.For more information: David W. Messer, Principal, [email protected]

Los Angeles Shell Youth Training Academy (SYTA)Los Angeles, CASYTA is a cooperative education program designed to improve employment opportuni-ties for South Central Los Angeles youth. The one-semester program provides occupa-tional and employability skills training and structured workplace learning to 11th- and12th-grade students. Students learn about requirements of today’s workplace, get paid,receive on-the-job training for 12 to 16 hours a week for one semester, earn diplomacredit, and have the opportunity to work with a workplace mentor who demonstrates jobskills and models positive employee behaviors and attitudes. For more information: Youth Training Academy Office, (323) 751-5050

Corporation for National ServiceWashington, D.C.The Corporation for National Service sponsors a number of programs that link serviceand learning. In schools, colleges, and community organizations, young people of allages improve their studies, develop problem-solving skills, and incorporate the habits ofgood citizenship while improving their communities. The corporation recognizes stu-dents who have outstanding service records with scholarships, awards, and leadershipopportunities.For more information: www.nationalservice.org


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Barth, P., Haycock, K., Huang, S. and Richardson, A., Youth at the Crossroads: Facing HighSchool and Beyond . Washington, DC: The Education Trust, 2000.

Carnevale, A.P., Help Wanted…College Required. Princeton, NJ: Education Testing Service, 2000.

Cook, H.J., Baltimore County Public Schools: Student Survey for the National Commission onthe High School Senior Year. Baltimore: Eastern Technical High School, 2000.

Haslam, M.B. and Rubenstein, M.C., K-16 Alignment as a Strategy to Improve theConnection Between High School and Postsecondary Education. Washington, DC: PolicyStudies Associates, Inc., 2000.

Rubenstein, M.C., The Future of High School Reform: The Emerging Consensus. Washington,DC: Policy Studies Associates, Inc., 2000.

Rubenstein, M.C., Transforming The Senior Year of High School: A Conceptual Framework.Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates, Inc., 2000.

Kirst, M.W., Overcoming the High School Senior Slump : New Education Policies. Palo Alto,California: Stanford University, 2000.

Steen, R.E., Opportunities Missed: Reflections on Transitions from High School. St. Louis,MO: Fleishman-Hillard Research, 2000.

Zeiger, D., Senior Year: Voices of Fairfax High Seniors. Los Angeles, CA: Displaced Films, 2000.


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Appendix D

Papers and Other MaterialsPrepared for the Commission

1 National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 1997. NCES 98-015, Table 135, page 137. (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 1997.)

2 See Digest of Education Statistics, 2000 (NCES 2001-034), Table 141, page 156.(Actually, just 29 percent of seniors completed the full program laid out by the excel-lence commission — four years of English, three each of social studies, mathematics, andscience, and half a year of computer science. Dropping the out-of-date computer sciencerequirement permits analysts to reach the conclusion that 44 percent of graduates metthe standards recommended in A Nation at Risk.)

3 See, for example, Education Indicators: An International Perspective (NCES 96-003) byNancy Matheson, et al., National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC, 1996,Tables 4 and 5, pages 33 and 36.

4 Jodi Wilgoren, “Education Study Finds U.S. Falling Short,” New York Times, June 13,2001.

5 Center for Educational Research and Innovation, Education at a Glance: OECDIndicators , page 159. (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,June 2001.)

6 Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators, Chart C41, page 159.

7 Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators, page 13.

8 Throughout this report, the Commission refers to “postsecondary education.” Thatterm normally refers to formal education and training available at two- and four-year col-leges, technical institutes, corporate training programs, and apprenticeship training andother union-related educational opportunities. The Commission also uses it to includeadult education and new distance-learning opportunities employing emerging technolo-gies and the Internet. Throughout the world of postsecondary education, some pro-grams offer degrees or certificates; others do not. The Commission includes all of themin its definition.

9 Dale Mezzacappa, “Reading, Writing, and Race: Grappling with the AchievementGap,” a series in the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 17 – June 19, 2001.


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Appendix E

Notes

10 By P-16 we intend to broaden the traditional notion of K-12 education (kindergartenthrough grade 12) to encompass preschool programs through four years of postsecondaryeducation.11 Phillip Kaufman et. al., Dropout Rates in the United States: 1999. (Washington, DC:National Center on Education Statistics, 2000. NCES 2001-022.)

12 See for example, A Nation at Risk, (report of the National Commission on Excellencein Education, 1983), Learning a Living (report of the Secretary’s Commission onAchieving Necessary Skills – SCANS 1993) and Spanning the Chasm (report of theBusiness-Higher Education Forum, 1997).

13 For a discussion of these issues, see Redeeming the American Promise , report of thePanel on Educational Opportunity and Desegregation (Atlanta: Southern EducationFoundation, 1995).

14 M. Bruce Haslam and Michael Rubenstein, K-16 Alignment as a Strategy to Improve theConnection Between High School and Postsecondary Education. (Washington, D.C.: PolicyStudies Associates, Inc., 2000.)

15 Patti Barth et al., Youth at the Crossroads: Facing High School and Beyond. (Washington,DC: The Education Trust, 2001)

16 Patti Barth et al., Youth at the Crossroads: Facing High School and Beyond.

17 SREB Survey for “High Schools that Work,” 1998.

18 SREB Survey for “High Schools that Work,” 1998 (survey of more than 26,000 teach-ers in 13 Southern states).

19 Leon Botstein, Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture.(New York: Doubleday, 1997)

20 These institutions, normally located on community and four-year college campuses,permit students to move back and forward freely between high school and college-levelacademic work.

21 National Center for Education Statistics, January 2001.


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raising_our_sights

Documents