As Checker Finn noted last month, "the NEXT BIG THING in education reform is a serious focus on high school." (Click here for more.) Among the bipartisan chorus calling for high school reform are a few who ascribe America's staggering college drop-out problem to inadequacies in the high schools. According to Richard Colvin, "nearly six in 10 high school graduates in 2005 will start college in the fall, but half of them-and more than two-thirds of the African American and Latino students who enroll-will fail to earn either an associate's or bachelor's degree." That's not surprising, given the vast numbers of high school graduates needing remediation once they enter college. Colvin reports that the Cal State University system required an astonishing 58 percent of its first-year students this year to take remedial courses in reading, math, or both. Virginia Governor Mark Warner, this year's chair of the National Governors Association (NGA), has made strengthening high schools the top priority of that group. In February, NGA plans to hold an education summit that will include the release of a "top 10 list" of what David Broder calls "relatively easy and inexpensive steps that states can take to begin the process of improving high schools." And, of course, the Bush administration has signaled that its second term education goal is to extend standards-based reform and accountability through high school. But, as Michael Cohen, president of Achieve, Inc. notes, merely testing students isn't enough. "The details and design [of the test] matter immensely. There is a need to increase rigor and increase expectations." Let's hope the feds heed the warning.
"Congratulations! You're about to fail," by Richard Colvin, Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2005 (registration required)
"The next school reform," by David Broder, Washington Post, January 2, 2004
"No child heading off to high school," by Robert Dodge, Dallas Morning News, January 2, 2005 (registration required)