BREAKING RANKS II: STRATEGIES FOR LEADING HIGH SCHOOL REFORM Opening Questions:

1

Thinking Through a High School Agenda in New
York State New York StateCouncil of Education
Associations May 13, 2005
2
A Global Outlook

• It was once preferable being born a B student in
  Boston than a genius in Beijing

• Because a genius in Beijing or Bangalore could
  not really take advantage of his or her talent

3
Look Out!

• Today, a 14-year-old in Romania or Bangalore or
  the Soviet Union or Vietnam has all the
  information, all the tools, all the software
  easily available to apply knowledge.

• Broadband connectivity and undersea cables
  create a platform where intellectual work can be
  delivered from anywhere.

4
The Playing Field is Leveled

• Globalization 1.0 (1492 to 1800) shrank the world
  from large to medium
• by countries and imperial conquest.
• Globalization 2.0 (1800 to 2000) shrank the world
  from medium to small
• by companies competing for markets and labor.
• Globalization 3.0 (which started around 2000) is
  shrinking the world from small to tiny
• by individuals and small groups globalizing.

5
The World is Flat

• Anyone with smarts, access to Google and a cheap
  wireless laptop can plug and play globally
• Hierarchies are being flattened and value is
  being created less and less within vertical silos
  and more and more through horizontal
  collaboration within companies, between companies
  and among individuals
• Thomas L. Freidman, It's a Flat World, After
  All New York Times Magazine, April 3, 2005

6
The Economic Imperative

• The challenges of flatism require a
  comprehensive, energetic and focused a response
• Education and training through and beyond high
  school are now necessary conditions for seeking a
  living wage and good career.

7
Consequences

• If our kids are not prepared, the unfilled 15
  need for high-skilled labor in this country will
  go to immigrants or overseas.
• Susan Sclafani, US DoE Office of Vocational and
  Adult Education

8
International Scene

• Our competitors are raising educational
  achievement.
• Beginning in 2011, the baby boom will retire in
  significant numbers, creating a shortage of
  workers with postsecondary skills.
• Source Standards For What? The Economic Roots
  of K-16 Reform
• Carnavale Desrochers www.ets.org/research/publea
  dpubs.html

9
Internationally

• The huge difference between high-performing and
  low-performing students in the United States
  commonly called the achievement gap" has brought
  down the United States' global standing in
  quality of education.
• The U.S. 34 college-dropout rate is above the
  30 average of all 30 OECD countries."Education
  at a Glance," OECD, September 2004

10
U.S. College Drift out

• Not returning the second year
• 26 at 4-year colleges
• 45 at 2-year colleges
• "Graduation Rates in Four Year Colleges and
  Universities Education Trust May 2004

11
In Sum

• 9th graders readiness for high school and 12th
  graders readiness for college and work are
  driving high school reform.
• Finish your homework -- people in China and
  India are starving for your jobs.''

12
The Challenge

• The reading and math ability of 9th graders
  ranges from elementary school to college level.
• The established routines of most high schools
  are mismatched with the new demands

13
Strategies to Redesign

• Rigor high quality curriculum and instruction
  for all students to meet high standards
• Relevance programs that are motivating for
  students and responsive to real world needs and
• Relationships a school environment where
  students develop confidence and belonging through
  healthy relationships with faculty, staff and
  other pupils.

14
Americas high schools are obsolete  

• Likened to trying to teach kids about todays
  computers on a 50-year-old mainframe.  
• Our high schools were designed fifty years ago
  to meet the needs of another age. 
• Bill Gates, National Education Summit, NGA,
  February 26, 2005

15
Three steps to build momentum for change  

• 1. Declare that all students can and should
  graduate from high school ready for college,
  work, and citizenship
• 2. Publish the data that measures our progress
  toward that goal, broken down by race and income.
  
• 3. Every state needs a strong intervention
  strategy to improve struggling schools. 
• Bill Gates, national Education Summit, NGA,
  February 26, 2005

16
Gates Philanthropy

• We are constantly asking ourselves where a dollar
  of funding and an hour of effort can make the
  biggest impact for equality.

• We look for strategic entry points where the
  inequality is the greatest, has the worst
  consequences, and offers the best chance for
  improvement.

17
New York State

• Assessment Review and Action on Student
  Performance Results
• for the 2000 Student Cohort
• http//www.regents.nysed.gov/2005Meetings/February
  2005/0205emscvesida4.htm

18
Results for the High School Student Cohort

• 199,312 students who first entered
• grade 9 in the 2000-01 school year,
• by June 30, 2004
• 67.4 Regents or Local Diploma
• 11.9 dropped out
• 1.8 entered a GED program,
• 17.3 still enrolled in the district

19
Why Do Some Students Not Take the Exams in 4
Years?

• Students have to earn course credits to graduate.
  Local schools determine passing grades in these
  courses.
• Students entering 9th grade with serious academic
  problems in reading and math
• - fail their courses
• - are held back
• - may take 5 or more years
• - may also drop out
• School Report Cards For 20032004Press Release
  May 9, 2005

20
Analysis

• Very few general-education students who dropped
  out or entered GED programs took Regents exams
  and scored between 0 and 54.

21
Analysis

• These students came to high school unprepared
  most scored level 1 on the grade 8 assessments.
• Students are relying less on the 55 low pass than
  ever before e.g., Regents English now only 5.6
  score 55-64.
• http//www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/speeche
  s/nyscoss-1-05_files/frame.htm
• Ten Years of Standards

22
Analysis

• Very few students who took Regents exams had
  failing scores at the end of their 4th year of
  high school highest was math at 9.
• Students who do not take tests and do not
  graduate on time are concentrated in 12 school
  districts, 136 high schools in the State.
• http//www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/speeche
  s/nyscoss-1-05_files/frame.htm
• Ten Years of Standards

23
SED Strategy 1

• Identify all of the students in academic
  difficulty and ensure they get adequate help.

24
SED Strategy 2

• Expand and strengthen our statewide initiative
  with schools that have the lowest graduation
  rates and the highest proportions of students
  taking three or fewer Regents exams in four
  years.

25
SED Strategy 3

• Create an appeals process for certain students
  who pass their courses and are close to passing
  the Regents exams but may have difficulty
  demonstrating their knowledge on a particular
  test.

26
Key Strategies Based on Data

• Make sure the 12 school districts and 136 high
  schools with the lowest graduation rates look at
• Developing catch up curricula and instruction
  emphasizing literacy, reading in content areas
  and mathematics.
• Create strategies to improve attendance.
• Break-up large comprehensive high schools into
  smaller schools or learning communities.

27
Key Strategies (contd)

• Expand proven career and technical education
  programs.
• Provide summer school and extended day more
  time on task.
• Accelerate intensive English instruction for
  ELLs.

28
Statewide Challenge

• While SED may concentrate efforts on a limited
  number of districts, all districts have some of
  these students who are not making it to
  graduation.
• We need a pooling of collective knowledge and
  skill to analyze the issues, re-design schools
  and programs, and get the job done.

29
NGA 10 Steps to a State Action Agenda
30
Cautions

• Calls to fix Americas high schools is like
  saying we have to fix global warming.
• From 30,000 feet, you can easily agree that
  theres a problem, but the closer you get to it,
  the more you can see that different peoples
  views of the essence of the problem and the
  solution are very, very different, Chester E.
  Finn Jr.
• Calls for Revamping High Schools Intensify Ed
  Week 1-26-05- Vol. 24, Issue 20, Pages 1,18-19

31
Eight Questions Posed to the SED HS Work Group

• 1. What should we require of schools to
  demonstrate what they are doing to help students
  who enter high school in serious academic
  difficulty?
• 2. How should we evaluate the effectiveness of
  academic intervention services provided to
  students who enter high school in serious
  academic difficulty?
• 3. What should be our plan for bringing together
  those districts with the highest proportion of
  high schools with the lowest performance in terms
  of graduation and taking Regents exams?

32
8 Questions

• 4. Are the intervention strategies proposed in
  the February Regents Item EMSC-VESID(A)4 the
  right list?
• 5. What national experts can help us with the
  High School Completion Initiative?
• 6. How should we involve New York educators who
  want to help in this initiative but are not part
  of the 12 districts, e.g., school
  superintendents, SAANYS principals?

33
8 Questions

• 7. How can representatives and resources from
  higher education, VESID, cultural institutions be
  brought in to help with this initiative?
•  
• 8. Should we form an external task force to work
  on broader issues of high school reform?