New Schools Project

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New Schools Project
Northeastern North Carolina August 31-September
1, 2004

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An initiative of the NC Education Cabinet and
the Public School Forum with the support of
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation


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Collaborators

State Board of Education Department of Public
Instruction Local Districts Community Colleges NC
General Assembly Universities (Private
Public) Business and economic developers Public
and private agencies

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Building on Success

• ABCs
• College Tech Prep
• Academies
• Experimentation Innovation
• NC General Assembly
• Articulation agreements

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Imperative for Small, Focused High Schools

• Results with students
• Needs of communities
• Impact on professionals

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NC 9-12 Enrollment Comparison
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The Disappearing 9th Grade

• In North Carolina,
• the 9th grade is
• 45,757 students larger
• than the 12th grade

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Northeastern NCEnrollment Comparison
12th Grade is 51 the size of the 9th Or, 2,871
fewer students
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NC Education Pipeline

• For every 100 ninth grade students. . .
• 60 graduate four years later
• 41 enter college
• 29 are still enrolled in their second year
• 19 graduate with associate/bachelor
  degree within six years

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Community Expectations
Skilled 20
Unskilled 15
Unskilled 60
Professional 20
Skilled 65
Professional 20
1950
1997
National Summit on 21st Century Skills for 21st
Century Jobs
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Fastest Growing Jobs Require Some Education
Beyond High School
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High Learning High Earning
S A L A R Y
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Four Year Degrees?
On average, workers with associate degrees earn
less than those with bachelors degrees, but 83
percent of workers with associate degrees earn
the same as workers with bachelors degrees.
Carnevale and Desrochers, Standards for What?,
2003.
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Better education, particularly in
elementary, middle and high schools, would go
a long way toward boosting the wages of
lower-skilled workers and diminishing the
income inequality that has become more
pronounced over the last two decades.
- Federal Reserve Chairman
Greenspan, Feb 2004
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Impact on Professionals

• Realistic expectations of administrators?
• Of teachers?

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Impact on Professionals

• Standardization and bureaucratization fuel
  distrust in schools

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Impact on Professionals
We have organized our schools around passive
learning of curricula designed to cover an
unrealistic amount of material, therefore
discouraging exploration and understanding.
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Impact on Professionals

• Four or five teachers get to know 80 students so
  well that being accountable for them happens
  naturally without complex reporting schemes.

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Kenneth DobynsWest Johnston High

• Through our second year, West Johnston High has
  looked less like the school I thought we were
  trying to create when I signed on and I feel
  powerless to do anything about it.

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Kenneth DobynsWest Johnston High

• My role on the school improvement team has been
  little more than an exercise in data gathering
  and report writing, with little time left to
  actually improve the school in a meaningful way.

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High School Reform Learning From Experience

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High School Reform Why Failure?

• Reforms must
• - Take into account systemic nature of
  public education
• Involve all stakeholders
• Benefit schools and educators
• Accompanied by TA, support

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• Rigor
• Relevance
• Relationships

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Toward Rigor and Personalization
Courses Pathways
Academies Small Focused Themes
Diplomas
SWS Schools
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Measurable Outcomes

• Decrease
• Dropouts, suspensions, retention, achievement
  gaps, violence
• Increase
• Preparedness for work college, graduation
  rates, economic opportunities, teacher/student
  satisfaction

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From Programs to New Schools

• 1) Engagement
• Statewide plan for high school reform
• Multimedia communications campaign and toolkit

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From Programs to New Schools

• 2) Innovation Schools
• Small, autonomous high schools
• - Conversion schools
• - Start up schools

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Demonstration Schools

• Early College
• First Things First
• Expeditionary Learning/Outward Bound
• Gateway to College
• Ed Visions
• New Tech High School

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New Schools Project
Northeastern North Carolina August 31-September
1, 2004