Kansas Graduation Requirements Task Force

1
Kansas Graduation Requirements Task Force

• To review the recommendations presented to the
  Kansas State Board of Education in January, 1998
• To determine appropriate graduation requirements
  for students in Kansas

2
Ticket to Nowhere?

• Need to replace outdated and low-level curricula
  and rethink instruction and school organization
• Poor students and students of color are more
  likely than others to fall short of any standard
  of academic achievement
• Schools and districts serving concentrations of
  poor and minority students have the greatest need

3
Ticket to Anywhere

• Need to think in terms of PreK-16
• Need to banish courses such as Fractions without
  Denominators
• Educate all students as if they are bound for
  college and the workplace
• Need to get rid of insufficient and out-of-date
  materials, undereducated teachers, and a slipping
  curriculum

4
The Case for Raising Standards

• In a Public Agenda poll, 32 percent of
  employers and 39 percent of college professors
  said high school graduates have the skills
  needed to succeed in the work world/college,
  meaning that a sizable majority did not. The
  poll also found that 80 percent of employers and
  78 percent of professors rated graduates spelling
  and grammar as poor or fair, and just 31 percent
  of employers and 16 percent of professors rated
  their basic math skills as excellent or good.
• Public Agenda, 1999

5

• A high school diploma is no longer enough
• Governor Paul Patton, KY, Chair, National
  Commission on the High School Senior Year

6
Learning for a New Age

• About half of our students, perhaps two-thirds,
  flourish
• The other one-third to one-half of our students
  flounder
• The key difference between the two groups is the
  level and quality of education available to them

7
Albert Einstein pointed out that students who are
taught only skills or specialties may become
useful machines, but they will never become
fully formed human beings.
8
Central Importance of Education

• Everyone, to prosper, must possess high levels of
  literacy, logic, critical thinking
• Everyone must be comfortable with the scientific
  method, quantitative tools and technology

9
Central Importance of Education (cont.)

• Everyone must have a sense of history, understand
  government, and democracy
• Everyone should appreciate the arts and
  literature
• Everyone must be at ease with ambiguity

10
The National Commission stated that
it is striking that in the nation that is
emerging, knowledge, skills, schools and
education are becoming to economic growth in the
21st century what steam, oil, mineral deposits,
and manufacturing processes were to progress in
previous times.
11
Changing Face of Work

• In 1900
• About 50 of young men left school at 8th grade
  and farmed
• In 1950
• 20 of jobs were professional
• 20 were skilled
• 60 were unskilled

• In 2000
• About 2 now work on farms yet they feed the
  nation
• In 2000
• 20 of jobs are professional
• 60 are skilled
• 20 are unskilled

12

• 1950
• 20 of jobs were low-skilled
• 31 were factory jobs

• 2000
• 21 of jobs are low-skilled
• 18 are factory jobs

13
Prepared for Work

• New basics at work is the ability to read at
  relatively high levels, do at least elementary
  algebra, use personal computers, solve
  multi-structured problems, communicate
  effectively, and work in groups
• Comparing job-selection exams with NAEP, nearly
  one-half of all 17 year olds cannot read or
  compute at the 9th grade level
• Students who experience the greatest difficulty
  dropout

14
Prepared for Life

• Teachers and parents often bend the rules in
  terms of deadlines and quality of work so that a
  student has every opportunity to succeed. In the
  workplace or college, students are thrown into a
  world where they alone are responsible for how
  they work and if they succeed.
• Lauren

15
Education is the most reliable predictor of
participation in public lifeThe central role
that education plays in promoting an active civil
life has been demonstrated and reinforced by five
decades of research in political
science.Viteritti, J.P., 1999, Choosing
Equality, School Choice, the Constitution and
Civil Society.
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Why Low Achievement is a Problem

• The nations economic health is increasingly
  linked to citizen education
• The higher ability of citizens to acquire,
  comprehend, and critically analyze public
  policies, the more valuable their input
• Just over 38 percent of citizens with less than a
  high school degree voted in the November 11, 1996
  election as compared to 74 percent of
  baccalaureate holders

17
High Schools as Sorting Machines

• Every year hundreds of thousands of 9th graders
  make a decision (or have the decision made for
  them) that sorts them for years. They decide not
  to take Algebra I. This decision, made at the
  age of 14, lowers their chances of attending
  college and raises their risk of forfeiting the
  future.

18
High Schools as Sorting Machines

• All too often teachers estimates of (students)
  native abilityhave closely matched the income
  and educational background of their parents
• Tucker and Godding, 1998, Standards for Our
  Schools
• Black, Hispanic and low-income children are most
  intensely affected by low educational standards.
  They are disproportionately placed in non-college
  preparatory and vocational coursework
• Presidents Commission on Educational Excellence
  for Hispanic Americans, 2000

19
High Schools as Sorting Machines

• I think the reason why I messed up in high
  school was because of the teachers. I felt like
  they would help the advanced people, or superior
  people, but below that, it was kind of like,
  Whatever.
• Kyle, Oct. 2000

20

• Some students are exposed to different and lower
  standards. The system just expects less of them.
  These are the students who
• receive algebra without equations,
• science without labs, and
• literature without reading.
• Kati Haycock

21

• In the best secondary schools, teachers know
  their subjects, engage with material they care
  about, are intellectually alive, and possess the
  teaching tools they need to bring material alive
  for their students.
• National Commission

22
Beyond the Classroom

• American students manage their academic
  schedules to fit into their work and play
  schedules, rather than vice versa. Given the
  large amounts of time American teenagers devote
  to their after-school jobs (on average, 15 to 20
  hours per week), socializing (another 20 to 25
  hours), extracurricular activities (about 15
  hours), and watching television (about 15 hours),
  it is a wonder that they have any time for
  studying at all.
• --Beyond the Classroom, 1997

23
In the Classroom

• Students report that what they learned in high
  school left them ill-equipped for the challenges
  of college, work, and the adult world.
• Many students report that for them, the senior
  year was a waste of time.
• A number of students report that, far from being
  challenged by their high school curriculum, they
  find high school to be pointless and boring.
• Many viewed high school as primarily a social
  venue.

24
Graduates on Their High School Experience

• They tell you these are how many credits you
  have to have, and thats what you need to
  graduate. Well, once you get what you need to
  graduate, then a lot of people feel whats the
  point in being here?
• Christine

25
Are High Schools in Trouble?

• Are high schools impervious to reform efforts?
• Do they have difficulty in fundamentally
  changing?
• Is there little institutional capacity to change?
• Does a tyranny of low expectations exist?
• Is learning confined to 180 six-hour days?

26
Shared Definitions

• Standard something established by authority,
  custom, or general consent as a model or
  benchmark
• Content standards reflect knowledge and skills
• Performance standards reflect the levels of
  mastery
• Requirement an essential requisite something
  claimed or asked for by right and authority to
  call for as suitable or appropriate

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Shared Definitions (cont.)

• Graduation Requirements
• Proficiencies, performances or outcomes required
  of students prior to graduating from high school
• All students who graduate from Kansas high
  schools will possess the knowledge and skills
  that afford them access to the succeeding level
  of education, work, or other opportunity after
  high school

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Carnegie Units

• Blue Valley example
• Royal Valley example

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Graduation Requirements Task Force Recommendations

• No change in the unit requirements
• Develop graduation requirements that demonstrate
  performance/ proficiency levels
• Form a steering committee incorporate graduation
  requirements into school accreditation integrate
  the requirements into school improvement

30
Graduation Requirements Task Force
Recommendations (cont.)

• Use the graduation requirements as supplements to
  Carnegie units
• Require locally developed multiple
  measures/demonstrations to determine student
  eligibility for graduation
• Apply graduation requirements to all students
• Do not match to the Board of Regents requirements

31
Graduation Requirements Task Force
Recommendations (cont.)

• Other recommendations
• Include work place skills in subject areas
• Consult with parents and counselors to inform all
  graduates of new requirements
• Ensure that all students have the opportunity to
  meet the same high expectations
• Adopt the recommendations
• Appoint the Task Force as the steering committee
  to assist KSDE staff in the development of
  graduation requirements

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Graduation Requirements

• Develop high school graduation requirements based
  on demonstration of performance/proficiency
  levels
• Incorporate these requirements into school
  accreditation
• Require demonstrations for meeting these
  requirements be locally determined

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Sample Graduation Requirements

• Content literacy
• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Responsible citizen

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Sample Content Literacy Requirements

• Content Literacy Demonstrate knowledge and
  skills in reading, mathematics, writing, science,
  civics, government, history, geography,
  economics, foreign language, arts and physical
  education

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Sample Content Literacy Indicators

• Uses standard English conventions in clear and
  fluent sentences
• Uses literary concepts to interpret literature
• Determines probability and odds
• Develops questions and identifies concepts that
  guide scientific investigations
• Describes the actions and interaction of the
  geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere
• Uses a working knowledge and understanding of
  individuals, groups, ideas, developments, and
  turning points form the settlement of the US to
  contemporary US history
• Applies language skills and cultural knowledge in
  a foreign language community