American Diploma Project

[George Sheridan <learn@jps.net>]

High school diploma no longer is key to success

Panel asks renewed push in reading, writing

Ben Feller
Associated Press
Arizona Republic
Feb. 10, 2004 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0210highschooldiplomas10.html

WASHINGTON - Once considered a springboard to success, the high school 
diploma now has little meaning in determining whether students are ready 
for college or work, a coalition of education groups contends.

Only comprehensive change, including more rigorous English and math 
requirements for all students, would restore the significance of a high 
school graduation, according to a nearly two-year review by the American 
Diploma Project.

The organization is an alliance of three groups whose leaders include top 
education officials in the administrations of former presidents Clinton and 
Reagan. Its report is based on comments from more than 300 educators and 
employers and an analysis of employment trends.

Project leaders, anticipating resistance to a stinging call for action, say 
they hope to spur gradual change among states. Lack of change, they say, 
will keep huge numbers of students heading for remedial college work or 
jobs for which they're unprepared.

"We haven't believed that the purpose of high school was to ensure every 
kid who graduated was ready to do college-level work. That is the big sea 
change that we're signaling here," said Michael Cohen, the former Clinton 
adviser and current president of Achieve, a nonprofit group dedicated to 
helping states raise academic standards.

"Whether, as a parent, you think your kid is going to college or the 
workplace, those kids face the same rigorous demands, and they need to 
leave with the same core set of skills," he said.

That means all students should learn geometry, data analysis, statistics 
and advanced algebra, the report says. They also should show strong written 
and oral skills, plus analytic and reasoning ability typically linked with 
honors courses, it says.

No state requires the standards called for in the report, its authors say.

Tom Horne, Arizona superintendent of public instruction, called the 
proposal an extreme position.

"We're going to require in 2006 that students pass the high school AIMS 
test to graduate, but it doesn't go to that extreme," Horne said.

To pass the high school Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards, students 
need to understand first year geometry and first year algebra.

"They (the American Diploma Project) are calling for the analytical and 
reasoning abilities found in advanced placement courses that are designed 
for a minority of students," Horne said. "The high school diploma should be 
available to all students who complete the work required."

"I'm struggling for something in between, a golden mean," Horne said. "This 
is an extreme position, the other extreme is parents who think passing 
courses is sufficient without passing a reasonable test."

The report offers a series of skill expectations, or bench marks, as a 
means for school leaders to review the content of their schools' courses- 
not just in high school but also in the grades that precede it, so students 
are on pace for the last years before graduation.

David Bloome, past president of the National Council of Teachers of 
English, said the report is not "smacking of reality."

Leaders targeted only English and math because they are the basic subjects 
that give students access to everything else and because they are the 
easiest to take on first, said project director Sheila Byrd. They are also 
at the heart of the new federal law that's pressuring schools to raise 
achievement.

Reporter Pat Kossan contributed to this article.


On the Net: The American Diploma Project: http://www.achieve.org

George Sheridan