Thirteen states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, have formed a coalition to improve high schools, “significantly” raising the rigor of graduation standards, assessments and curriculum to better match the demands of college and the workplace.
The states, which together serve about 5 million high school students, or 35 percent of total U.S. high school enrollment, announced their initiative at the end of a weekend summit on high schools in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Governors Association and Achieve Inc.
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“For the first time, a group of states will reshape an American institution that has far outlasted its effectiveness,” Ohio Governor Bob Taft, co-chair of Achieve Inc., said in a news release. “This is the biggest step states can take to restore the value of the high school diploma.”
The participating states are Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas. Achieve president Michael Cohen, a former education adviser to President Clinton, said the group recruited states that seemed most serious about higher standards and poised to act. Other states are expected to join the effort soon, Taft said.
“Improving high schools one school or one state at a time is not moving fast enough,” added Arthur F. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial and co-chair of Achieve Inc. “We need states working together and collaborating with many partners like the business community to help graduates leave school fully prepared for the jobs we have to offer.”
Also on Sunday, six foundations – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Wallace Foundation, The Prudential Foundation and the State Farm Foundation – announced a $42-million effort to help states pay for high school improvements. More than half the money, $23 million, will come from private sources, while the rest will be matching public funds.
The high school summit drew 45 of the nation’s governors to deal with what they consider a crisis an American education. About one-third of students don’t graduate on time, and many don’t have the skills for college or well-paying jobs.
The 13-state group will aim to enforce the American Diploma Project, an effort launched last year to prepare every high school student for college-level work. It calls for big changes, such as requiring every student to take rigorous math and English regardless of career plans, and tying college admissions to high school exit exams.
States will maintain the option to adopt what they want, but they have agreed to four specific points:
The efforts of each ADP state will be led by the governor, the state superintendent of education, the state higher education director, business leaders, and other key individuals to ensure broad support that goes beyond politics and partisanship. Over the few months, each state will develop a specific plan and timetable for addressing ADP Network objectives, and Achieve will report regularly on state progress.
“These states recognize that the world their graduates enter today is dramatically different than in the past,” Cohen said, “and that we need a new kind of high school to prepare students for the higher demands of work and postsecondary education.”
More information about the summit is available at www.2005summit.org.
