[Youth-list] Courant on Proposed High School Improvement

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courant.com/news/custom/topnews/hc-highexit1116.artnov16,0,1421401.story?coll=
hc_tab01_layout 
Courant.com
High School May Get Harder
Stricter Standards Proposed For State
By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER And RACHEL GOTTLIEB 
Courant Staff Writers 
November 16, 2007 
 
 
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High school students would be required to pass end-of-course exams, complete  
a yearlong independent study project and earn 24 credits in specific areas to 
 graduate from any public school in Connecticut under a set of 
recommendations  being considered by the State Board of Education.

The recommendations,  put together by a committee that included teachers, 
school officials and  representatives of business and higher education, are part 
of a high school  redesign effort intended to address stagnating test scores, 
wide achievement  gaps and concerns that a growing number of state students 
graduate high school  unprepared for college or the workforce.

"[The recommendations] make some  major changes in what we expect of our 
students and our schools," said Allan B.  Taylor, chairman of the State Board of 
Education. "I think it's necessary to  make those changes in order to prepare 
Connecticut students for the world that  we'll be living in."

It will be years before any recommendations are  adopted; state education 
officials will spend much of the next year soliciting  public comment, and the 
legislature must authorize any changes in graduation  requirements. 

As proposed, the recommendations would represent a major  change in public 
education, creating more specific standards that require more  teachers and 
resources, and would add Connecticut to a growing list of states  that require 
students to take end-of-course exams.

Tom Murphy, a  spokesman for the state Department of Education, said the 
recommendations are  intended to address concerns that an increasing number of 
Connecticut high  school graduates require remedial classes in college, and that 
the requirements  of high school classes may vary widely among school 
districts.

"The  business community and parents and the higher education community, they 
are all  saying we need to ratchet up performance," Murphy said.

The changes would  probably be felt keenly in urban districts, where 
achievement levels tend to be  far lower than in the suburbs. But urban education 
leaders were divided about  the potential fallout.

Although some said they welcomed tougher  standards, others said they feared 
that even more students would be unable to  graduate high school if they are 
forced to pass end-of-course exams in multiple  subjects.

Cathy Carpino, president of Hartford's teachers union, said  there must be a 
tremendous infusion of resources in the lower grades to increase  the 
achievement of high school students. 

If the state institutes stiffer  requirements for students who aren't ready 
for them, Carpino said, "I can't  begin to fathom the impact to the dropout 
rate."

The State Board of  Education is expected to address the recommendations next 
month, Murphy said.  After that, board members and Education Commissioner 
Mark K. McQuillan will hold  discussions in communities throughout the state on 
the proposals.

The  board will also seek funding from the legislature for a study to 
determine the  costs of the proposals. 

Some will probably require a major increase in  resources; one proposal 
calling for students to take three years of lab  sciences, for example, would 
require more school laboratories, Taylor said.  

The recommendations include expanding and specifying graduation  
requirements. 

Currently, high school students must take at least 20  credits to graduate, 
with a set distribution that includes four English, three  math, three social 
studies and two science courses. But aside from a half-credit  course on civics 
and American government, no specific courses are  required.

The recommended changes would increase the required credits to  24 and 
outline specific courses, such as algebra I and II, international studies  and 
biology.

Students also would have to take two years of world  languages, which the 
state does not now require. Doing so today would be  impossible, Murphy said; 
there are not enough language teachers. But committee  members felt strongly that 
language was important for students entering a  globalized workforce.

One of the 24 credits would come from a senior  demonstration, in which 
seniors would participate in a yearlong independent  study under the supervision of 
a teacher or mentor. Taylor described it as a way  to keep seniors engaged 
during their final year in high school, and to have them  apply skills 
synthesizing information and applying  knowledge.

End-of-course exams, another recommendation, have long been a  source of 
debate in Connecticut. 

The recommendations call for the state  to provide a model curriculum that 
districts could adopt for classes that  require the exams. 

The curriculum would be optional; districts could  adopt it, borrow from it 
or not use it, Murphy said.

Twenty-two states  use some form of exit exams for students, and an 
increasing number of those are  moving toward end-of-course and standards-based exams, 
according to the Center  on Education Policy, a nonpartisan group in 
Washington, D.C.

Douglas  Hiscox, assistant superintendent for secondary education in 
Bridgeport, said he  is not opposed to the standards under consideration, but he said 
he worries that  students who reach high school without the reading skills 
needed to pass  high-stakes tests will fail.

"The CAP Test intimidates kids. A graduation  test would be even more 
high-stakes," he said.

Hiscox was working in Ohio  when that state instituted exit exams for high 
schools. 

Graduation rates  dropped for years, he said, and the test needed to be 
changed several times  during a decade before a test was developed that urban 
educators thought was  appropriate for their students. 

"A lot of students dropped out because  of that test," Hiscox said. 

Murphy said any end-of-course tests would  include flexibility for students 
who need alternatives to a test. "There will be  a safety net for those 
students that simply cannot reach the standard by  conventional means," he said.

Taylor said the exams would require  identifying students who may struggle 
with the tests to give them support. But  experience in other states has also 
suggested that "when you ask more, you get  more," he said.

He said that many students who drop out are not failing,  but bored, 
something he hoped that raising standards would address.

In  Hartford, where Superintendent Steven Adamowski has said that just 29 
percent of  students who enroll as freshmen go on to graduate, the school 
district is  already making changes in the curriculum that mirror those the state 
board  contemplates.

For example, all freshmen in Hartford are taking algebra I  this year, and 
freshmen have double periods for math and language arts, with  extra time for 
reading for students who are reading below grade level.  

District officials are also discussing exit exams for courses and  increasing 
the number of credits that students need to graduate.

"The  state's work is very much aligned with what we're doing," said Penny 
MacCormack,  assistant superintendent for secondary education.

If new state standards  are phased in to match changes that Hartford is 
making, she said, she does not  think that new state graduation requirements will 
cause more Hartford students  to drop out.

Contact Arielle Levin Becker at _alevinbecker at courant.com_ 
(mailto:alevinbecker at courant.com) .


Copyright © 2007, _The Hartford Courant_ (http://www.courant.com/) 
 
Dr. Janice M. Gruendel
Governor's Senior Policy Advisor on  Children and Youth
Co-Chair, CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet
Member,  Youth Vision Team & PK-16 Council
Home office:  203-481-9940
Blackberry: 203-824-4766
Mail to: 28 Juniper  Point
Branford, CT 06405

"The people  of Connecticut, and history, will judge us by whether we 
accepted our  stewardship simply to preserve the comfortable status quo or whether we 
seized  it with boldness of purpose. I, for one, am emboldened." Governor M. 
Jodi Rell,  CT State of the State message, 2005



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