Lack of Rigor in Our High Schools

[Ralph]

I agree with much of what the survey disclosed.

From The New York Times:

July 16, 2005
Students Say High Schools Let Them Down
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

DES MOINES, July 15 - A large majority of high school students say their class work is not very difficult, and almost two-thirds say they would work harder if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to an online nationwide survey of teenagers conducted by the National Governors Association.

The survey, being released on Saturday by the association, also found that fewer than two-thirds believe that their school had done a good job challenging them academically or preparing them for college. About the same number of students said their senior year would be more meaningful if they could take courses related to the jobs they wanted or if some of their courses could be counted toward college credit.

Taken together, the electronic responses of 10,378 teenagers painted a somber picture of how students rate the effectiveness of their schools in preparing them for the future.

The survey also appears to reinforce findings of federal test results released on Thursday that showed that high school seniors made almost no progress in reading and math in the first years of the decade. During that time, elementary school students made significant gains.

"I might have expected kids to say, 'Don't give us more work; high school is tough enough,' " said Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat and chairman of the governors association, which opens a three-day summer meeting here on Saturday.

"Instead," Mr. Warner said, "what we got are high school students actually willing to be stretched more. I didn't think we'd get much of that."

The governors' survey was conducted as part of the association's effort to examine public high schools and devise strategies for improving them. Mr. Warner has made high school reform his priority as chairman of the association. His term ends on Monday, when Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican, is scheduled to succeed him.

While a vast majority of respondents in the survey, 89 percent, said they intended to graduate, fewer than two-thirds of those said they felt their schools did an "excellent" or "good" job teaching them how to think critically and analyze problems.

Even among the remaining 11 percent, a group of 1,122 that includes teenagers who say they dropped out of high school or are considering dropping out, only about one in nine cited "school work too hard" as a reason for not remaining through graduation. The greatest percentage of those who are leaving, 36 percent, said they were "not learning anything," while 24 percent said, "I hate my school."

Experts in education policy said the survey results were consistent with other studies that have shown gaps between what students learn in high school and what they need for the years beyond.

"A lot of business people and politicians have been saying that the high schools are not meeting the needs of kids," said Barbara Kapinus, a senior policy analyst for the National Education Association. "It's interesting that kids are saying it, too."

Marc Tucker, president of the National Council on Economic Education, an organization that helps states and school districts create programs that are more tailored to contemporary student needs, said he did not believe that American high schools could adequately prepare students without a fundamental change in how they operated.

Mr. Tucker said American schools had been too slow to adapt high school curriculums to the real-life demands of college and the workplace. Except for that small fraction of highly motivated students with an eye toward prestigious private colleges and state universities, many more students, he said, are under the impression that just having a diploma qualifies them for the rigors of college and the workplace.

[Lilith]

Talk about 'lack of rigor'.....its not uncommon around my area for 60% of the students in high school to be on the honor roll.
They could start, perhaps, by cutting this total in half to make achieving honor role something significant again.

But can you imagine the outcry if a Superintendent announced that no more than 30% of high school students would be on the honor roll?

[Ralph]

Talk about 'lack of rigor'.....its not uncommon around my area for 60% of the students in high school to be on the honor roll.
They could start, perhaps, by cutting this total in half to make achieving honor role something significant again.

But can you imagine the outcry if a Superintendent announced that no more than 30% of high school students would be on the honor roll?

*****

Some districts do that and the trend is to get back from the grade inflation of the past decades.

I remember reading in Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute some long time ago that in one command something like 45% of the officers were evaluated as being in the top 10% of officers in that rating period.

[Kevin R]

Ralph,

Very nice article, thanks for posting it. I've been sounding off against the lack of rigor in high schools for some time. My experience is that students entering college are woefully unprepared for university work. The lack of historical knowledge is shocking. And watching the number of remedial college classes expanding year after year is a sad testament to how bad this situation has become. I've said this before, but I think competition would help the majority of public high schools. But I'm under no illusion about it happening (except in a few areas).

[Ralph]

Ralph,

Very nice article, thanks for posting it. I've been sounding off against the lack of rigor in high schools for some time. My experience is that students entering college are woefully unprepared for university work. The lack of historical knowledge is shocking. And watching the number of remedial college classes expanding year after year is a sad testament to how bad this situation has become. I've said this before, but I think competition would help the majority of public high schools. But I'm under no illusion about it happening (except in a few areas).

*****

Don't get me started on the paucity of historical knowledge but that by itself is separate from the issue of a rigorous academic program. History too can be spoonfed or taught in a challenging manner.

At my level of the academic food chain we can be fairly selective about whom we admit and many have sterling credentials. But in a course like Con Law which is largely a history course most of the students know next to nothing when they start. I always comment on the first day that, no, the Federalists vs. The Anti-Federalists was not a long ago sports rivalry.

[Kevin R]

Ralph,

Very nice article, thanks for posting it. I've been sounding off against the lack of rigor in high schools for some time. My experience is that students entering college are woefully unprepared for university work. The lack of historical knowledge is shocking. And watching the number of remedial college classes expanding year after year is a sad testament to how bad this situation has become. I've said this before, but I think competition would help the majority of public high schools. But I'm under no illusion about it happening (except in a few areas).

*****

Don't get me started on the paucity of historical knowledge but that by itself is separate from the issue of a rigorous academic program. History too can be spoonfed or taught in a challenging manner.

At my level of the academic food chain we can be fairly selective about whom we admit and many have sterling credentials. But in a course like Con Law which is largely a history course most of the students know next to nothing when they start. I always comment on the first day that, no, the Federalists vs. The Anti-Federalists was not a long ago sports rivalry.