13 states eye tougher high school standards

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of 13 states, including Massachusetts, confirmed plans yesterday to require tougher high school courses and diploma requirements, changes that could affect about one in three students.

The announcement is the most tangible sign that the nation's governors, gathered in the capital for a summit on improving high schools, want to see that progress quickly.

The participating states have committed to making their core high school classes and tests more rigorous and to match their graduation standards with the expectations of employers and colleges.

The states also pledged to hold colleges more accountable for ensuring students graduate.

Such changes would require time and significant legislative and political work, as teachers unions, school boards, legislatures, and parents would be affected. Governors, state school chiefs, and business executives will lead the efforts in each state.

''This is the biggest step states can take to restore the value of the high school diploma," said Governor Bob Taft of Ohio, a Republican who is cochairman of Achieve, which is coordinating the effort.

The other states are Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas.

Their network 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 -- requiring every student to take rigorous math and English regardless of career plans, and tying college admissions to high school exit exams, as examples.

States will maintain the option to adopt what they want, but they have agreed to broad points, such as requiring students to take a test of their readiness for college or work.

The weekend session on high schools drew most of the nation's governors, in town for a four-day meeting that includes discussions with President Bush.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings went before the governors to promote Bush's budget proposal and commend the state leaders for making high school achievement a national priority.

''Getting every child to graduate high school with a meaningful diploma in their hands is one of the biggest challenges our country faces," Spellings said yesterday. ''It's never been done. That's why there is push-back from both sides of the political spectrum. In Washington, like your state capitals, when both sides grumble, it means you're doing something right."

Bush, seeking to expand the No Child Left Behind law he championed, wants Congress to require two years of additional state testing in high schools.

The governors are expected to approve a policy tomorrow that does not endorse or oppose Bush's idea but spells out their conditions: input on the plan, flexibility on how it works, and federal money for any costs.

Michael Casserly, executive director of a coalition of urban school districts known as the Council of the Great City Schools, learned about the 13-state initiative at the meeting. While applauding the goal, he said: ''Much of this conversation is taking place at a very elevated and removed level. At some point, it's going to have to be brought down to the ground, to the local folks."

The participating states serve an estimated 5 million high school students, or roughly 35 percent of the public high school population in the United States, Achieve spokesmen said.

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.

Also yesterday, six foundations announced a $42 million effort to help states pay for their high school policies -- $23 million in private money, with the rest to be matching public grants.

The action comes as the governors deal with what they consider a crisis in American education.

Roughly one-third of students don't graduate on time, just as more jobs are requiring college-level skills and the nation's standing in such fields as math and science is slipping.