High schools and higher
HIGH SCHOOLS have to pursue two goals that often seem to be at war.
In this corner, there's the campaign for high standards, for preparing students to excel at the highest levels so they can succeed in a high-tech economy. In that corner, there's the push for inclusion, helping as many students as possible to graduate, including those who are struggling.
The fear is that setting high standards automatically means abandoning weak students and focusing on the stars.
But a recent report wisely argues that Massachusetts can do both: push for higher standards and higher graduation rates.
The report's most compelling recommendation is to open new schools that are designed "to improve college-ready graduation rates for low-income and struggling students." The report was published by Jobs for the Future, a local nonprofit organization, and Achieve Inc., a nonprofit organization in Washington that champions high standards.
Trying to design such a school, even as an academic exercise, yields key insights that could be used in new and existing schools. Top among them: make schools so magnetic that even disillusioned teenagers will come. One example is a pilot school, TechBoston Academy, in Dorchester. The school has a technology-charged curriculum and a jobs component that helps student see how their lessons are relevant to the marketplace. Becoming an attractive high school also means hiring passionate teachers who can build relationships with students and entice them with talk of trigonometry and the orbits of electrons.
Another lesson comes from the University Park Campus School, a Worcester public school where 73 percent of students are low-income. Schools have to teach students how to be scholars. Students need to learn study skills, time management, and what it means to master a subject. Then they have to learn how to choose from and adapt these skills.
Another strategy is to help students manage transitions. The report points to the link between high school and careers, calling for high schools to provide their older students with access to jobs and college courses. It's an immediate way of breaking down walls so that students experience a smooth flow toward progress, instead of stopping high school and then, if they're lucky, starting something else.
Schools also need incentives and resources to help struggling students and to pull dropouts back into the fold. Doing both these jobs is in large part a matter of early intervention, spotting students who are in trouble and providing fast, effective help.
Building better high schools will take more effort and money. But with customer-friendly strategies, schools can confidently pursue high standards, knowing that they've handed students the keys of academic success.
