April 2006
BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER
RICHARD P. MILLS
The Meeting in
Brief: The Regents will convene in
High Schools Graduation Rates Can
Improve, Must Improve. That’s Only the Beginning.
The Regents
administered a catalytic shock to the system by highlighting the facts: only 64
percent of the ninth graders of 2001 had graduated four years later. It may not yet be shocking enough. Not
everyone sees the urgency that the Regents see. Employers see it, of course. The
employers are contenders, not observers of the global arena. They were our
partners in the USNY Summit, and continue to engage educators about what
graduates need to know. Higher education sees the need for urgency. Higher
education institutions in the top echelon are global institutions themselves in
terms of student admissions, faculty recruitment, and establishment of new
campuses abroad. Students see it in
part, although many of them still think that some students can’t achieve. There
is a growing literature about what students think is missing in their education.
But school leaders tell me that many of their peers do not yet see the need for
urgency. Our communication task is
still urgent, and we refresh our message by seeing more high schools in action,
and by listening to parents and students.
High school
graduation rates must improve because low skills jobs are evaporating in this
economy. Anthony Carnevale of the
The Regents have
changed the policy framework in
While Regents and
State Education Departments do not teach children or administer schools, there
are many concrete things that only we can do. The Regents decide who may and may not
teach. Many children have teachers
who are not certified in the subject they are teaching. By a date certain, the
Regents can end this practice in one subject after another, starting now. There are high schools in
The Syracuse
Superintendent of Schools observed that knowledge to support high school
improvement is abundant. Stated more bluntly, we don’t need to make this up.
There are many expert practitioners and scholars, we are consulting with many of
them, and can bring them to the Board.
The leaders of the Big Five schools systems are doing just that in their
communities. Most people agree that
no one has figured out the whole problem, but we can ensure that we use the best
of what we do know.
Here are the
common threads in the national literature about high school reform: Widespread
understanding of performance data among faculty and administrators drives
improvement. Instruction must improve, and when teachers observe teachers, and
have continuing opportunities to discuss practice, this improvement occurs. Curriculum must be rigorous, engaging
for all students, and pitched to the demands of work, citizenship and further
education in the 21st century, where global factors affect all of
us. Every student must be and feel
known by a caring adult in the school. Smaller schools or smaller communities
within schools make that more likely. The school culture must reinforce high
performance for students and teachers. The aim must be high school completion
and more: postsecondary completion.
Students need jobs and internships while in school to learn and practice
what the modern, high skill workplace expects. As we visit schools in
The Syracuse
Regents meeting will provide one model for a productive discussion about higher
performance in high school.
Regents-led meetings in the other cities might develop different
approaches that work in those places. It’s important to engage the leaders.
Chancellor Klein in
Regents might
find it useful to consider the high school problem from three perspectives
simultaneously. First, stop the potential high school performance problem
before it starts. That means extending and building on Regents policy and
the gains of recent years through more pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten,
early reading practices, and good follow through on middle school policy. If we
do that right, students will arrive at ninth grade ready to do high school work.
Second, enable students in high school now to stay in school and graduate
with a Regents diploma. That
means intensifying the strategies of Destination Diploma: good transitions
from eight to ninth grade, a curriculum that is both more rigorous and more
engaging, expanded Career and Technical Education, fast and effective help for
students, effective teacher support.
And third, imagine and build the high schools of the future. This
means estimating the skills and knowledge needed for citizenship, work and
further education in the near future, defining multiple models of new high
schools, and making the right changes in state policy to allow such models to
start and flourish.
Teachers Certified In The Subjects
They Teach
Four years ago the Education
Department was issuing more than 14,000 temporary licenses a year. The
commitment to stop allowing uncertified teachers was the right policy direction
for our children. As we work on closing the achievement gap, we still face a
challenge with securing teachers certified in the subjects they are teaching.
There are shortages especially in mathematics, science, special education and
foreign languages.
Next month Johanna Duncan-Poitier
will provide teacher supply and demand data in
24-Month
Calendar
The Regents 24-month calendar, once
it is adopted by the Board, defines the important policy decisions. It signals to the public and all USNY
communities what the Regents consider most worth doing. As one Regent put it, the policy
calendar is the Regents performance agreement. And by defining in advance the work they
will do, the Regents summon others to begin their own analysis, options
development, and advocacy.
Committee chairs and Deputy Commissioners collaborate on what the
committees and later, the full Board will do to decide policy and monitor and
evaluate existing policy.
The draft
24-month calendar reflects discussions with committee chairs and deputies. The
draft also reflects these decision rules: All items listed for discussion will
be followed at some point by a Board action or decision. Policy issues go to the
appropriate committee for action before appearing on the Full Board. Other items appear as monitoring
reports, which may or may not lead to policy discussion and decision, and if
they do, the Board will modify its calendar accordingly. Monitoring reports are important, but
need not be presented orally to the Board.
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