ASCD https://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.45...1 of 7 10/31/2008 7:59 AMMay 2008May 2008 | Volume 65 | Number 8Reshaping High Schools Pages 8-13High Schools at the TippingPointBob WiseThe United States faces a choice: Do nothing to fix abroken high school system and watch ourcompetitiveness further decline, or summon the politicalwill to demand change.In today's knowledge-based economy, all students—regardless of their home region, background,or college aspirations—require a high-quality secondary school education. Unfortunately, theeducation reforms of the past two decades in the United States have essentially ignored secondaryschools, focusing instead on the elementary grades. Although building a strong foundation in theearly grades is crucial to students' long-term educational success, investing almost exclusively inpre-K through 6th grade is not enough. Every available indicator—state, national, andinternational assessments of math and reading skills; high school graduation rates; collegeattendance and remediation rates; and employer surveys—tells the same story: Too many highschool students drop out, and too many others graduate unprepared for college or employment.To build on the improvements that committed educators have made in the early grades, we mustmake an equal commitment to strengthen middle and high school students' performance.The Crisis That Demands a ResponseThere is clearly a crisis in U.S. high schools. Nationally, barely 30 percent of rising freshmen canread at grade level (Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007). More than 1.2 million U.S. high schoolstudents drop out every year—roughly 7,000 each school day (Editorial Projects in Education,2007). Forty-two percent of freshmen in community colleges and 20 percent of freshmen in publicfour-year institutions require remedial courses in reading, writing, or math to handle college-levelwork (National Center for Education Statistics, 2004). In survey after survey, employers expressdisappointment in the skills of high school graduates. For example, in 2005, 60 percent of U.S.manufacturing companies surveyed said that high school graduates were poorly prepared forentry-level jobs (National Association of Manufacturers, 2005).On all counts, students of color fare worse than their peers. For too many poor and minoritystudents, rather than driving social equity, our education system exacerbates a preexisting divide.This is exemplified by the 2,000 U.S. high schools—called "dropout factories" and serving mainlyminority youth—whose students stand only a 60 percent or less chance of graduating within fouryears (Balfanz & Legters, 2004).The consequences of this crisis, for dropouts and for society at large, are severe. A high schooldiploma is now a prerequisite for the majority of jobs. In 2005, a high school dropout in the UnitedStates earned, on average, approximately $10,000 less annually than a high school graduate. Onaverage, those with no high school diploma earn $260,000 less over the course of a lifetime thanthose who graduate from high school (Rouse, 2005). Moreover, high school dropouts are far morelikely to be tax consumers than taxpayers, use welfare and public health services, and commitcrimes. Researchers estimate that each high school dropout costs society at large about $209,000over the course of his or her lifetime (Levin, Belfield, Muennig, & Rouse, 2007).ASCD https://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/template.MAXIMIZE/menuitem.45...2 of 7 10/31/2008 7:59 AMDesigned for a Different EraWhy are U.S. high schools failing us? Partly because they were never designed to meet today'smoral and economic imperative of graduating all students. When the "modern" high school systemwas established in the early 20th century, only 10 percent of 14- to 17-year-olds attended highschool (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006). It wasn't until 1918 that all states requiredchildren to attend elementary school; in that era, a high school education was a luxury affordedonly to upper-income families. Getting a well-paying job without a high school diploma was notsimply possible; it was the norm ("Public Education," 2007).Fast-forward to 2008, when 90 percent of well-paying jobs require post-secondary education ortraining (U.S. Department of Labor, 2006). A constantly changing labor market has created newchallenges; students must acquire adaptable, transferable skills as well as specific contentknowledge to be adequate employees. And as many markets go global, the skills of U.S.workers—and the standards of education—must meet new international benchmarks.Clearly, the education goals of the United States have changed profoundly from those of a centuryago. Yet the typical U.S. high school education has remained virtually unchanged. Classroomteachers are still often trained to be isolated content lecturers who engage in little collaborationwith local communities, colleges, or businesses. And high school students are still pushed intooutdated, one-size-fits-all courses rather than given the personal attention and flexibility theyneed to stay on the path to graduation. These antiquated practices show that the educationsystem has not fully responded to changing demands and continues to be misaligned with themodern workforce.This is not an indictment of professionals working in schools. The fact that educators todaygraduate 70 percent of the nation's teenagers within a system that originally graduated 10 percentis phenomenal. But even qualified and well-supported educators struggle to meet continuallygrowing demands because they work in a broken system. There are exceptions; in many highschools, innovative educators are successfully preparing even the most challenged students fortoday's world. However, national efforts have, for the most part, simply propped up an antiquatedsystem instead of rethinking and repairing it. As one educator complained to me, "Every era ofreform simply results in adding something onto the existing system instead of systematicallyredesigning it."Three Approaches for ReformThe old adage "If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've beengetting" is nowhere more true than in U.S. high schools. But many high schools across thecountry—even in some of the most challenging educational environments—are not doing whatthey've always been doing. Such schools have altered how they do business so that all studentsgraduate prepared for life.