State's
civic leaders brainstorm over how to reinvent high
school
Wednesday, September 28, 2005 •
BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger
Staff
Armed with sobering statistics and dire
predictions, New Jersey business and education leaders put
out a clarion call yesterday for widespread reform of the
state's public high schools.
It was hardly the first such call, and
organizers of the state's first "summit" specifically
centered on high schools conceded that now comes the hard
part: putting real changes into place.
"There has been a lot of debate and
discussion about this for a long time," said Arthur Ryan,
chairman and chief executive of Prudential Financial, who
was a host of yesterday's event. "I think there is more
momentum now. But we do have to deliver, we understand
that."
Ryan was among about 60 business and
organization leaders, school superintendents and principals
who met at Princeton's Doral Forrestal Center in response to
a growing worry around the nation that high schools -- using
a model developed in the 1950s and 1960s -- are becoming
obsolete in how they teach and prepare students for college
and careers.
"Sadly, employers estimate that 45
percent of high school graduates don't have the skills to
advance beyond entry-level jobs," said acting Gov. Richard
Codey in opening the daylong conference. "To prepare them
for this level is to prepare them for
mediocrity."
Other numbers are alarming, too. One
national survey found about a third of all ninth-graders
learn the necessary skills for college or a job by the time
they graduate. Another third drop out. And of those who make
it to college, 40 percent need remedial help.
In New Jersey, one in five graduates
cannot pass the state's High School Proficiency Assessment,
which, by international standards, requires mostly
middle-school knowledge and skills to pass.
The nation's governors held a summit on
high schools in February and embraced a program known as the
American Diploma Project, which boosts the rigor of high
school course requirements and standardized
tests.
Much of the discussion has been around
math and science, including requirements that all students
take specific classes, such as Algebra II or a laboratory
science.
New Jersey was among 22 states supporting
the project, and acting Education Commissioner Lucille Davy
said yesterday that the first steps are under way to develop
tougher requirements. New Jersey now requires three years of
both math and science in high school, but not specific
courses.
"Will we have to specify courses?
Probably," said Davy. "I think the state is ready to have
that conversation."
Ryan said such specific course
requirements are the next logical step in the standards and
testing movement of the last 20 years.
"We've got standards and assessment
systems, but are the outcomes really changing?" he said.
"All the work that was done was important, but it wasn't
enough."
The summit is expected to lead to some
more concrete proposals for the state Board of Education and
Department of Education to consider, officials said.
Participants spent much of the afternoon in round-table
discussions to help develop some of those proposals. The
sessions were closed to reporters.
Before lunch, several educators said
change is under way in many high schools.
Robert Murphy, principal of East
Brunswick High School, said his school is looking at an
algebra requirement for middle school and a fourth year of
math in high school.
But Murphy also said wholesale reforms
trumpeted at the summit sound like a daunting task. "It's a
lot of work -- a lot of buy-in that's needed in your
community from your parents, your staff and your students,"
he said.
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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