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STATE BOARD TO CONSIDER HIGH SCHOOL REDESIGN
PROPOSALS
 The
New Jersey Department of Education is planning to present
its proposals for High School Redesign, including plans for
six new high-stakes exit exams, to the State Board of Education
at its September 17 meeting. The controversial proposals,
released last April by the High School Redesign Steering Committee,
have drawn criticism on several grounds. In June, Education
Law Center (ELC) and the NJ Council of County Vocational-Technical
Schools convened a meeting of more than 20 statewide groups
to promote awareness and discussion of the plan and to share
a number of concerns about its potential impact.
Representatives of some of these groups will
testify at the State Board’s public session on September
17. Their concerns were reflected in a draft statement that’s
being circulated among educators, parent and community groups,
and other stakeholders. The statement follows (for more information
on the High School Redesign proposals, contact skarp@edlawcenter.org):
New Jersey’s High School Redesign
Effort Needs New Direction
As educators, parents, citizens and taxpayers,
we support the goal of preparing all students to succeed in
school and beyond. This includes better preparation for college
and careers, closing achievement gaps, improving high school
graduation and college participation rates, and decreasing
the number of dropouts.
Unfortunately, the recommendations of the
NJ High School Redesign Steering Committee, outlined in its
recent NJ Steps report, propose several large strides
in the wrong direction. Instead of promoting innovative and
challenging opportunities for our best students and gap-closing
supports for our most needy ones, the Committee has recommended
a one-size-fits-all program of more state standards and tests
that does not address the realities and challenges facing
our secondary schools. There is little "redesign"
and no new resources in the Committee’s proposals and
all the steering has been top down. The contrast between the
Committee’s call for "fundamental change in public
education in the state that will affect students in all grades"
and the lack of vision or dedicated resources in its recommendations
is striking. This is not the common ground and bold new reform
plan our middle and high schools need and our students deserve.
The Committee has proposed:
- Mandating Biology, Chemistry, Algebra
I, Algebra II, Geometry and college prep English for all
students.
- Six new high stakes exams that would
be required to earn a high school diploma.
- A "P-16 council" with as yet
undefined authority to "seamlessly align" NJ’s
educational system from pre-school through college.
Besides the educational issues raised by
such top-down standardization, the resource implications of
these proposals are staggering. Currently, less than 70% of
all NJ districts require Biology, Geometry and Algebra I to
graduate; less than 45% require Algebra II, and only 35% require
Chemistry. The new school funding formula adopted this year
that does not provide the resources all NJ districts need
to meet these new requirements by 2016, as the Committee proposes.
Its own report acknowledges that we are already facing a shortage
of qualified math, science, and special education teachers
and "teacher attrition...is especially acute in low-performing,
high poverty schools where experienced, expert teachers are
most needed."
Hidden Costs
To mandate these requirements without any
plan for how to reach them is a formula for failure not success.
As the Center on Education Policy has noted in a report on
The Hidden Cost of High School Exit Exams, "The
true costs of an exit exam policy are often invisible to state
policymakers, because the expenses are being borne mostly
by local school districts—and often by shifting existing
funds away from other educational priorities." (May 2004)
In addition to the costs, there are serious
educational flaws in the Committee’s proposals. Some
of the recommendations, such as requiring all students to
take Algebra II, are educationally inappropriate (and reflect
the origins of the plan in the American Diploma Project sponsored
by Achieve, Inc, a national group of business and political
leaders far removed from the realities of K-12 public schools.)
All students should have access to high quality curriculum
and instruction. But mandating a single set of required courses
would reduce options for students and families and threaten
effective vocational and themed-based alternative programs.
It would encourage narrow test-based curriculum and instruction
that bores the brightest students and fails to engage or support
struggling ones. Instead of encouraging innovation and "redesign,"
such test-driven standardization reduces the possibilities
for developing the "multiple pathways" that NJ’s
diverse student population needs to succeed.
The plan’s heavy reliance on high stakes
exit tests for graduation is cause for special concern and
has the potential to be extremely damaging to New Jersey’s
schools and students. Currently, New Jersey’s high school
graduation rate is #2 in the nation. Neighboring New York
State, which adopted a similar series of standards and tests
several years ago, is number 40.
Better Alternatives
The National Center for Fair and Open Testing
has confirmed "a link between graduation tests and higher
dropout rates" and says "the full record in states
like Massachusetts, Texas and California shows that high-stakes
tests have failed to fulfill their promise of improved quality
and equity for public school students." For these reasons,
the Pennsylvania legislature recently blocked its state Board
of Education from imposing a similar plan on Pennsylvania’s
schools.
There are better ways to build broad support
for secondary reforms that we can all endorse. Here are some
alternatives:
1. Expand "multiple pathways"
to high school graduation that provide varied ways for students
to demonstrate high levels of achievement while preparing
for college and careers.
Our secondary schools need resources and
innovation far more than they need more standards and tests.
We need a "high school redesign" effort that promotes
theme-based programs, real-world partnerships with communities,
families, employers, and colleges/universities, performance
assessment alternatives to standardized testing, improved
professional practice and support, and multiple pathways
to success. We need special, targeted efforts in large,
struggling comprehensive urban high schools to improve school
climate, create smaller, more supportive learning environments
for staff and students, and make sure that high expectations
are linked to real opportunities to learn. These initiatives
should be at the heart of secondary reform, not "afterthoughts"
to a plan defined by rigid standards and high stakes tests.
2. Identify the resource and capacity
needs for meeting new standards before imposing new mandates.
The Center on Education Policy has produced
a "checklist for state policymakers to conduct a quick
budgeting exercise to begin to tally the costs of implementing
an exit exam policy in their state." The Governor and/or
the New Jersey legislature should require a similar cost/impact
study before allowing new mandates. This study should include
the major facilities implications of requiring all students
to complete multiple years of lab science, and the staff,
recruitment and professional development implications of
other recommendations. Such a study could contribute to
the periodic review of the "cost of education"
required by the new School Funding and Reform Act (SFRA).
3. Evaluate the impact of "Phase
I" recommendations before adopting "Phase II and
"Phase III."
Despite much talk of "data driven
reform," there is little national or state research
to support the claims being made for the proposed new policies.
Through administrative regulation and State Board action
the NJDOE has already begun implementing the "Phase
I" recommendations. In urban districts, freshmen entering
in September 2008 must successfully complete Algebra I,
Biology, and college prep English to graduate. Beginning
in 2009, all NJ freshmen must do the same. NJDOE, which
does not have a strong track record for implementing, sustaining,
and evaluating secondary reform, should be required to document
the impact and challenges of these "Phase I" requirements
before imposing further mandates.
4. Make any new end-of-course exams part
of a student’s high school record, instead of a separate,
"all or nothing" high stakes graduation test.
A student’s complete transcript, including
high school grades, courses taken, credits accumulated,
attendance, activities, and other requirements should be
the basis for major decisions about high school graduation
and post-secondary opportunities. End of course tests that
make up part of course grades or provide supplemental assessments
of student achievement can contribute to the full picture.
But denying diplomas to students on the basis of a single
test score is educationally and professionally inappropriate.
The individual and social costs of pushing thousands of
students out of school far outweigh the unproven claims
of higher achievement for those that remain.
5. Do No Harm.
New Jersey has many examples of successful
approaches that should be preserved and expanded as components
of "high school redesign," not eliminated because
they do not fit a new state mold. These include:
- Career and technical education programs
that develop academic and technical skills and culminate
in an industry assessment. These should be recognized
as rigorous secondary programs. CTE students need the
flexibility to pursue academic course requirements geared
toward their chosen career pathway and sufficient time
to achieve industry credentials.
- Alternative and adult high school
programs that give at-risk students a second chance at
success and that must retain the flexibility to develop
academic skills through individualized instruction and
student-centered activities, along with assessments appropriate
for this population.
- Innovative approaches to curriculum
that combine academic content with real-world activities,
interests and tasks in creative and motivating ways and
that may not fit neatly into standardized subject courses
defined by standardized exams.
New Jersey needs a robust secondary reform
effort that promotes excellence and equity while addressing
both individual student needs and larger social goals. To
create one will take open dialogue and innovative solutions
that are as varied and diverse as the communities our schools
serve.
Prepared: September 4, 2008
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