A Call to Make Failing Schools History

The American high school, serving a smorgasbord of undemanding, unrelated courses and turning out far too many graduates unprepared for either college or the workplace, is obsolete.

That’s the view of the editors of a new book, who argue that it is time to abolish it and start over.

With courses in health and history, sex and self-esteem, art, auto shop and athletics, high schools have “so many priorities they are the master of none,” writes David Marsh in “The New American High School” (Corwin Press).

Marsh, a professor at USC’s Rossier School of Education, co-edited the book with Judy Codding, the former principal of Pasadena High School. Their central recommendation is to make high schools less like shopping malls offering all things to all students and more like specialty shops with a single product--in this case a basic education in literature, history, math, science and writing. Art, music and foreign languages would be extraneous.

All students, whether headed to work or college, would be expected to acquire the same knowledge and skills, earning what the authors call the Certificate of Initial Mastery. Students could take as much time as necessary.

Whether they were 15 years old or 20 when they qualified, everyone would have two options: taking two more years of advanced courses or pursuing a vocational course combining academics with technical courses and on-the-job training.

Either way, Marsh and Codding envision a day when all students would be prepared to go to a four-year college.

Their provocative ideas are worth noting because Marsh and Codding are advisors to state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. Marsh wrote a 1992 blueprint for California high schools called “Second to None,” and Eastin appointed Codding to the commission that recommended state academic standards in core subjects.

Eastin is forming a panel of educators to come up with a new vision for high schools and Marsh said he expects this book’s ideas to guide its work.

School districts across the country--including Pasadena, Codding’s old employer--are already buying tests and sets of academic standards it recommends.

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There is ample evidence that American high schools are failing vast numbers of students. Fresh proof was provided last week in a “report card” on educational quality from the Education Trust, a highly regarded policy analysis group.

The report noted that the gap in educational achievement between white students and Latino and African American students grew nationally during the 1990s after shrinking in the 1970s and 1980s.

Two-thirds of Latino and African American students have no understanding of geometry or algebra when they graduate. In fact, the average Latino or African American 17-year-old is about as skilled mathematically as the average white 13-year-old.

The Education Trust suggests that the fastest way to close the gap would be to assign the most effective teachers to the schools where students are furthest behind. Like Marsh and Codding, the report’s authors present evidence that expecting more of all students academically would pay rich dividends.

Codding and Marsh know just how difficult it is to effect change.

Codding was principal and Marsh a consultant at Pasadena High School from 1988 to 1993. She writes that the campus epitomized the problems of large, comprehensive high schools.

So she and Marsh fought to extend math and reading classes to two periods daily for those with weak skills. They broke the school into smaller “houses” so teachers could get to know their students better. They required teachers to attend summer training sessions.

Alas, it didn’t work. Today, the school’s test scores are still weak, with reading the worst. The average junior reads at the 32nd percentile, more poorly than two-thirds of his peers nationally. All the changes instituted by Codding and Marsh have been dismantled.

Marsh said the lack of progress in Pasadena demonstrates that school-by-school reforms are fragile. Change must occur statewide, starting with penalties and rewards for school performance and the adoption of new tests in writing and algebra.

Polls show the public is committed to improving education. But it remains to be seen how strong that commitment would be if it resulted in policies that denied--or at least delayed--graduation to large numbers of students.