More Rigorous High School Study Urged

Concerned that the last year of high school is too often wasted, a national panel recommended Thursday that every senior complete a substantial research project, perform an internship or take college-level courses.

The National Commission on the High School Senior Year also urged in its final report that states establish a unified approach to education from preschool through college, so that students know exactly what is required to advance to the next level.

“Too many [students] leave high school unprepared for further study or work,” said panel Chairman Paul E. Patton, the Democratic governor of Kentucky. “They’re being left behind . . . by an education system that protects and shields them from real-world expectations.”

Fewer than half of the nation’s high school students are enrolled in rigorous academic courses, Patton said. The other 30 million, he added, are taking watered-down or irrelevant classes geared “for a future that has already vanished.”

Many education experts welcomed the report for spotlighting what they say has grown into an immense problem: the annual graduation of students who don’t have the skills to succeed in today’s world.

“The traditional high school diploma just no longer cuts it,” said Rex Bolinger, a northern Indiana principal who served on the panel.

Under a restructuring begun in 1995, his Angola High School has developed a flexible schedule that allows students to complete their work in three, four or five years. Students who finish in three may immediately begin taking classes at a local private college under a dual-enrollment program.

In California, a panel has discussed for several years the creation of a master plan for coordinating education in the state, to little avail. Meanwhile, community and four-year colleges must spend millions of dollars to bring entering students up to speed on reading, writing and math.

Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University system and a panel member, acknowledged that colleges might have created part of the problem by offering early admissions to seniors.

The panel, authorized by the Department of Education in 2000, also called for higher expectations when it comes to student achievement at a time when even the electrical workers union requires apprentices to have taken calculus.

“It’s really gratifying to hear another organization call for the alignment of high school graduation and college admission,” said Amy Wilkins, a principal partner at the Education Trust, a Washington group that advocates high academic achievement for all. “People look at us puzzled when we say: ‘All kids should be prepared to go to college.’ ”

The report, “Raising Our Sights: No High School Senior Left Behind,” is available on the Web at https://www.commissiononthesenioryear.org.