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Curtis Washington |
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching individual students, and the same can also be said for transforming high schools. What works at one school site won't necessarily work at another.
One such proposal was dealt a swift and decisive blow in the Legislature last year. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell's "High Performance High School Initiative: Improving High Schools from the Inside Out" would have required all students to take courses necessary to meet University of California and California State University entrance requirements, known as the "A-G" courses. When Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-San Fernando Valley) introduced SB 1795 on O'Connell's behalf, the education community, including CTA, reacted swiftly, pronouncing it a disaster in the making.
"I agree that we need to have rigorous and relevant curriculum for students," says Curtis Washington, chair of CTA's High School Restructuring Task Force. "But I believe that it's a problem when the structure of that curriculum invalidates the choices students want to make for themselves. Students need options within rigorous and relevant curriculum that they can relate to. For example, if a student wants to be an auto mechanic, and we say this student has to pass A-G requirements and be ready for college, we are saying to this student, 'Your choice is invalid.'"
"The minimum qualifications for college should not be the minimum requirement for getting out of high school," says NEA Board member Don Dawson, who serves on CTA's task force. "There are plenty of valuable things one can do after leaving high school that don't require A-G requirements. If you attend a technical school or trade school, you don't need Algebra II or calculus."
There will be no attempt by the California Department of Education to sponsor legislation mandating A-G requirements for all students in the near future, says Sue Stickel, deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction. "We heard what people said about not wanting the A-G college curriculum to filter everything students do in high school. We're now willing to have a conversation with people about how we look at the issue of rigor, and we realize there isn't an easy answer."
"I think it's good that O'Connell has backed off from that," says Dawson.
Individual school districts are still allowed to mandate A-G requirements for all students. The San Jose Unified School District, which has done so, reports that achievement has gone up for minority students and the dropout rate has not increased.
One part of the initiative that will be reintroduced in new legislation would guide high schools toward standards-aligned instructional material via a state "seal of approval" for textbooks, says Stickel.
The state does not "adopt" textbooks and curriculum for high schools the way it does for elementary schools and middle schools, which has made it difficult for high schools to align curriculum to the state standards. Last year, concern that the "seal of approval" would mean the same thing as state adoption raised so much opposition that it effectively killed the plan.
"I keep telling people that the state doesn't have the interest — or people power — to formally adopt high school materials," says Stickel. "But high school teachers do want to know if certain materials are aligned to the standards. The seal of approval would just be an independent review of materials — by teachers — that the state Department of Education would publish on its website."
In an effort to integrate all grades from preschool to higher education, the state is forming a statewide "P-16" council. Members will comprise a variety of stakeholders including teachers, administrators, parents, college representatives and members of the business community. CTA has submitted names for inclusion. High school reform will definitely be on the agenda.
