A Revolutionary Call for Education Reform
The most revolutionary change might be the report's suggested changes to the way students move between high school, college, and the workforce. The report calls for an exam taken by every student at the end of 10th grade that would determine the student's next step through the system. Whether a student goes on to community college, a vocational school, or a two-year college prep program, he or she would have to pass a state test first.
"Now many students just slide through high school, because they know that all they have to do is get passes in their courses or a satisfactory score on an eighth- or ninth-grade-level literacy test to go to college, the report states. "With this system, they will know that they have to work hard in school to get anywhere."
Commissioners believe the changes would be financially possible, too. A central idea in the report is to make spending more efficient rather than spend more. For instance, eliminating the 11th- and 12th-grade years of high school would save schools $67 billion nationally, opening up more money to fund universal preschool and even free early childhood programs for low-income 3-year-olds.
But commission members admit that making the changes would require early "transition costs." They say the commission would help find that money for the initial testing states--pulling in philanthropic donations and seeking federal help as well. That may not come easily; a Department of Education spokesman who was contacted by U.S. News had not even heard of the report. But the Bush administration has sounded similar themes in the past, framing education reform in the same language of global competitiveness and advocating an extension of No Child Left Behind's accountability reforms into high schools when the bill comes up for reauthorization next year. Just this week, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings met with business leaders in Silicon Valley to talk about reshaping the education system to fit the needs of the workforce.
And commission members seem committed to following through on the plan. William Brock, a former senator and secretary of labor, put it this way: If the education system does not make significant changes, "then we might as well start shooting ourselves."
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