Gov. Mark R. Warner is leading an effort by the National Governor's Association to improve the quality of the nation's high schools. The NGA, in conjunction with a group called Achieve, Inc., recently created an agenda of action outlining measures that need to be taken to enhance education.
According to the agenda, the nation's high schools are dealing with high drop-out rates, and many of the students who do go on to college are not adequately prepared to do college-level work.
"If you start with 100 ninth graders, only about two-thirds even graduate four years later," Curry School of Education Dean David Breneman said. "Then, of that group, about two-thirds start some kind of postsecondary education. The final graduation rates are still lower than one would like. There is still a lot of leakage."
To overcome these obstacles, the agenda outlined several improvement options such as developing methods for tracking students' progress and closely measuring college and work-readiness through the SAT, PSAT, and placement exams.
Because another key aspect of redesigning high schools is recruiting and retaining qualified teachers, the agenda recommends that state leaders provide incentives to universities and colleges to produce teachers in fields with critical shortages. The schools also should increase the placement and retention of their graduates in the neediest schools.
Breneman said the Education School already shares many of these objectives through its work with Teachers for a New Era, a national initiative to improve the quality of teaching, made possible by a five-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation.
"It's based on the argument that to really produce highly qualified teachers requires collaboration between the School of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences," Breneman said.
To address the issue of retaining teachers at schools, the Carnegie grant also requires the Education School to stay in touch with its graduates and mentor them for the first two years of their employment. Breneman said the Education School also is a part of an induction program with all new teachers in local school districts.
"I think we're well positioned and we're actually ahead of the game compared to a lot of universities," Breneman said.
University Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said high schools already have made great strides towards improving education, citing the introduction of magnet schools, Governor's School and an increase in AP and IB programs.
"We've got this college-bound group that's challenging themselves with very tough courses, but then we have students just taking all regular classes," said Blackburn. "Somebody once said that Americans are great at short-changing themselves on their education, trying to get out of a tough class here or there."
To ensure that all students can get the most out of their high school education, Warner is raising the bar through the introduction of his "Senior Year Plus" plan, which he launched in the fall of 2003, Warner spokesperson Ellen Qualls said. The program enables students to earn up to 15 hours of college credit during their senior year. For students who join the workforce after high school, the program also has led to the certification of hundreds of technical education teachers, Qualls said.
"Where we go from here is seeing how many other states will develop programs similar to Virginia's," she said.
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