Continuance |
||
|
||
Continuance Fall / Winter 2003-2004College for All is a Possibility Excerpts
from A New Curriculum for All I'll never forget the first time that I heard a fellow educator wonder aloud not whether it was possible to prepare all students-- including those who were poor or members of minority groups--for college, but whether it was desirable. In higher education, for example, it is well understood that students who don't complete a full college-preparatory curriculum in high school might enter college, but will almost never succeed. In K-12 it is--or at least should be--well understood that students who take more demanding courses are not only more likely to do well on state-required assessments, but even more likely to pass their courses. Business leaders know, too, that the knowledge and skills typically taught in the college prep curriculum are far better aligned with demands in today's workplace than are the "skills" typically taught in vocational courses. Yet even in view of ample research on all these things, leaders in all three sectors are mostly silent. Sure, we all have a slew of special outreach programs, counseling efforts, and scholarship programs to get a few more of "their" children on a path to college. But, except in a few forward looking places, we don't say ALL. We don't make our response systematic. And we don't kill off, once and for all, the dead-end "alternatives" to rigorous academic work in high school-- alternatives like "Nail Technology," "Reprographics," "Carpets and Floors." It's a new century. It's time to set aside our Industrial Age Curriculum and agree on a common core curriculum for the Information Age. As is beginning to happen in a few states, higher education-- including two-year colleges--and business have to help get the process rolling by getting much clearer about the skills and knowledge actually necessary for success in post secondary education and training. And no, we don't mean just their usual "more" that whatever K-12 is currently delivering, but rather, a rock-solid, parsimonious list. Then K-12 folks, probably with participation from higher ed and business, need to do some course redesigning. Not necessarily taught to all students in the same ways. But taught to all students. Now. In survey after survey, the vast majority of our teenagers are saying they want to go to college. So why do so few complete the courses they need to be admitted and pass the college placement tests? A study by the National Association of System Heads (NASH) recently found • Very little consensus between K-12 and higher education • In many states, institutions of higher education have yet to come to agreement on either number or topics for high school coursework that is essential to begin college level study. • Some states have clearly responded much more aggressively to the changes in the new workplace. |