High Schools That Work: State Policies That Support Student Achievement

A Forum — May 11, 2001

Dr. Gene Bottoms, Senior Vice President of the Southern Regional Education Board, has worked as a teacher, guidance counselor, principal, and over the last few decades, he has been a tireless advocate for high school reform. Since 1987, Bottoms has directed the High Schools That Work (HSTW) reform initiative. HSTW works with high schools to integrate academic and vocational programs that prepare students for success in both postsecondary education and careers. HSTW is currently assisting more than 1000 schools in 26 states across the country, providing technical support, staff development, and curriculum materials. In addition to this hands-on school reform work, HSTW also works with district and state administrators to analyze achievement data and implement overarching high school reform strategies. The American Youth Policy Forum asked Bottoms to come to Washington to speak about the lessons that his organization has learned about ways that states and urban districts can raise academic achievement for their students.

HSTW has always intended for its research and reform strategies to influence state education policy, according to Bottoms. HSTW sets goals for students in its partner schools to achieve at least a "basic" level in reading and "proficient" rating in math and science on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests. To do this, they have worked with the schools to raise course requirements in these areas, but they have found that schools do not have the power to make such requirements mandatory. This authority lies with district administrators and state officials. Based on the research of HSTW schools, Bottoms recommends that state and district officials require all high school students to take:

• Four credits of college-preparatory English
• Three credits of mathematics (at Algebra 1 or higher)
• Three credits of science (two at a college preparatory level), and
• Four credits of a planned course sequence in either a career or an academic concentration.

Bottoms argues that these requirements are only the first step in raising student achievement, because the quality of such courses can vary greatly from school to school. With this in mind, he argues that standardized end-of-course exams are also needed for core classes to ensure that students in every school are learning the content and skills that they must have to succeed in colleges and careers. In states like North Carolina which have implemented such requirements and end-of-course examinations, more than three-quarters of HSTW students are earning proficient scores in mathematics. Students in these states have made similar gains in reading and science, but the gains in these areas have not been as strong as in mathematics. According to Bottoms, this is due in part to the fact that "state policies have advanced more in math than in science and more in science than in language arts." Bottoms speculates that this is because requirements in math and science are more quantifiable, whereas states have had a more difficult time nailing down concrete curriculum requirements for language arts.

When considering such tough new course requirements, Bottoms cautions states not to expect improvements to occur overnight, and he emphasizes that curriculum reforms and additional student support must accompany higher statewide standards. HSTW has found a bevy of support strategies that states, districts, and schools can use to help students meet the new course requirements. First, they advocate integration of math, reading, and technology into career preparatory programs that have historically lacked rigorous academic standards. Second, they propose continuous career and college guidance for all students from ninth grade until graduation, pointing out that school guidance resources have often been focused on students in college prep concentrations. Third, they suggest that block scheduling in core classes during the 9th grade year could help bring freshmen who are lagging in core subjects such as reading up to speed before they enroll in new required courses. Fourth, HSTW pushes schools to require Algebra by the 8th grade, so all students are prepared for advanced mathematics in high school. Finally, they urge states to provide the financial resources for districts to create tutoring and after-school programs that will give students additional instructional support to meet these demanding curricular changes.

Bottoms concluded his presentation with a discussion of the special challenges faced by schools in urban areas and the lessons that HSTW has learned after more than a decade working with these schools. As with the statewide data that he reported, Bottoms said that urban districts are doing the best in implementing new standards for mathematics and science. However, urban districts often lack necessary laboratory facilities to make new, required science courses as rigorous as they should be. NAEP science scores reveal that urban students score far lower than the state and national averages, even when they have increased course requirements. Though the percentage of urban students meeting HSTW requirements in science rose from 34% to 38% between 1998 and 2000, this percentage was still far lower than the national HSTW student proficiency average of 55% in 2000. Testing in math and reading revealed similar gaps. One clear implication of this study is that states and school districts must ensure that all schools have access to the facilities and equipment necessary to teach newly required courses.

In discussing additional strategies to address urban school achievement gaps, Bottoms began by saying that what works throughout the HSTW network also works in urban schools, but the students in urban schools need this type of challenging curriculum even more than their peers in suburban and rural schools. HSTW has tried to foster a "culture of high expectations" in all of its schools, and this has been a special focus of their work in urban schools. Bottoms suggests that urban schools should require four credits of mathematics at the level of Algebra 1 or higher (as opposed to the requirement of three such credits in other network schools). He believes that this will help accomplish another related HSTW goal of increasing access to advanced courses for urban students. Without pre-requisite courses, urban students are locked out of the advanced classes, even if they are lucky enough to be in a school with facilities to offer such a course.

One reason that urban students have lacked access to these courses is that they have received little guidance in planning their programs of study. HSTW surveys revealed that only 29% of urban students received such guidance and only 25% were encouraged to take more challenging math and science courses. Bottoms recommended that urban schools need to help students set educational and career goals early, involve parents in this process, and align programs of study with this counseling to ensure that students can meet their goals.

Stronger course requirements and better guidance counseling are just two of the many reform strategies recommended by HSTW to improve urban schools. Bottoms also highlights strong leadership, professional development, teacher retention, investment of the entire school staff in reform initiatives, and finally, the creation of "majors" or areas of concentration in students’ junior and senior years. With these and other research-proven reform strategies, Bottoms believes that we can make "high schools that work" for all of America’s youth. For more information on the reform strategies recommended by HSTW, see their research brief entitled "The 2000 High Schools That Work Assessment: Improving Urban High Schools," which is available on line at www.sreb.org.

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