by Heather Wecsler
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
The Arkansas Department of Education plans to propose more rigorous standards for public high school math and English courses — with help from a national organization that advocates better college and work force preparation.
Michael Cohen, president of Achieve Inc., told the state Board of Education on Monday afternoon that the state’s standards are already “good” but could use some improvement.
Achieve Inc. is a Washington-based nonprofit group that a bipartisan group of governors and legislators established 10 years ago to assist states in better preparing high school students for life after graduation.
“Your language arts and math requirements are largely aligned with what our research shows colleges and businesses want from high school graduates,” Cohen told state Education Board members. “But there are a couple of areas where more specifics are needed.”
As examples, he suggested the state’s public high school English classes offer more opportunities for students to learn to read and compose more expository writing such as business memos and technical manuals. He also recommended the state enhance the progression of its math courses so the standards more naturally build on each other.
Education Commissioner Ken James said after the session that his staff has been working on proposed changes to enhance the curriculum.
Such beefing-up of the curriculum would be subject to the approval of the state Board of Education over the next few months. But Cohen also urged the board, which oversees kindergarten through 12thgrade education, to work closely with higher education leaders to ensure they also support the new standards.
The state’s work of aligning what high school graduates know and what they need to know for college and work force success is funded by a National Governors’ Association grant of up to $2 million over two years that was awarded to the state in July 2005. Arkansas was one of 10 states to receive the grant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and administered by the governors’ association.
Earlier Monday, Cohen joined David Spence — president of the Southern Regional Education Board — in praising the work the state has done so far in making a high school diploma meaningful. But both men also stressed that the state still has a long way to go.
They spoke at the Hilton Little Rock Metro Center at the annual meeting of the state’s three education boards — the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Board of Workforce Education and Career Opportunities and the state Board of Education.
Cohen cited a 2004 report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education that showed only 18 percent of U.S. high school graduates go on to complete a baccalaureate degree. The same report showed Arkansas trailing the nation with 15 percent of its high school graduates going on to complete a college degree.
“That’s not the performance we need in a country where twothirds of new jobs will require at least some post-secondary education,” he said.
Last year, more than half of firsttime freshmen at public colleges and universities needed to take a remedial course in at least one subject. Students do not receive college credit for such courses.
But Spence said even high school graduates who don’t go on to college will find employers want the same knowledge and skills that colleges and universities do.
“College and career-readiness are really the same thing,” he said.
Spence’s organization — a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta — advises state educators and policy-makers on how to improve education. The Southern Regional Education Board’s 16 member-states extend from Texas in the southwest to Delaware in the northeast.
He said that within two years, Arkansas should have its high school curriculum aligned with college and work force expectations.
Both Cohen and Spence said Arkansas is off to a good start of doing just that with its Smart Core curriculum, which is now the default curriculum of all high school freshmen unless their parents allow them to opt out. State lawmakers and educators are now proposing that the opt-out clause be removed during the 2007 legislative session.
The Smart Core includes four units of math: algebra I, geometry, algebra II and a math course beyond algebra II such as trigonometry, statistics or a calculus-based course. Also required are three science courses to be selected from physical science, biology, chemistry and physics-related courses, in addition to the traditional four units of English, three units of social studies, six units in a career-focus series of classes and courses in health, physical education, oral communication and the fine arts.
Arkansas also is working with eight other states and Achieve Inc. to develop an end-of-course algebra II exam.
Spence urged that the state’s colleges and universities use that test and other statewide end-of-course exams to determine whether students are ready for college-level work or need remediation. That way, he said, students have a chance to do the remedial work while they are still in high school.
Spence also encouraged higher education institutions to give high schools feedback on how well their graduates are performing. He said college readiness only can be accomplished by high school teachers and college faculty working together.
But both Spence and Cohen said Arkansas is already doing better than most states in aligning its public education curriculum with the needs of an increasingly competitive world economy.
“You are on the right path,” Cohen told the three state boards. “Continue what you’re doing and the rest of the country will follow you as a model.”
