From Issue 2, September 2005

A large majority of high school students say their class work is not very difficult, and almost two thirds say they would work harder if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to a nationwide survey of teenagers. The survey also found that less than two thirds believe that their school has done a good job challenging them academically or preparing them for college. About the same number said their senior year would be more meaningful if they could take courses related to the jobs they wanted or if some of their courses could be counted toward college credit.

According to a separate survey, most Americans believe that high school students aren’t being significantly challenged by their studies, and only 9 percent of the general public believes that high schools set high academic expectations for students. The survey found that 30 percent of the general public polled believe that major changes are needed. A majority of those polled support a variety of measures to improve high schools, including making sure teachers are experts in the subjects they teach, requiring exit exams, and increasing teachers’ salaries.

Possible Implications for Kentucky: Kentucky and a dozen other states committed themselves to significantly reform and improve their high schools at the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools held earlier this year in Washington, D.C. A lot is riding on the success of these and other efforts to improve Kentucky’s high schools.

For example, according to Kentucky’s latest occupational projections to 2012, jobs requiring an associate’s degree or more education will increase while those requiring just a high school diploma will decline.(3) Moreover, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education estimates that the state will need up to 800,000 working-age adults with a bachelor’s degree by 2020 to meet the national average. This is double the number Kentucky had in 2000.

It is essential that our state meet this goal if we hope to elevate our per capita income to the national average. Clearly, one prerequisite will be to improve our high schools and increase the percentage of students going to and remaining in college. The Center presented several policy options for improving Kentucky’s high schools in a 2002 study, Listening to Kentucky High Schools. The study author concluded that the most important factor affecting the success of the high schools studied was thoughtful, visionary, caring leadership. The study recommended that leadership skills be developed and enhanced among principals, who too often function primarily as watchdogs of discipline, rather than the visionary leaders high schools need. Further, empowered teachers should share in leading high schools into the future. The study’s author also concluded that student voices should be heard as we look for ways of improving the quality of education in high schools. While no certain path for success has been charted for what most agree is among the most challenging age groups, regardless, we know a lot more about past failings, model programs, and adolescent minds. From this brew of information, we can almost certainly improve Kentucky’s high schools.

Contributing Writer Billie S. Dunavent