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June 20, 2005
Reinventing High School in DC
I've posted a number of comments about the need to reinvent the school system and move out of the industrial era mindset of the ridged high school. It looks like the DC school system is moving exactly in that direction, according to a story in this morning's Washington Post, "Reinventing The Route to D.C. Diploma":
Starting in fall 2006, the school system plans to offer the option of a fifth year at its high schools -- with smaller classes, tutoring and other support services -- for students who need more time to complete their requirements.
[ D.C. School Superintendent Clifford B.] Janey's goal is to provide flexibility to teenagers who might be juggling school with job and parenting responsibilities -- and to retain students who, after falling behind, might otherwise drop out well before 12th grade. He also plans to establish a three-year track for students who want to graduate early.
School officials said those moves are part of an effort to reinvent high schools. Other measures, they said, might include staggering class schedules so some students can start and end their school day later; expanding apprenticeship programs in various trades; and allowing students to enroll in community college while in high school.
"This flies in the face of the traditional way we've run public schools," said William Caritj, the District's associate superintendent for educational accountability and assessment. "We're living in a world where young adults are faced with challenges. Public education needs to get with it to serve the needs of students."
Or if public education doesn't get with it, it will find itself part of the residue of the industrial age, and condemn its students to falling further and further being in the information age. In an information-innovation-intangible economy that will need every brain available, that would be unfortunate.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at June 20, 2005 8:05 AM
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