With a plan that will allow students to map out their routes to a diploma over three, four, or five years, the school district here is hoping to shake up one of education鈥檚 most tradition-bound institutions: the public high school.
The 鈥淧athways鈥� plan, proposed by Superintendent Clifford B. Janey and approved unanimously by the Rochester school board July 20, will give students the option of staying in school an extra year, or finishing up a year early. By formalizing those diploma options, officials here want to give students the time they need to master state-mandated material before falling hopelessly behind鈥攁s many now do.
Students who finish early under the plan, which is scheduled to take effect in the fall of 2002, could go on to college or remain in high school for enrichment programs or college-level courses during a fourth year.
鈥淭his is an idea whose time has come, not only in Rochester, but in other communities,鈥� Mr. Janey told board members of the 37,000-student western New York district before the vote.
The superintendent, who is involved in national efforts to close the achievement gaps between minority and white students, said new strategies are needed, especially in high school. Assumptions about how long students need to learn, he said, are a good place to start: 鈥淲e should no longer be prisoners to our own seduction with time.鈥�
The four-year structure of high school, and the association of the diploma with how much time students have spent in class rather than what they鈥檝e learned, has long been the subject of criticism.
Many experts say it rewards students primarily for showing up, and gives them little incentive to excel. At the time, critics argue, the inflexible schedule all too often allows struggling students to fall between the cracks.
Yet frequent calls for an end to the emphasis on 鈥渟eat time鈥� have, for the most part, been overlooked in policymaking efforts to improve American high schools.
Time for a Change?
Mr. Janey鈥檚 plan鈥攗nusual in that it sprang from the district level鈥攈as attracted national attention this summer.
President Sandra Feldman of the American Federation of Teachers last month proposed a 鈥渢ransitional year鈥� of schooling, either in high school or before, to give students additional time to work through difficult material or develop basic skills.
The courses would be taught by specially trained teachers, 鈥渂ecause most secondary school teachers have never been trained to help older students overcome basic-skills deficits,鈥� Ms. Feldman said in her speech July 3 at the union鈥檚 national convention in Philadelphia. (鈥淯nion Heads Issue Standards Warnings,鈥� July 12, 2000.)
As logical as the Rochester plan sounds, however, it raises potentially complicated questions about sports eligibility, class rankings, and even proms. Moreover, some critics see the underlying idea as simplistic, and question the wisdom of pushing 16-year-olds on to college, or of keeping 20-year-olds in high school.
To Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., and a well-known critic of the traditional high school, Rochester鈥檚 approach is about half right.
鈥淚鈥檓 very skeptical about any elongation of high school, because of the quality of instruction and curriculum,鈥� he said. But, he added, the idea of letting students who have met the requirements finish high school early shows promise.
鈥淭he sooner we get out, the better,鈥� Mr. Botstein said. 鈥淪o, the three-year idea sounds great.鈥�
Rochester has reason to hope the plan works. About one-quarter of the district鈥檚 1,300 students who were eligible to graduate in June failed to meet the requirements.
Many of them will take more time to finish up. Others will eventually get their General Educational Development diplomas. Some will do neither.
The plan, as it is outlined, would let students in the 8th grade begin taking high school courses. Ninth graders, on the other hand, could request longer courses and a fifth year in order to help them catch up.
Students could change their 鈥減athways鈥� at any time.
District leaders have taken great pains to avoid associating the longer schedule with traditional notions of 鈥渇ailure鈥� or repeating a grade, saying they merely want to prevent students from moving along too quickly.
And they also argue that students from all achievement levels could benefit from the fifth year, whether to explore college options or career interests.
Mr. Janey spent the better part of this year courting ideas and support for the program from school and business officials, parents, and community leaders.
Cathy Little, a local PTA parent liaison, believes the plan will help, though she has some reservations. 鈥淢y only concern is: How do we get across to parents that the five-year plan does not mean failure?鈥� she said.
鈥榊ou Fit鈥�
Within the school district, the plan has won broad support.
鈥淚 think this [five-year option] is revolutionary because we have abandoned kids in the past because they didn鈥檛 fit,鈥� said Ed Cavalier, the principal of East High School. He added, 鈥淣ow we will be saying, 鈥榊ou fit.鈥欌��
He noted that there was some precedent for a five-year diploma at his school, where a popular firefighter-trainee program often takes five years to complete.
Tom Gillette, a spokesman for the Rochester Teachers Association, the local affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, sees the new diploma program as only the beginning.
鈥淲hen this is successful in meeting high school student needs, hopefully we will look at students down the line in all grades,鈥� he said.
The school board president, Bolgen Vargas, who spoke little English when he emigrated from the Dominican Republic at age 17, sees another benefit: 鈥淭his will be good for someone like me who comes from another country and has a special challenge.鈥�
At the other end of the achievement spectrum, high schoolers who want to move at a faster pace will be offered accelerated classes and summer school options to complete their diploma requirements in three years. Last year, 28 Rochester students finished in three years, though no formal program was offered to help them.
Students on the three-year plan will not automatically go on to college. The district will offer such students Advanced Placement courses, apprenticeships, or the option to travel during a fourth year of high school.
Taking a break from her summer school mathematics course, Rochester 10th grader Janeese Stevenson hailed the idea. 鈥淚鈥檇 want to graduate in three years,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y regular classes go too slow. While the rest of the class is going over their work, I鈥檓 done.鈥�
Nearby, junior Syrrynthia Anderson, who is also in the class, said she wouldn鈥檛 leave in three years, even if she could: 鈥淚鈥檇 stay here an extra year to walk across the stage with my friends.鈥�
National Model?
Rochester鈥檚 experiment will be closely watched, as high schools have arguably been the laggards in national efforts to improve schools.
Any effort to reinvent high school and its ritual-bound culture, experts say, is noteworthy.
In addition, states are raising graduation requirements and grade-level-promotion standards. As a result, may educators worry that the roughly 415,000 U.S. students who drop out of school each year will rise in number unless dramatic steps are taken to meet their education needs.
Still others see the additional year as a chance to help college-bound students hone basic skills, an option that many see as especially helpful for minority students.
According to 1997 federal data, 43 percent of college freshmen in heavily minority colleges nationwide had to take remedial courses in colleges.
鈥淭his has the potential to assist the problem with remediation,鈥� said George L. Mahaffey, the vice president for academic leadership for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in Washington.
Like some other experts, though, he said questions remain about whether younger graduates will be ready for college.
Working Out Details
Mr. Botstein, who calls modern high schools obsolete, argues that if the goal is merely to prepare students for 鈥渂ad tests,鈥� a fifth year will do little good.
On the other hand, he believes colleges should find ways to open their doors to younger students. 鈥淪tudents who develop sooner intellectually are being held back by high school,鈥� he said. 鈥淐olleges must respond.鈥�
For now, Rochester will focus on the many small questions that must be answered to implement the program. District officials acknowledge that it will be a logistical challenge, with many students enrolled in a wide range of 鈥減athways,鈥� and new programs needed to meet their needs.
Maurice Bell, the supervisor of high school programs for the district, said one priority would be to schedule individual counseling for 8th and 9th graders on their options. New schedules with overlapping long and short periods must also be drafted.
He added, however, that the district鈥檚 costs should not go up because the state will continue to reimburse the district for any student in school.
As for sports, Mr. Bell said, the question he keeps getting is, 鈥淲ill five-year students have the traditional eight semesters to compete in sports from the time they become freshmen?鈥� Probably, he said.
He鈥檚 less certain about how fifth-year students will be ranked for college admissions, when they will attend junior proms, or how the state will handle grade-level scores on standardized exams. 鈥淧lanning this could be a full-time job,鈥� he added.
