The President’s Blog

Public School Reform: The Future Is Here

The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet. — William Gibson

What a great time it is in America. We are living in a country whose economy is often described as being the best that the world has ever seen. We have low unemployment, low inflation rates, and actually have more jobs than we have workers.

At the same time that we are enjoying the fruits of past labors, there are alarm bells going off across the country about the state of our public educational systems. Why do so many of our students have to enroll in remedial education courses when they enter college? Why are our high school graduates so unprepared for work or higher education?

Of course, we only hear the negative cries for the most part. In reality, many of our students are getting an excellent education and are performing brilliantly in colleges and universities across the state and nation. The real problem for Tennessee is that not enough students are prepared to compete in college classrooms or in the workplace. In fact, Gary Nixon, Executive Director of the state school board says that overall, in Tennessee, the problem is one of rigor. He says that we are covering the right stuff in public schools, but that we are not covering it at the right level to prepare students adequately.

Nixon, who spoke recently at the Knox Chamber Partnership, says that of 100 Tennessee ninth-graders, only about 35 will enroll in postsecondary education and about half of those students will need to enroll in developmental classes in English or math. Subsequently, only about 16 of those initial students will earn a degree within six years. Knox County fares better than does the state overall, but the success rate is still not acceptable if we are to prepare our students to be good, productive citizens in the future.

As the current chairman of the Knox County Great Schools Partnership and as President of Pellissippi State, I understand the problem all too well. At Pellissippi State, it is far too common for area high school students to earn ACT scores which will place them into developmental courses in English or math during their first semester or two. I believe that these problems can be corrected, as does Dr. Nixon, by putting a more rigorous curriculum for ALL students into place in our high schools. Not only will the 20 percent who have been taking the rigorous curriculum all along get a good education, but so many more students will graduate with the skills necessary to compete successfully in college and career.

While I understand that the ACT is not a perfect measure, it does provide useful information for comparing the scores of our students with other students across the country. ACT Testing Service has also established benchmarks in four scholastic areas: 18 in English composition, 22 in algebra, 24 in biology, and 21 in social sciences. These benchmarks indicate the level at which 75% of the students will, on average, earn a C or better in that subject area. Again, Knox County students perform at a higher level than Tennessee students do overall, but only 20% of Knox County students meet the benchmarks in all four areas.

This figure presents us with a grim reality: 80% of local students exit the doors of their high schools inadequately prepared for the future they face. While we should certainly celebrate the achievements of the 20% who are ready to move forward with confidence, we must find a way to strengthen the academic foundation of the vast majority of Knox County graduates.

As we begin to confront this challenge, I think that Dr. Nixon has provided an excellent starting point for us. With his background information in mind, I offer the following goal for the Knox County School system: Within 10 years, 70 percent of our Knox County high school seniors will meet or exceed the four ACT Benchmark scores.

The simplicity of the “10-4” goal provides a couple of distinct advantages. Because students already take the ACT, measuring “10-4” presents no additional financial or administrative burden on the school system. In addition, familiarity with the test and the accompanying benchmarks on the part of teachers, administrators, school board members, students and the general public will make it easier to galvanize a system into action.

It is also important that this goal not come at the expense of retention. All students, regardless of skill level or test scores, benefit from more time in the classroom, and retention rates should increase even as the system sets its sites on the “10-4” goal.

Dr. Nixon recommends a course of studies in high school which closely correlates to success on the ACT benchmarks. For instance, a student who takes biology, chemistry, and physics will score, on average, seven points higher on the ACT than the student who just takes biology. There are recommended curriculum requirements for math, social sciences, and English as well which correlate highly to increased scores on the ACT. I think that Knox County should adopt Dr. Nixon’s curriculum suggestions as a first step toward reaching the “10-4” threshold.

Critics may argue that “10-4” is too difficult to reach, but without a clearly defined and stated goal, our operating objective becomes “We will do the best we can with what we have under the circumstances.” I believe we must set higher goals, for all our sakes.