Sign Up For Our Newsletter

High schools modeled after colleges?

According to this Arizona Republic story, that’s where high school is headed:

American high schools are on the brink of changes that could make them nearly unrecognizable to students who just got their diplomas.

Gone may be the large campuses teeming with kids and the classmates of similar age on similar schedules that have them all graduating together.

Campuses could be converted into small, specialized schools, and students could have individual learning plans built around their declared high school major.

If it sounds more like college, that appears to be the goal.

The national movement to reshape high school is being championed by educators and sought aggressively in some states, such as Florida. It is happening in small ways in Arizona but likely will pick up pace as the effort and ideas spread.

And just who is spearheading this change?

Business leaders, allied with governments, are driving the trend. They fear that even high schools in the wealthiest neighborhoods have grown complacent. They complain schools are not producing graduates able to keep up with global demands for creative workers adept at technology and able to quickly learn new skills.

Many leaders also fear the growing number of children living in poverty, whose learning lags behind their wealthier peers, will intensify the problem.

"The business community sees this as a matter of crisis," said Susan Carlson of the Arizona Business and Education Coalition. "There is a growing awareness, and we’re having to come to the political will that kids have got to be more focused."

A couple of years ago I was talking to an PR executive with one of the bigger agencies in Phoenix.  He said a survey had been conducted to find out why more California-based corporations weren’t more interested in relocating to the more affordable areas. 

One of the biggest reasons: the poor quality of education here.  Consider it a moment: as a corporate executive, you’re making mid-six figures.  You can send your kid to school anywhere.  You don’t want a good school–you want the best money can buy.  And frankly, the best money can buy in this state still doesn’t measure up to some of the cushy private academies in California.  And if you’re rich and can’t get what you want, that should tell you what your middle (and upper-middle) class employees won’t be able to get for their kids either, making relocation an even less desirable alternative. 

But here’s the thing omitted by the article.  What has made our colleges so successful?  The fact that they have to compete for students.  Yes, they get significant funding from both public and private sources.  Yes, they attract philanthropists.  But in that light, the ability of students to decide where they want to spend their tuition money becomes an even more necessary component (the better a school performs, the more likely it is to attract philanthropy dollars and private/public partnerships).  It has worked for our colleges and universities.  Why wouldn’t it work for K-12?