Reston, VA – The discussion over reforming and improving the nation’s high schools has quickly heated up. President Bush, in his recently released FY2006 budget, proposed just over $2 billion for high school reform. A week from now, the nation’s governors will convene an education summit with the sole purpose of discussing high school reform.

“This new emphasis on improving high schools is long overdue and greatly needed,” said Gerald N. Tirozzi, NASSP Executive Director. “There is no question that our nation’s high schools need to improve. There also is no question that high schools will not be able to substantially improve until policymakers recognize the need to provide adequate resources.”

The National Association of Secondary School Principals has outlined legislative recommendations that focus resources on initiatives that are greatly needed in order for high schools to improve the academic outcomes of their students.

The federal government currently makes the investment at the elementary level (just over $12 billion alone for Title I in FY2005 with only 5% of it going to high schools); it’s now time to make a significant federal investment at the high school level as well.

NASSP calls for $4.8 billion annually to fund a new high school specific reform initiative.

“While most agree that the mission of high schools is to prepare the nation’s teenagers for postsecondary life, the larger debate when reforming often comes down to providing schools with the capacity to improve teaching and learning,” said Tirozzi. “NASSP takes a position that successful high school reform requires a long-term investment for implementing systemic improvement and raising individual student and school-wide performance levels.”

NASSP recommends legislation that (the full recommendations and rationale can be viewed on our website at www.principals.org/hsreform):

1. Increase academic rigor for all high school students through programs such as the State Scholars program, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
2. Restructure the federal Smaller Learning Communities program into a “High School Personalization” program that will focus resources on developing personal academic and graduation plans for each student, as they enter high school, which correspond to his/her academic and future employment goals. These personalized plans would rely on diagnostic assessments and robust data systems—applicable at the school level—for individual students that reveal each student’s academic strengths and needs upon entrance into high school and serve as indicators of success and areas in need of improvement as they move from 9th grade toward graduation.
3. Expand funding for the Striving Readers program to $1 billion in order to serve the more than 6 million middle level and high school students who are not currently able to read or write at grade level proficiency. Literacy skills (reading and writing) are the foundation of academic success for every student in every school.
4. Provide a new and separate funding stream of $3.55 billion for FY 2006 to address the academic needs of the nation’s low-performing high school students. While high schools educate 28% of the K-12 population, they receive only 5% of Title I funding. Of the $12.7 billion appropriated in FY2005, approximately $635 million is being directed to high schools.
5. Encourage states to develop student growth models that measure individual student achievement from year to year rather than simply extending NCLB in to high schools. Support the use of multiple assessments—that are aligned with state standards and that include performance-based measures—to measure academic outcomes. Implement the NAEP Assessment in the 10th grade (Spring) or 11th grade (Fall) rather than in 12th grade to get a more accurate assessment on national progress.
6. Provide a dedicated funding stream of $100 million for FY 2006 within Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act specifically designated to build the capacity of principals and other leaders (asst. principal, teacher and team leaders, and others) to effect meaningful change in their schools.
7. Support pre-service and in-service efforts to provide teachers with the subject knowledge and pedagogical skills they need to be highly qualified professional educators.
8. Provide technical assistance to all high schools identified as “in need of improvement” under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

If these recommendations are fully implemented, NASSP believes the following outcomes can be expected over time:

• Improvements in closing the achievement gap between whites and minorities, and between high and low-income populations
• An increase in the percentage of students passing state exit exams
• An increase in the high school graduation rate
• An increase in the college going rate
• Improvement in NAEP assessment results based on the 10th grade (Spring) or 11th grade (Fall).

NASSP recommendations call for high school reform legislation that systemically re-cultures the American high school through collaborative, inclusive leadership and the strategic use of data, personalized learning that focuses on the academic needs of students, and increased academic rigor that reflects the integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

“These changes will need to be supported by a solid investment and a long-term commitment on the part of state and federal policy makers,” stated Tirozzi. “The cost of such efforts may seem high to some, but it pales in comparison to the human, social and economic costs of not investing in improving our nation’s high schools.”