February 10, 2005, Chattanooga Times Free Press
County residents whose children do not attend public schools almost could be forgiven if they are largely unaware of the mounting successes in public schools here. Given county commissioners’ persistent and harmful undermining of the school system in their undisguised effort to keep shorting its budget, those successes often remain obscured and unsung. Regardless, and almost paradoxically given the funding obstacles, the school system’s success stories continue to unfold. The progress celebrated here last week for the high school reform program is one of the most notable success stories.
High school reform here began in 2001, when the school system was selected by the Carnegie Corp. of New York as one of just seven public school districts nationwide to receive a unique grant. Its purpose was to help make high schools relevant and responsive to rising 21st century workplace demands for both academic and technical skills.
The Carnegie Corp.’s incentive was aimed at producing national models for successful high schools for the rising generation. Yet it also relied implicitly on the idea that next generation high schools would be successful only if they inspired students and teachers and produced higher levels of overall achievement.
Carnegie’s $8 million grant to this county’s public schools, the largest of the seven awarded, was channeled through Chattanooga’s Public Education Foundation and supplemented by $6 million in matching funds raised from private partners. In collaboration with students, educators, parents and community partners, school leaders then spent 15 months developing a comprehensive high school reform plan encompassing all 16 high schools.
One of the key system wide elements was establishment of a single-track diploma. That eliminated the dual-track curriculum requirements for college-bound and vocational-track students and raised the bar for all students. But it most significantly benefited those who previously had left school with inadequate preparation in math, science and language skills needed today not just for college, but also for a far more demanding workplace.
The reform effort spurred establishment of specialty career-track academies in all of the county’s high schools. Each school’s intensive technical academy focus is different than all the others. East Ridge High focuses on construction skills, for example, while Red Bank High keys on health care careers. Students are allowed to cross zones to attend the school with the academy of their choice, just as they do with magnet schools.
Carnegie Corp. President Vartan Gregorian visited last week to praise the progress in high school reform on several levels. Academic achievement — in English, Algebra, writing and ACT college entrance exam scores — has been notable all around over the past three years. The critical promotion rate from the ninth to 10th grade improved, and Hamilton County’s 10th grade students are now scoring higher than the Tennessee average in English. More upper-level students are taking the ACT, and their average scores are rising; 11th-grade writing skills are steadily rising, and are consistently higher than the state average. And 45 percent more eighth- and ninth-graders are scoring 'advanced' or 'proficient' in algebra than three years ago.
The academies also are winning laurels. East Ridge’s Career Construction Academy was selected by the National Career Academy Coalition as the best new career academy in the nation. Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences saw 94 percent of its graduating class last year go to college. The number of Brainerd High students taking college entrance exams has increased a remarkable 22 percent, and scores have risen sharply. More than 30 business leaders are helping develop three new academies at Howard School of Academics and Technology. Soddy-Daisy High’s new Engineering & Technology Academy enrolled 93 students in 2004. Red Bank’s successful Health Academy is expanding, and the school has just opened a Teaching Academy.
Indeed, good things can be said for all the high schools, in part because the reform effort focused on four basic goals: creating a more challenging, relevant curriculum; improving teaching through professional development; creating a personalized learning experience for each student; and allowing more flexibility to meet students’ needs. In short, the reform initiative, now four years into the five-year plan underwritten by the grant, already is being celebrated for its notable and documented successes and properly so. Such success is a shining testament both to the rising standards and levels of achievement in schools and to the effort that students and teachers are increasingly inspired to make.
If the high school reform initiative is to foster further progress after expiration of the Carnegie grant next year, the school system will need some new funding to nurture the work. The biggest investment is already in place, but the challenge of continuing the successful models remains. The community should embrace willingly that challenge once citizens realize that success is readily attainable. The investment will pay off handsomely in more productive and capable young graduates — and in the qualified workforce that is required to build the community we all seek.