High School Graduation Rate

I know that this blog space is entirely too small to properly address this issue, so I'll just give my two cents in a few paragraphs realizing that I'm not going to get past the tip of the iceberg. The issue of the extraordinarily high rate of high school drop-outs is concerning because it means that new generations of Americans aren't even finishing high school in shocking numbers. And while I understand that college may not be for everyone, I definitely believe that high school should be, especially in such a developed nation with comparatively high standards of living to most of the world. The education reform debate, like many other policy debates, is split between progressives and hard-liners. Education progressives are more likely to support increased funding for schools and community improvement initiatives, while hard-liners favor Rhee-style measures that fire ineffective teachers and close down underperforming schools.

Not surprisingly, I happen to side more with the liberals on this issue. Part of the reason is because I have enough hard-working teacher friends who are clearly undervalued and underpaid. Firing them based on performance measures would be unjust and more of a reflection of the conditions in the communities in which their schools are located than on their own effectiveness as instructors. Unfortunately, real life is not a Hollywood studio and replacing a principal in an actual low-performing school will never have the same consequence-free wide ranging success that Mr. Clark achieved in Lean on Me. Teachers are real people who work hard to earn a living.

I do, however, think it's important to provide teachers with incentives to continue their education and learn strategies that can help promote student engagement. Teachers with advanced degrees have mastered proven teaching techniques that can help even the most challenged students. Academic concepts like accountable talk, which helps to develop students' reasonable discourse skills while simultaneously keeping them engaged in their studies, are central to improving the quality of education in our country's schools.

In the end, however, education reform in itself may not be enough to reform education. This sounds counter-intuitive, but we all know that there are pervasive systemic problems in society that lie at the root of the drop-out crisis that cannot be solved by replacing faculty or even closing schools.