An auspicious alternative for American education

In the coming school year, high schools in eight states will pilot a program that will allow tenth graders to make a big decision.

Under the program, students would be able to choose to take a series of math, English, science and social studies tests at the end of their sophomore year, which, if passed, would qualify them to leave high school early and enter directly into a community college. Students who want to pursue a university education would stay and complete college preparatory junior and senior years.

We think this program has the potential of benefiting many high schools and young high school students. This program could save schools thousands of dollars, which is important now, as schools are under great fiscal strain and education funding is being cut across the country.

The program provides an alternative to students who might otherwise drop out of high school and not pursue any more education. Many students drop out of high school in order to join the work force, but if they would instead enter community college, they would be more qualified for higher paying work in the future.

One of the major aims of this program is to reduce the number of college students who need to take remedial classes in their first year of college. This program changes the focus of a high school education from completing a certain number of credits to achieving subject mastery so these remedial classes will not be necessary.

In order to make this program truly successful at helping high schools and their students, we think a number of additional changes need to occur.

High school curricula will need to be altered in order to ensure that the basic skills across many different subjects are mastered by the end of the students’ sophomore year.

Additionally, teachers will have to verify students’ proficiency in the different subjects because testing alone is not enough to confirm subject mastery.

More intellectual endeavors should be saved for the junior and senior years for students who intend on getting a university education.

Hopefully by focusing on different students’ goals for education, this program will enable high schools to set higher standards for their students.

While we believe this program could reinvent American high school education in many ways, this is not a panacea for the education system as a whole.

There will still be issues with lack of funding for the classroom, unqualified teachers and lack of parental involvement. However, this program is a step in the right direction.