State report says many students not ready for 21st century work force
posted by Loki on Nov.3.2008 at 3:49 pm
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By JOSEPH GIDJUNIS
Courier-Post staff
A report from state educators declares too few students earning a diploma from a New Jersey high school are prepared for the 21st century work force, graduate with a college degree and obtain the proper skills to be successful.
The New Jersey High School Redesign Steering Committee released these findings last April after dismal surveys and statistics showing nearly eight out of every 10 students entering the community college system require remedial courses; only one out of every four New Jersey students earns a bachelor’s degree; and 99 of 100 large state employers surveyed characterized high school students as under-prepared for the work force.
The group calls for immediate curriculum changes beginning with the current class of high school freshmen, requiring more challenging math, science and language arts literacy courses, and 10 additional academic credits, which would raise the state minimum requirement to 120.
The New Jersey State Board of Education received a presentation on the report in September, and legislative hearings are expected by early 2009, education officials said. It’s likely some amendments would be made to the proposal, but now, six months after the study’s release, school administrators are determining where their facilities and teaching fall into the proposed changes so they’re not playing catch up when the mandate is approved.
When the report was released, Patricia Denholm, the director of Curriculum Instruction and Professional Development Eastern Regional High School, said a committee was formed with administrators, teacher, parents and students to start planning. For the most part, curriculum won’t change at Eastern Regional because students are required to take the recommended science and math courses.
But she acknowledges any changes and stiffer requirements for graduation come with risks.
“The real challenge is that now, if the state said these are the minimum requirements, that’s what we have to offer,” Denholm said. “At the same time, we have to have these without a detrimental effect. If you’re putting students in higher level courses, the challenge is how we can support those students so they can be successful.”
The dramatic changes schools must adapt to would arrive for the current seventh graders who could not earn a diploma without: three years of a lab science, three years of math including algebra II or an equivalent higher-level math course and an extra half-year of social studies tied in with half year of economics.
Each course would also correlate to new end of the year course assessments for all classes. These would replace the state’s high school proficiency assessment or HSPA.
“We’re currently preparing students for jobs and careers that don’t exist because they haven’t been created. That shifts the way we do business in education,” said Cherry Hill School District Director of Curriculum Claudia Lyles. “We need to make sure children are able to think. They’re able to reason, that they are able to make adjustments, and they can function in a global marketplace. That is going to require a different skill set. So as we move forward in our curriculum review process, we set questions for ourselves along those lines.”
Lyles said Cherry Hill, too, is well positioned to make this transformation. Many students take some algebra in eighth grade. But the district will have to reshape some of the curriculum because graduation now requires 115 credits, not the state’s new proposed goal of 120.
Woodbury Schools Superintendent Joseph Jones said his smaller district should also be able to make the transition well, with some changes.
“We haven’t seen all of the details yet, but the early outline the state is expecting the district to do shows we’re already on course here at Woodbury,” Jones said. “We’ve changed some of our offerings so students will be able to take those rigorous courses the state is expecting all students to take.”
In Camden, the picture is not so rosy. While several of its high schools, including Brimm Medical Arts, have adequate lab facilities, there is concern from Camden School Board members that the comprehensive high schools are ill-equipped to handle the influx of students taking these classes.
At a work session meeting in October, board member Jose Delgado could only point to a handful of labs in the district, and at an estimated $400,000 for a fully functioning lab, he wondered where the money would come from to build the necessary facilities to handle the workload.
Last week, at the New Jersey School Boards Association convention in Atlantic City, board member Theo Spencer said the state mandates too much without offering sufficient financial support.
“We are so far behind, we have no hope of really reaching the standards,” Spencer said. “That doesn’t mean kids won’t get the best of what we have, but we need money to meet them.”
Reach Joseph Gidjunis at (856) 486-2604 or jgidjunis@gannett.com