Students asked to redesign high school
The National Governors Association (NGA) hopes to survey more than 10,000 high school students on the effectiveness of America ’s high schools by June 30, 2005 .
Part of NGA Chairman Virginia Gov. Mark Warner’s yearlong “Redesigning the American High School ” initiative, the survey is an opportunity to bring the student voice into the education reform debate.
Launched in February, the survey, which is available at www.rateyourfuture.org, will help the nation’s governors gain valuable insight into today’s high school experience. Governors want to hear if students think high school is relevant to their own futures. This survey is about getting all students – the overachievers, underachievers and everyone in between – involved in this dialogue.
“The voice of the students has been missing in this conversation about high school reform that has been going on among the experts and policymakers,” Gov. Warner said. “The Class of 2005 may have the best ideas we need. If the students we are trying to help don’t see the value of redesigning high school, we are wasting our time.”
This month, NGA received preliminary results from the “Rate Your Future” survey’s first 1,200 student respondents. The initial findings are telling. Even though America ’s high school students say they are adequately prepared in basic reading, math and science skills, statistics show they are alarmingly unprepared to handle the demands of college and work in the 21st century. Moreover, more than a third of them say their high schools are not properly preparing them in many areas critical to their future success.
Click here for a summary of initial findings.
|
