Secretary's Column
By Dr. Rick Melmer
Department of Education

Raise the bar or remove the lid?

Since the inception of No Child Left Behind, there has been a great deal of emphasis nationwide – and within South Dakota – for school districts and states to “raise the bar,” so that all students are able to achieve at acceptable levels. I want to commend South Dakota’s schools for working hard to raise the bar in all academic areas. Recent Dakota STEP scores are a reflection of the effort that is being put forth towards this ambitious goal. We are seeing significant gains in our overall reading and math scores and acceptable increases in each of the sub-groups that constitute the accountability plan for No Child Left Behind.

No one would argue that it is important to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn. In fact, as we compare the United States to other countries in our world, most would acknowledge that the United States educates all students better than any other country. Over the years, when other countries were doing national comparisons with their best and brightest, we were bringing all of our students to the table when national averages were used.

I have begun to think about this philosophy in more detail since I have had an opportunity to read Thomas Friedman’s book, “The World Is Flat.” In this book, Friedman discusses the importance of the United States being competitive with other countries, especially in the areas of math and science. He notes the number of potential graduates that exist in India and China and how many of those young people will be competing with our young people for jobs across the world. After reading the book, I do agree with Friedman’s symbolic representation that the world is flat.

That brings me to the title of this article, should school districts across this state and country continue to emphasize the importance of raising the bar, or should we begin to place more importance on “removing the lid”? Are we spending enough time in our schools challenging our best and brightest kids to achieve at high levels, or are we more infatuated with bringing all kids along to an acceptable level? Please note that I am not blaming the schools but rather examining our current system and the emphasis it places on educating all kids. Do I believe that all kids should be educated? Absolutely. However, it should never be done nor was it ever intended to be done at the expense of our best and brightest kids.

So how do we, in fact, remove the lid so that our students have a chance to advance at their own pace? Here are some suggestions that many schools are implementing and others should consider as we look at removing the lid for our best and brightest kids:

• Establish classes that allow students to move between grade levels if their abilities indicate that the students can handle the rigor.
   
• Emphasize advanced placement (AP) courses at the high school and emphasize upper level courses at the middle school for those students that can handle the rigor.
   
• Review district policies to ensure that barriers are removed for students that want to proceed at a faster pace. Consideration should be given to AP weighted policies that reward students for taking more difficult classes.
   
• Require rigorous academic classes during all or part of the student’s senior year. Too many of our students are “front end loading” their classes and coasting at the end of their high school career.
   
• Offer prep courses to assist students in achieving higher ACT and SAT scores. It appears clear that universities are placing more and more emphasis on standardized tests (ACT/SAT) for college admittance and scholarships.
   
• Require end-of-course exams for successful completion of a course. This will ensure that students actually understand the concepts before moving on to the next class.
   
• Use the Dakota STEP standardized test to identify the brightest students and make sure that those students are taking the most rigorous classes.

All of us love challenges. Our students are no different. We all remember teachers that challenged us in our school careers. Let’s make sure we are challenging all of our students to do their very best. Someday, they will thank us for our efforts.