EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: High Schools for the 21st Century

• Imagine a High School
• The New American High School Conference
• The New Urban High School Network
• Next Steps

by Patricia McNeil

High schools have traditionally been gateways to the future for young people. As the future of work and the demands of adult life change, high schools have to change too. If we are going to prepare all young people for success in the 21st century, we need to completely redesign our school system. Most high schools in America today were designed for the industrial age. Teaching practices, organizational structure, and the use of time pretty much reflect industrial practices of much of the 1900s. However, in today's knowledge-based society, the traditional distinctions between academic and vocational education are eroding. The distinctions between the "college-bound" and "non-college-bound" are becoming obsolete. And the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in postsecondary education and work are increasingly similar.

Imagine a High School

• where every student is prepared for high achievement in college, careers, and community life;
• where students learn through hands-on projects that address their interests, and encourage critical thinking;
• where students work and learn alongside adults in the workplace and other community settings;
• where standards from the adult world set the expectations for student work, and in turn inspire creativity and focused learning;
• where teachers guide students in reflection, and in connecting intellectual and technical work with their emerging vision of the future;
• and where families and community play a central role.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) believes in such a school . . . and we are committed to making it real for all students in every community. Creating new American high schools involves inspiration, perspiration and innovation.

The New American High School Conference

OVAE worked with NCRVE in selecting the first 10 examples of new American high schools, from more than 170 nominations nationwide. The schools were showcased at the New American High School Conference, held in Washington, DC on May 23-24, 1996 (featured in CenterWork vol. 7, no. 3, Summer 1996). The conference was cosponsored by 65 national associations representing education, business, labor, parents, community groups, and state and local government. Attendees represented all levels of policymakers--local, state, and national.

The intent was to promote wider understanding and support for the elements that make the new American high school. OVAE has published a description of the 10 schools, entitled New American High Schools: Profiles of the Nation's Leading Edge Schools . In addition, MPR Associates, one of the partners in the NCRVE consortium, is collecting further information on the accomplishments of these schools.

The New Urban High School Network

In the fall of 1996, OVAE contracted with the Big Picture Company to find exemplary urban secondary schools that demonstrate effective pathways to whole school reform. After months of search, reflection, and consultation, a geographically and structurally diverse group of five high school sites were selected to join the New Urban High School (NUHS) Network. Each of these schools has developed dynamic ways to link the school and adult worlds, to approach restructuring and reform on a whole-school basis, and to connect with broader school reform initiatives.

Much of the NUHS Project work is rooted in the research and development of the Met, the Big Picture's laboratory school in Providence, RI. Started in 1996, the Met is a new kind of high school committed to building curriculum one student at a time. NUHS has developed a set of design principles by which communities across the nation can structure their ideal high school. The design principles are: personalization, adult world immersion, contexts for reflection, intellectual mission, community partnership, and teacher as designer.

The NUHS Project coordinates a network of mutual technical assistance to help facilitate the sharing of ideas and methods among the five sites and the Met. In conjunction with their sites, NUHS develops and distributes materials and products to inform school reform efforts in communities nationwide. For more information, see the NUHS website at http://www.bpic.org/.

Next Steps

In the summer of 1998 OVAE significantly expanded the number of schools recognized for putting these principles into practice. Contracts with the High Schools that Work project of the Southern Regional Education Board, with Sonoma State University (California), and with the Big Picture Company in partnership with Jobs for the Future, will draw schools from existing networks into the new American high school partnership.

In the new knowledge-based society, whether students want to become neurosurgeons or electronics technicians, they will need a combination of strong academic skills, theoretical knowledge, and technical skills--and they will need to be lifelong learners. That is a formidable challenge, and new American high schools are rising to meet it.

Patricia McNeil is Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education.