by AFT President Sandra Feldman
August 2000

We can't just let
struggling students
fall by the wayside.

Recently, a proposal that I made got a lot of attention and was interpreted by some as being a simple call for an extra year of high school. That was wrong. I talked about the small but significant number of middle and high school students who do not have the basic skills they need to do secondary school work and how to develop the knowledge and methodology to help them.

Elementary school students are achieving in reading and math well beyond previous levels. And those who are behind will have time to catch up if we provide them with extra help and smaller classes.

But many of the secondary school students who were not beneficiaries of high standards when they were in elementary school (and who may have been socially promoted) don't have the basic skills to master high school courses and high-stakes tests. They may not read well, but they are smart enough to know they will have a tough time meeting the new graduation requirements. We are already hearing about an uptick in high school dropouts--and, as we know, these kids will be dropping into a world where miserable, dead-end jobs are about the best they can hope for.

What Can We Do?

Some people say we should relax the standards so these young adults will not be "sacrificed." Although doing that may prevent any worrisome increase in high-school dropout statistics, it will not make the kids themselves any better prepared to get decent jobs or go to college.

Others say the kids and their teachers should just work harder. This kind of tough talk sounds good, but it rings hollow for anyone who knows what goes on in the classroom. Teachers are desperate to help their students, but they are in a bind. If they teach material at a lower level in order to reach their students, few of the kids will be able to learn quickly enough to pass high-stakes exams. But if they present material at a higher level, the kids won't get it--and will also fail the exams.

The fact is, most secondary school teachers don't know how to overcome basic reading and math deficits because they were never trained to do so. Moreover, helping young adults raise their basic skills is an area in which little work has been done.

The good news is that there are programs that have taken on this challenge, and some are showing positive results. The Talent Development Model and High Schools that Work are two examples. Right now, they don't reach many kids, but if the federal government were to lead an all-out effort to extend these programs and put them into schools where the approximately 350,000 to 415,000 tenth to twelfth graders who drop out each year are concentrated, many of these students could be helped.

At the same time, a federally sponsored effort by the Departments of Education and Labor could stimulate research and pull together existing knowledge and practice from successful adult literacy programs so they can be adapted and applied in our secondary schools.

Military Expertise Useful

The military also has important expertise to offer, and we should be sure to make use of it. At three times in the past, the military accepted young adults who failed the aptitude tests required for entry into the service. The military took on the challenge of getting them up to the skill levels they needed, and the results were spectacular, not only during their military service but when they returned to civilian life.

Finally, it's important to give youngsters who need it the time to catch up by guaranteeing them after-school and summer-school programs. As a last resort--for those kids who need even more help to meet the standards for graduation--we should consider a transitional-year program, an extra year, either before or during high school, whenever we find they need it. And of course all such programs should be staffed by teachers specially trained to accelerate the basic skills of young adults.

If we don't do this work and do it soon, too many kids will be in danger of dropping out. This is awful for them and it spells danger for the standards movement. History demonstrates that increases in dropout rates are followed by pressure to lower standards and reinstate social promotion, with all its disastrous consequences for students and society. We've been there, done that. Let's now go forward by offering serious help to older students who need it.