High Schools Become ‘Real World’ Preps Changes Designed To Improve Workplace Skills, Test Scores

High school students in Eastern Washington are finding many of their classes just don’t look the same.

English supplies include message pads and technical manuals. Math students will be bouncing balls and racing cars to make concepts easier to grasp.

The changes will be even more drastic in coming years, as local districts revamp their curriculums to bring them in line with new state standards.

Educators say they must make the changes to prepare kids for a changing work force, one that needs fewer workers with four-year college degrees. They’re also grooming students to pass new, tougher state tests that assess progress.

Parents are already becoming familiar with the tests taken annually in grades 4, 7 and 10. Schools are wrapping up this year’s assessments Friday.

For now, there’s little riding on individual scores. But in several years students won’t be able to get a diploma without passing the 10th-grade test.

“It’s really moving kids up a ladder and not just being able to regurgitate information,” said Helene Paroff, curriculum director for Educational Service District 101.

And with the stakes so high, educators say they must give students the skills they need to pass the tests and succeed in the working world. Districts have separate committees inspecting high school curriculums and - in some cases - revamping them.

Students will see the most dramatic differences in English and math, with a heavy emphasis on writing in all subjects.

Schools will still offer college prep and Advanced Placement courses for college-bound students. But new course titles are also popping up, such as Integrated Communications and Applied Algebra - which some teachers informally refer to as “lower-level” courses.

“For us and probably everybody, the biggest change is math,” said Joan Kingrey, assistant superintendent for the Mead School District.

Now, few students have the skills to master the mathematics part of the new tests, especially questions asking them to explain their thinking, educators say.

To combat that, teachers are starting to stress reading and writing in math and science classes - how to read and understand a chemistry textbook, for instance, Kingrey said.

Spokane high schools are planning to include more geometry and more probability and statistics, which get heavy emphasis on the state tests, said math coordinator Julie Peck.

A teachers committee is considering requiring students to pass three instead of two math classes to prepare for the working world, where math skills are in demand, Peck said. But a separate challenge is making sure students are steeped in math before taking the state tests as sophomores.

“Some students never take geometry, let alone by 10th grade,” Peck said. “We have a lot of changes to make.”

One solution may be to make students complete the required math classes before their junior year, Peck said. Now, Spokane students can take the two required math classes anytime in four high years of high school.

A committee will also consider creating a class that combines algebra, geometry and probability and statistics. Students would enroll in it for three years in the place of prealgebra, algebra and geometry.

Educators say some parents may find the changes intimidating or scary - especially if math isn’t their strong point. “Their kids will be working harder, and their kids will be farther along than the parents were,” Peck said.

Parents can help by encouraging students to take math seriously, she said. They can even help kids by playing family games that stress counting and math skills - from Candyland to cribbage.

High school English classes are undergoing dramatic changes of their own, evolving to include much more than the traditional menu of grammar and literature.

“We want a strand that’s stronger and stronger in workplace skills,” said Merrilou Harrison, language arts coordinator for District 81.

That will include resume writing, technical writing and job interview tips - skills that will ease students’ passage to the “real world,” educators say.

“Our philosophy right now is, not a huge percentage of our kids go on to college,” said Dennie Crowe, who chairs North Central High School’s English department.

“We’ve got to go with the flow. We know the majority of kids will be having jobs in technical fields and that’s not what we’ve been teaching them.”

That will probably mean cutting some of the traditional literature and composition requirements for students who aren’t in classes for the college-bound. Educators plan to review the list of required readings next year.

“You’ll see an emphasis on technical writing and writing for the workplace - memos, schedules, graphs,” said Jay Walter, who is reviewing Central Valley School District’s curriculum.

Even students who gravitate toward professional-technical classes will find shop isn’t just shop anymore.

“What we’re trying to teach students is what business and industry wants them to learn,” said Clyde Rasmussen, who supervises Spokane’s vocational program.

“We’re trying to give kids an awareness, ideas about what they’re going to do in the future.”

Rasmussen especially wants to move keyboarding to lower grades, since even the youngest of students use computers now. It’s usually taught in grades 9 and 10.

At North Central, shop teacher Ron Beard has recruited a Boeing employee to help students build a fiberglass canoe. He’s also persuaded a countertop manufacturer to cut the school a deal on leftover supplies.

His next goal: Start a class in which students perform specific, repetitive tasks. Together they’d manufacture products - perhaps CD stands - and sell them for profit.

“More jobs like this will be out there than taking a cabinet and working on it from start to finish,” Beard said. “Set it up like a business. If you work real hard at it, you’re going to get this amount of money. It motivates kids to work harder.

“More and more, I think we’ll shift that direction,” Beard said.

While the 10th-grade state assessment won’t cover professional-technical classes, it will include most subjects.

Tenth-grade students took a pilot version of the assessments this year; the results are being reviewed. By 2006, students must pass the test to earn a certificate of mastery. Without the certificate, they can’t graduate.

Of course, educators say, those who don’t pass the assessment in 10th grade will be given more chances.

That leaves another question high schools are just starting to tackle: If students earn the certificate of mastery in 10th grade, what’s the point of 11th and 12th grades?

Some teachers worry there will be too much focus on remedial, catchup work for students who failed the assessment. Others look at it as an opportunity to let kids focus on classes supporting their chosen careers.

Either way, students will definitely have to stick around to rack up enough credits to graduate.

“There’s a lot of concern about that,” Kingrey said. “What will the kids be doing as juniors and seniors? It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that.”