Committee Statements

I am happy that you have convened this hearing today to help us identify the challenges facing our nation’s high schools.

The focus of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and its 2001 reauthorization, through the No Child Left Behind Act, was on closing the achievement gap faced by disadvantaged students as they progressed in school.

As we will hear today, our nation is faced with what this achievement gap means for high schools. These schools face not only a dropout crisis but a crisis in preparation for a student’s adult life. Or rather, a lack of preparation for a student’s adult life.

Too often our students are entering high school unprepared to succeed in subjects such as reading, math, and science and leaving unprepared to succeed in college, trade school, or work.

High school reform is seeing increased attention in Congress and among researchers and education experts. Even the Obama Administration has announced its support of the October 2008 Title I regulations that established a uniform graduation rate for all of our nation’s high schools.

However, the issue of high school reform cannot be examined by itself. Any effort to reform our high schools must take into consideration the preparation students receive in elementary and middle school as well.

Programs that focus on reading, and programs that allow students to choose schools that are meeting adequate yearly progress, can all be enhanced as we reform what is taking place in the nation’s high schools.

Today, our witnesses will discuss the research that illustrates these challenges and the reform efforts being driven by communities, districts, and states to attack these concerns.

Our discussion will provide us with important information that we will use as we move forward to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act during the 111th Congress.

I would like to thank our witnesses for taking the time to speak to us today. In particular, I would like to thank the Members of Congress who will testify before us about their concerns for high school education.

This is an important issue for our students and our workforce, and I look forward to learning more about the challenges remaining and work to be done.

 

# # #