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| Houston A+ Challenge Executive Director Linda Clarke visits with keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Tirozzi and HAC Board Member Janice Dupuy. | Houston A+ Challenge Chairman of the Board Jonathan Day goes over a point about high school reform with Dr. Gerald Tirozzi. |
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1999 Distinguished Speaker Series
Gerald Tirozzi, Ph.D.
"Changing High School Practices"
Schools need to get rid of people who take the attitude that children can't learn and innovative new programs won't work, Dr. Gerald Tirozzi said recently in a speech to the Houston A+ Challenge.
"We need to take down those "All Children Can Learn" Signs in schools and replace them with "All Children Can Learn at High Levels," Tirozzi told the crowd of 140 at the October 28, 1999, luncheon at The Warwick Hotel. "We do a disservice to our kids when we have low level expectations," he continued.
To that end, the first change high schools need to make to better student achievement is to enact and enforce a rigorous curriculum for all students, Tirozzi said. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Education showed that completing a strong academic core of courses in high school was the single most important indicator of graduating from college with a bachelor's degree, he said.
Today, however, in American high schools, only 10 percent of students take Advanced Placement college level courses while only 49 percent of high schools offer these courses. "Every high school should have them," he said. In addition, "we should put algebra in the eighth grade."
Secondly, high schools need quality teachers in every classroom. "When the classroom door closes, that's when educational policy begins." Attracting and keeping quality teachers means paying them a decent wage, Tirozzi said. In Connecticut, where Tirozzi was an educator before becoming Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education in the Clinton Administration, beginning teachers earn $36,000 a year.
Getting good teachers also means demanding they be educated in the subjects they teach. In Connecticut, students major in college in the subject they will teach when they graduate. A national report released this week concluded that schools of higher learning should bring their education programs to the center of their universe or get out of the teacher training business, Tirozzi said. "I challenge the colleges and universities to change."
Thirdly, the role of the principal in high schools needs to evolve. "The principal needs to be an instructional leader. He has to have an appreciation for what goes on in the classroom." Faculty meetings should be about curriculum, not about school logistics.
"One of the greatest secondary school challenges of the next century will be a shortage of principals of quality," Tirozzi said. The triple pressures of accountability, low salaries, and safety issues in schools are driving principals out and preventing teachers from wanting to move up.
The fourth change high schools need to make is to rearrange how they allocate time, Tirozzi said. "The 180-day school year is based on a manufacturing, agrarian economy." Tirozzi suggested schools consider eliminating the senior year of high school and working with colleges to get 18-year-olds in those schools or beginning class work at the pre-kindergarten level. "Perhaps we should direct our resources to the earlier age groups," he said.
Finally, high schools should teach reading. "One of the great deficiencies in schools is that middle and high schools have forgotten how to teach reading." Children should be able to read by the third grade, Tirozzi said. But if they can't, schools need to teach them how.
Once schools change, elected officials, parents, teachers and administrators need to be patient and give the changes time to work. "Education reform won't end in our lifetime," Tirozzi said. "Reforms take a long time to put in place and you have to leave them there. You have to stay the course."
Dr. Tirozzi is Executive Director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.