OPPOSING SIDES DEBATE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM STANDARDS

After hearing testimony Thursday from people supportive of the state's stricter high school graduation requirements and those who believe the curriculum should be changed so students have the option to take more career and technical training, it appears the House Education High School Alternatives Subcommittee will take its show on the road and gather more information over the summer on the topic.

Chair Rep. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D-Taylor) made the announcement that the subcommittee would travel across the state to hear real-life experiences and find the best way to ensure students can succeed.

During testimony Thursday, the panel heard from Cindy Timmons, whose son Harley is a freshman at Grayling High School. While he'll move on to the sophomore level next year, Harley flunked five classes his freshman year and even with summer classes will not be able to catch up to meet graduation standards within four years, she told lawmakers. Instead, he's already designated as a "super senior" who will have to come back for a fifth year of high school.

While she said her son is an average student, she sees a "phenomenal" difference between what Harley is going through and what her 20-year-old experienced in the same school since the curriculum standards were implemented.

"With school moving so fast I feel he is getting left in the dust," she said.

Two senior economists from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research also told lawmakers that the skills and knowledge needed to get into a four-year university and those to get a high-wage job are not one and the same. Tim Bartik said his research has found that employers are looking for people with general knowledge, usually at the 9th grade level, as well as a person who can be productive, has good customer service skills and who can work in a "big picture" environment.

The state's new curriculum standards have pushed schools to use trimester or block formats for teaching, which tend to lead to less time for electives like career and technical training, but also don't provide enough continuity of learning, economist Kevin Hollenbeck said.

Mr. Bartik and Mr. Hollenbeck said the state needs to reform its educational system so that there is a learning track for students prepping for an associate's degree and those prepping for a bachelor's degree. But the two systems would provide several of the same classes, so that students would be able to change their minds and still succeed in school.

They said HB 5943, which sets up a system for students to study career and technical training, is a solution to achieving that.

Bill sponsor, Rep. Joel Sheltrown (D-West Branch), said a one-curriculum-fits-all model works until someone is "six miles out of Lansing."

Mr. Sheltrown said he looked to his own family for inspiration for the bill. His daughter was an average student who now has a middle-class job, while one of his sons went on to get a doctorate degree. His other son never liked school and after putting him in private school and helping him study, he did graduate with a high school diploma. But Mr. Sheltrown said that education only included Algebra I, and he doubted that same son today could make it through the courses mandated by the state that include Algebra II.

"Some people say what I'm doing here is lowering the standards and that's not true," he said, adding that with only 20 percent of jobs requiring a four-year degree, his bill would provide a stringent vocational education curriculum.

Several lawmakers expressed concern for the graduation requirements, or at least how they have been implemented. Rep. Steven Lindberg (D-Marquette) said the curriculum should have started in the elementary schools because 30 percent of 8th graders who became the freshman class under the new standards were not proficient in math to begin with.

And Rep. Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt) said while the state changed the curriculum, it didn't change the strategy for how teachers educate students and that has been a problem in the transition. Mr. Bartik said teaching has to be changed, but under a dual system that could be achieved too.

Rep. Judy Emmons (R-Sheridan), who said she can see both sides of the argument, also wondered how the question of preparing students for a future job that is unknown can be answered. "The jobs of today won't be the jobs of tomorrow," she said.

While the focus of the high school standards has been on math, Jim Ballard, executive director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, told the committee that being workforce ready and college ready are "really one and the same."

Mr. Ballard told lawmakers his organization supports a one-diploma system, even as there is a pushback on the math portion. He said the same will be true when the students reach certain science and foreign language classes, he warned. But he said that when some students have gone through three years of high school and haven't succeeded in all their credit courses there should be an off-ramp so those students can shift over to another program.

He said the question for lawmakers then becomes do schools get credit for recognizing this and creating a program for these students?

Mr. Ballard said the Legislature does need to address the options of opening up the curriculum, but not in a way that lowers the standards.

Asked how many students he expected would have to take this off-ramp approach, Mr. Ballard said he hoped less than 1 percent. While some schools have been experiencing large failure rates in Algebra I, which has made the headlines, he said the state average will probably be somewhere around 3 percent to 5 percent.

"It is about the instruction and that is the battle we have to fight," he said, adding that his organization has worked with schools and teachers to transition into the rigorous