AAV Preparing Future Citizens and Producers

Preparing Future Citizens and Producers

David Stern
California Department of Education Conference on
Re-Visioning School Facilities Planning and Design
October 15, 2008

Slides

1. What I'll Explain

• Two primary public purposes of education
• Evidence on preparation of informed citizens
• Evidence on preparation for college and careers
• Possible implications for school design

2. Public Purposes of Education

• Why is education compulsory for students, and why are taxpayers compelled to pay for it?
• Preparing informed citizens is first priority
  • Jefferson, Madison, Adam Smith
  • U.S. Supreme Court: Grutter 2003, Brown 1954
  • Gallup poll
• Preparing students to be economically self-sufficient
• Gallup poll

3. Evidence on Preparation for Civic Life

• Preparation to read and analyze issues
  • Only 35% of 12th graders proficient, e.g., "Making a critical judgment about a detailed document: like Voter Info Guide
• Knowledge of government institutions
  • Only 27% of 12th graders proficient
• Voting and volunteering
  • Only 8% of young high school graduates (not in college) engage in civic activity

4. Preparing Future Producers

• Predictions of future skill demands vary greatly
  • BLS: no major shifts in next ten years
  • Stuart Elliott: 60% of jobs could be done by computers in 2030 (National Academic Science 2008)
• Even current skill demands are not well understood
  • Do earnings depend on skills or years of schooling? (Hanushek, Levin, Bowles, Murnane)
  • Cognitive versus non-cognitive skills
• Emerging consensus? Prepare for unknown future by making college an option for all

5. Why College as an Option for All?

• About 80% of high school students expect to get at least a bachelor's degree
• College has been a consistently good investment, yielding about 10% annual return
• Since 1980s, earnings of college graduates have increased faster than non-college graduates
  • Computers have replaced some routine jobs, while making non-routine work more productive

6. Preparing for College AND Careers

• 80% of high school students expect to earn bachelor's degrees, but only 30% do so
• Career-technical educational (CTE) in high schools now is intended to prepare for postsecondary education, unlike traditional 20th century vocational education
• Virtually all CTE concentrators now complete academic core courses

7. Career Academies as Examples

• Elements of career academies
  • 30 to 60 students at each grade level take classes together
  • Curriculum combines CTE theme (e.g., health, business, engineering) with college-prep courses
  • Internships and other related experiences outside school
• California funds more than 300 "Partnership Academies"
• Evaluations have found positive impacts (MDRC)

8. Implications for High School Design: 1 (No more fortress)

Increase possibility for high school students to participate in settings outside school

• Internships and other forms of work-based learning (e.g. The Met schools)
• Civic engagement projects (e.g., What Kids Can Do, Y/PLAN project at Center for Cities & Schools)
• Students prepare for adult roles as citizens and producers by practicing those roles

9. Implications for High School Design: 2 (No more egg crate)

Make better use of the internet

• Increasingly available on-line courses make individualization more possible
• Accommodate students who move from place to place, which has been problematic for 20th century high school
• Recognize that classrooms are no longer the main source of information for students

10. Comic strip of Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau