|
 National
Governors Association To Host Education Summit to Improve High
Schools
MIRS, October 21, 2004
For more articles like this
visit
http://www.bridges4kids.org.
Achieve, Inc.
and the National Governors Association (NGA) have announced that
they will host a National Education Summit on High Schools,
bringing together all 55 governors, top business executives and
prominent K-12 and higher education leaders, Feb. 26-27 in
Washington.
The 2005 summit will address the urgent need to improve
America's high schools, specifically the imperative to increase
graduation rates and ensure that a high school diploma truly
prepares students to succeed in higher education and the
workplace.
The summit, which will be co-chaired by NGA Chairman Virginia
Gov. Mark WARNER and Achieve Vice-Chair Kerry KILLINGER, CEO
Washington Mutual, represents an opportunity for the nation's
political, educational and business leaders to build a consensus
around an agenda for high school improvement. Moreover, it
combines the strengths of two national education initiatives,
NGA's Redesigning the American High School and Achieve's
American Diploma Project.
Previous summits, held in 1989, 1996, 1999 and 2001, were
instrumental in creating political momentum and public support
for raising academic standards and performance in the nation's
schools, according to the NGA. This year, participants will
focus on ensuring that the bar for achievement is high enough to
prepare all graduates for college and work, and to ensure that
all students receive the necessary academic support to meet
rigorous graduation standards.
According to Warner, governors and CEOs have been at the
forefront of states' efforts to improve student achievement.
Significant progress has been made in the nation's elementary
and middle schools. Over the next year, Achieve and NGA's goal
is to extend that success to high schools.
"In today's knowledge-based economy, we can no longer conduct
business as usual in our nation's high schools," Warner said.
"There is an urgent need throughout the nation to improve the
transition from high school to college and to dramatically
strengthen career education programs. We also must reach out
aggressively to students who are at risk of failure."
"Thirty years ago, students might have gotten by without
learning the basics," Killinger said. "The diploma itself was
often sufficient to find a manufacturing job, make a decent
income and raise a family. But those days are gone. Today's high
school diploma is less meaningful if it does not signify mastery
of higher-level skills necessary to succeed in today's workforce
and in postsecondary learning."
back to the top ~
back to Breaking News
~ back to
What's New
|
