Panel: Revamp U.S. high schools
Chicago Tribune, December 15, 2006

(excerpt) Most high school students could leave after their sophomore year and go to community college or vocational training under a proposal endorsed by a prestigious panel on Thursday.

The report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce touches on all aspects of education, but some of its most unusual proposals would end America's four-year high school and replace it with a more European-style model.

The plan is one of the most expansive educational proposals to surface at a time when federal officials are encouraging experimentation in the nation's school districts to help boost high school graduation rates and help Americans better compete with foreign workers. Unlike many education reports, this one is supported by several respected education leaders, including former U.S. Secretaries of Education Richard W. Riley and Roderick Paige. Riley served a Democrat; Paige served a Republican.

Rather than requiring students to remain in high school for four years, the report proposes a rigorous 10th-grade test that would allow those who pass to leave school two years early, which proponents say could help reduce the dropout rate, among other positive effects. They could then go on to technical or vocational training or academic work in preparation for a four-year institution.

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