Is 12th grade all that it should be?

On Board Online • March 2, 2015

By Kenneth Hilton

I guess we'd all like to believe that 12th grade provides the "finishing touches" to K-12 schooling, ensuring that students are successfully prepared for college, meaningful employment and lives as adults. But a lot of grim data suggest that this may not always be the case:

• Only 56 percent of four-year college students graduate within six years.
• Only 29 percent of two-year college students earn diplomas or certificates within three years.
• More than half of all college freshmen must take non-credit, remedial classes, requirements that discourage students and often derail graduation plans.
• The national unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in January, but for people ages 18-19, it was 18.2 percent, and for those ages 20-24, it was 9.8 percent.

Such sobering facts should be a call to arms for educators to make every year count. In the Sullivan County School Boards Association, I and others have been discussing the potential of one particular year - the senior year - as a unique opportunity for rich learning, academic challenges, and for nurturing valuable personal and interpersonal habits and skills.

In many schools, this happens. For instance, an article in the Jan. 26 issue of On Board described a pilot program in Orange County to engage seniors by having them do year-long independent projects on subjects of their own choosing. The article focused on students in the Florida school district who are helping teachers develop a foreign language program for elementary students.

But in my 45 years in public education - as a teacher, administrator and school board member - I've seen too many schools where the learning potential of 12th grade is poorly tapped and sometimes squandered. Consider the practice permitting seniors to arrive late or leave early to school. I remember debating this with a school board president who said, "The kids need a break before going to college" and "They deserve this as a senior privilege." While some of our seniors are legal adults, the rigor and quality of their education remains the responsibility of the board of education. Our policies should be consistent with our academic goals.

If the senior year isn't all it could be, the State Education Department (SED) deserves some blame. The only state curricular requirements for 12th grade are one credit in English, one credit in social studies, and a half credit in physical education. Though virtually all students must take and pass five core state Regents Exams, all are scheduled for grades 9-11, none in grade 12.

SED didn't "dumb down" the senior year purposely. With the best of intentions, SED designed 12th grade as a time when struggling students who had failed earlier courses or Regents Exams could "catch up" with their classmates. But in many of our schools, most students pass their required Regents Exams and complete almost all of their credits before they reach the senior year. True, some students use their senior year for challenging academic classes such as AP courses or community college dual credit courses. But unfortunately, too many students see (and use) 12th grade as a "blow off year."

If you want to hear some powerful arguments for strengthening the senior year curriculum, talk to your recent high school graduates. Each year, in early January, my local school district holds a "Meet the Grads Night" at which school board members, parents, high school teachers and administrators hear from a representative group of last year's high school seniors. These recent graduates have a consistent message: Yes, back when they were juniors, they had looked forward to a less-demanding, less pressured senior year. But now, as 19-year-olds, sobered by a semester in college or six months of full-time employment (or fruitless job searching) they regret the missed opportunities in what most felt had been "too easy" of a senior year.

Our students don't need a "blow off" senior year! They need a senior year filled with learning experiences that successfully launch them into college, the workplace, and adulthood. And school districts don't need to wait for action from SED. Local school boards have the legal authority to set standards, including mandating the course of study required of all 12th-graders.

So how should we approach this task? I recommend that schools begin by convening a committee of stakeholder representatives charged with examining the present senior year, seeking concrete answers to questions like these: Is our senior school year a time when students improve academically, when they experience major growth in their reading, writing, speaking, listening, math, and civic skills and understandings? Does this school year nurture self-discipline, resilience, and the work ethic that our kids will need to succeed in adult life? Do students learn to plan out long-term projects, to coordinate resources, to manage time, meet deadlines, and work well, both independently and with others? Do they learn to study effectively? Are long-term, project-based learning experiences key parts of the curriculum? Does the school resist the temptation to spoon-feed and closely monitor school work, instead, allowing students to struggle with the independence and self-reliance they'll experience in college and the workforce? Do students grow to take pride in their work? Is the senior year curriculum shaped in ways that help students see across academic disciplines, to understand how the issues of the world and their lives are intertwined and interrelated?

In sum, you'll need to find out whether the school experiences that your seniors receive are effectively preparing them for success in college, the workplace, and as good citizens. If your committee finds this to be true, congratulations! But if not, you need to redesign your district's senior year curriculum.

There are a number of national model programs of senior year reform that schools might examine and perhaps adopt, in part or in whole. My favorite is the capstone year of the late Ted Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools, a major high school reform movement begun in the 1980s. Seniors in these schools conduct year-long interdisciplinary research projects culminating in both written and oral presentations called "exhibitions." Another national model is the WISE Program which also requires a year-long senior project designed to "passionately engage" students, while improving academic skills and personal habits of mind and practice. Hundreds of schools, nationwide, participate in either the WISE or the Coalition of Essential Schools.

And many other schools have developed their own rich senior year experiences, matching special needs, resources, and challenges unique to their students and their communities. (One that comes to mind is the Naples school district, where all senior English students have been required for decades to conduct year-long research projects on some aspect of local history.)

Don't expect that reforming the senior year will be a panacea. Many kids will continue to struggle with the first years of college and the workplace. The challenges of adult life can't all be resolved by strengthening and enriching the curriculum of 12th grade. But the senior year in high school can, and should be, better used by most students. It's our last, best opportunity to prepare kids for the "hard knocks" of adult life.

Kenneth Hilton, a member of the Sullivan BOCES board, is the retired superintendent of schools of the Sullivan West Central School District.