War on Senior-Year Boredom Goes On

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Donald calls the last year of high school a ``dead-end'' hole. Terry calls it the ``slack-off year.'' Elvia, who only has two classes left for graduation credits, says

Wednesday, January 17th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) â€” Donald calls the last year of high school a ``dead-end'' hole. Terry calls it the ``slack-off year.'' Elvia, who only has two classes left for graduation credits, says ``I'm not learning any more than I had last year.''

What is supposed to be the schoolchild's gateway to college or the work force is mainly seen by even the best and brightest students as a time to drift through class or not show up at all, says a panel convened by outgoing Education Secretary Richard Riley and including secretary-designate Rod Paige.

The group's interim report released Wednesday and based on student interviews and existing research concludes that America's high schools are letting teen-agers check out before the last bell has rung â€” and before they're ready.

``Young people should not have to wait until they have a high school diploma in hand to learn that they are unqualified for college-level courses or work,'' said the panel, which added schools should ``offer students 'dry runs' of college and employment placement tests.''

The group is waiting until a June 2001 report to offer solutions for exactly how schools can beat the mass ennui.

However, the problems â€” which range from double-digit dropout rates to catch-up classes in college â€” were clearly outlined Wednesday:

â€”One-third of seniors are not taking math courses; two-thirds are skipping science.

â€”Thirteen percent of students at private four-year colleges need remedial courses.

â€”Up to 40 percent of high schoolers in large cities who start ninth grade are not graduating four years later.

Meanwhile, the group's report says, two-thirds of today's jobs require skilled workers or college graduates, but even when students have to pass tests for high-school diplomas, they are being tested only on lessons they learned in ninth or 10th grade.

``It is increasingly hard to justify permitting students to waste their senior year'' rather than preparing for college, career and adulthood, the panel said.

Riley, the longest-serving education secretary, has spent eight years pushing programs that he hopes to focus attention on U.S. students' later years in school. Among other things, he's said that high school campuses should be smaller to monitor student activity, that teachers in advanced subjects such as math and science should get more training and that the intense reading instruction usually offered to elementary school pupils should be extended to middle and high school students.

Researchers also said educators affect high school students by labeling them as college-bound, run-of-the mill, or low achievers by the tests they are given or the courses they are steered toward.

For example, seniors who are accepted into college are allowed to lighten their courseloads. Students who are not college-bound are not challenged with tougher classes.

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On the net:

Department of Education site: http://www.ed.gov