WAMC: The Best of Our Knowledge # 923 (2008-05-26)

The Best of Our Knowledge

The Best of Our Knowledge # 923

(2008-05-26)

Listen Now:

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ALBANY, NY (WAMC) - DAILY LESSONS: INSIDE WESTERN GUILFORD HIGH SCHOOL DOCUMENTARY SERIES

GRADUATION AND THE MEANING OF HIGH SCHOOL -

It's graduation time for high school students all across North America.
It's a time of joy and celebration. But it can also be bittersweet. Students
are leaving friends, and may be unsure of their future. For us, it's also
a time to consider graduation rates and how they've declined over the
decades.

Daily Lessons: Inside Western Guilford High School is a documentary
series we've been airing about a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. A team of four reporters spent six-months at the school getting
to know students, teachers, and administrators. Their goal? To better understand the challenges facing high schools.

This is the fifth installment in the series. We've heard about the pressures
of growth and increasing diversity. The impact of testing. The frustration teachers feel. And the push to put more students into advanced courses
to prepare them four college and the realities of a changing economy.

But the chroniclers of this journey also came away from Western High with
a strong sense of the people who are part of the school, and who define its character. This chapter offers listeners a sound montage of school voices,
and a wide range of thoughts and opinions on what high school means to
them. (7:54)

EDUCATION HEADLINES AND UPDATES -

Listeners may remember not long ago on this program, our feature story concerned the beleaguered Reading First program. It gives grants to
states to improve reading instruction for students in grades K thru 3 in
low-income schools. The program came under harsh criticism when the Education Department's own Inspector General alleged several financial
conflicts of interest which, by the way, are still denied. Never the less,
Congress nearly terminated the program by cutting more than 60%
of its budget.

Well, now, Reading First will likely receive yet another round of close
scrutiny. This is due to a U.S. Department of Education interim report
just released, which basically says that the federally supported program
has had no significant effect on students' reading-comprehension skills.

Dr. Karen Hitchcock reports. (1:15)

NEW GRADUATION RATE REGULATIONS -

Speaking of graduation, as we were in our first story, in 17 of the 50 largest
U.S. cities, less than half of the students who entered high school in 2003
ended up graduating. Those sobering statistics were compiled in a new
report just released by America's Promise Alliance. The Alliance plans to convene summits over the next two years in all 50 states as well as the
nation's 50 largest cities. It wants to shine another powerful spotlight on
what they and others are calling the graduation rate crisis. We've focused
our attention here on TBOOK several times on this issue, also known as
the drop out crisis.

Detroit is one of those top 50 cities mentioned. According to the report,
it has the lowest graduation rate among the top 50. Not even one in four
students in Detroit finishes high school. And so that's where Education
Secretary, Margaret Spellings took her road show for her recent
announcement of new graduation rate regulations. Spellings toured
classrooms with the Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools, Connie
Calloway, and Michigan Education Superintendent, Mike Flanagan.
Afterwards, they answered questions from the media at the
Detroit Economic Club.

Glenn Busby reports. (9:14)

**(Program Directors and Listeners please note. The website given at the
above story's conclusion for those who would like to read more about these
new regulations is: www.ed.gov)**
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