What Has Led Me To The Plan of Reform

My personal schooling experiences and the research I have done during my first semester at Lake Forest has led me to this form of school reform. Throughout my educational experiences I have had challenging courses that has led me to work and try harder to accomplish my goals of graduating high school and continuing my education in college. Once arriving at Lake Forest, I began studying and researching the problems many students face when trying to accomplish the same goal I had, graduating high school. However, unlike my experiences, these students do not have the opportunities or resources I had in school and struggle to meet and achieve their goals because of the limiting resources they do have. Revealing these problems and challenges students nationwide face leads me to believe that if we implement new standards in schools students will find success and we can proceed to effectively educate students, while aiding them in their pursuit of success.

My Reform and Why It Is Neccessary

Advocates of school reform attempts that focus on creating and enforcing new standards often stress the need for these new standards because of the current standards existing in high schools nationwide and the glaring flaws they have. In a journal article by Linda Darling-Hammond, it states that our current schooling systems were designed not to educate all students well but to pass a great amount of students who can efficiently exist in society. She then states that in order to effectively change our educational systems we must enforce higher standards of learning that will show students new forms of success (Darling-Hammond, p. 1). In addition to our current failing standards, the educational process has become impersonal for students and does not take in to consideration different personalities and interests all students have. What I have discovered through our class readings and additional research is that these failing standards and impersonal school structures are even more evident in urban and inner-city schools. In these schools, students are being taught test materials rigorously in hopes that they will achieve higher test scores, which will ultimately qualify the school for more federal funding. The problem is that majority of students are reading several grades below their grade level and they do not have adequate Math, English, and Science skills needed to pass standardized tests that gauge the performance and success of schools. In order to change this problem and increase the reading levels of students we must lengthen both the school year and day to allow more time for students to learn and improve.

In addition to changing the traditional school day and year, I also propose we enforce a challenging curriculum in schools nationwide. Currently, students are taking courses that do not challenge them to try, or work harder to achieve success. Students are enrolling in courses that are designed for students to pass and proceed regardless of their knowledge in this course. In order to prepare students for further educational opportunities, such as college, we must enforce a challenging curriculum that enables students to think more critically and work harder to achieve a better understanding of their course material and more importantly pass their courses with the highest grades possible. In a journal article released on February 11th, 1997, students at a New York high school were asked what they wanted to change in their classrooms. Students stated that they wanted their schools to have, “much tougher academic standards and higher expectations” (Public, p.1). Students later added that they believed with harder classes students would pay more attention and learn more with higher standards (p.1).For high school students to ask for tougher academic standards in 1997 and not see any dramatic change is baffling. Students are asking for a more rigorous curriculum and tougher courses and believe that they will learn more with them. This is why we must provide challenging classes for students to take nationwide.

In addition to that, we must also make both college level courses and advanced placement (AP) courses available and viable options for students to take. With these classes, students will be challenged by the level of work, but can show their readiness for college level work through their grades in these courses.
With both a more challenging curriculum and a new school day and year we can begin to educate students at a level never seen before, ultimately aiding them to succeed in school and continue their education in college.

Potential Roadblocks

When considering the change that must occur to create new standards in schools nationwide, I see two main challenges.
1. Changing both the school day and year.
My reform proposes we change the current school day and year in order to teach students year wrong and longer during the day, which will increase their educational skills dramatically. However, I am not suggesting this be a slow process. We must implement more school time right away in order to correct our students underperforming scores in all subjects. This will be extremely difficult due to the fact that our nation has grown accustomed to have a summer break, weekends off, and on average an eight hour school day. I fear that many students and parents will initially reject the idea of changing the school day and year, partly because of their traditional schooling experiences and the time that will be required for all students. However, after the initial step to lengthen the school year and day I believe students will grow comfortable with going to school more, due to the achievement that they will see through more school time.
2. Challenging students academically
The second facet my reform proposes is change concerning schools current curriculums. I believe we have to challenge students in all courses and provide both college level and advanced placement classes for students to take, if we ultimately want to see them succeed after high school. However, I fear that parents and some students will be discouraged by this attempt due to their current problems with passing high school. Majority of students in the United States, mainly in urban-areas, are enrolled in classes that are not challenging enough and are designed for students to pass with the bare minimum of knowledge and skill in English, Math, Science, and History. Even with these courses designed for students to pass, students continue to fail them and ultimately dropout or graduate with no future opportunities. The reason I fear some will be opposed to changing schools curriculums because students that are already failing “easy” classes would assume even harder classes would increase the failures of students. However, this is not the case. For example, North Lawndale College Prep, a charter school located in North Lawndale, requires students to take rigorous classes that demand students to give their best in each and every class. Even though majority of students at North Lawndale College Prep begin with poor grades and skills in English, Math, Science, and History, they achieve academic success due to the challenging courses they are enrolled in and ultimately graduate high school with plans of continuing their education in college (North Lawndale College Prep). With examples such as, North Lawndale College Prep, the reasons to implement challenging curriculums in schools nationwide are clear and obvious. Students achieve more when pushed to do their very best and eventually find success through their hard work.

This is North Lawndale College Prep, a great example of how a challenging curriculum and school environment can enable students to achieve success.


For more information on North Lawndale College Prep and the success of this form or schooling log onto www.nlcphs.org

The Students Perspective

< < < My Brother Brian And I

When thinking about my reform and the changes I want to make to help students in all schools find success, I thought that I should ask current high school students their opinion on the schools they are currently attending and what they think enables or disables their success. I then interviewed two high school students, all from different backgrounds and environments.

The first student I interviewed was a boy named Quinton. Quinton is currently a junior at Waukegan High School, an under resourced school that faces many problems getting students to believe in the importance of education. However, Quinton was different then most Waukegan High School. As well as being a student at Waukegan High, Quinton is a two sport athlete in both football and track. He is enrolled in all honor courses including his favorite, physics. He has aspirations to be the first in his family to attend a college, where he wants to major in engineering. When asked how he would compare himself to his fellow classmates, Quinton said that majority of his classmates do not focus their attentions on their school work and only the students focused on academic success are enrolled in challenging honor classes. I then asked him why he thought this. Quinton responded by telling me that students who are enrolled in honor classes are pushed to do their very best in school and they naturally become comfortable with trying their hardest to learn the content their teachers are teaching them. He then added that students who are not in these challenging courses do not apply themselves when he knows they have the intelligence to do better in school. After leaving my interview with Quinton I was both optimistic and saddened. I was optimistic for Quinton and his future aspirations of graduating high school and continuing his education in college. I was also saddened because of the acceptance of failure that exists. Students like Quinton see their fellow classmates underachieving and know they can do better, but yet we do not enforce challenging courses that will push these students lacking the drive to achieve academic success.

The other student I interviewed is currently a junior at McHenry High School, a predominately white school with very little diversity. His name is Brian Madson and in fact is my brother. Going into this interview I had the advantage of already knowing an immense amount about Brian and his goals. Brian has always been a very determined and focused student that has always achieved academic success due to the goals and aspirations he has set out for himself. Brian is currently enrolled in all honor classes, two of them being Advance Placement. He has never received lower than an A on any report card and is determined to keep it that way. When beginning the interview I asked Brian to treat me as a complete stranger, that way I could interview him as just a student and not my brother. I began asking him questions regarding both, his academic history and future. I then asked him what he thought allowed him to succeed in school. His response was simple. He stated that his teachers and classes challenged him to work hard and do his very best, which forced him to study the course material and apply it during class. I then asked him what he thought could be done to help all students succeed in school. He told me that in order to help all students succeed schools need to instill classes that push students to learn, rather than make it easy on students to pass.

To hear that both Quinton and Brian, two very different students growing up in two very different communities, think the success of students is mainly because of the classes the students take was remarkable. They both stated the importance challenging classes had on their academic successes and both believed that in order to increase the academic success of all students, regardless of background, there must be challenging curriculums that offer courses that will push students to succeed in schools.

My Personal Experience: How A Challenging Education and Supportive Home Enviornonment Led to My Academic Success

On November 23rd, 1990 I was born in McHenry, Illinois; an average size town consisting of 25 thousand people. I grew up in a two parent, middle/high class household and have one younger brother that is currently a junior in high school. I began my schooling at a local preschool when I was four years old. After preschool I attended Edgebrook Elementary School, a public school K-4 school that is predominately white. I really enjoyed my schooling experiences at Edgebrook and did very well in all of my classes.

After Edgebrook Elementary, I proceeded onto McHenry Middle School, one of the two middle schools in McHenry. McHenry Middle School, like Edgebrook, was predominately white as well and I experienced very little diversity there. I went to McHenry Middle School from 6th-8th grade and really grew there. This is the first place I can remember that my teachers, mainly one, challenged me to exceed the norm and stride for higher academic goals. This was also the time when I began to play football and met a lot of my current friends at this time. Football came easy to me, and helped me apply myself even more in the classroom due to the expectations that were set for myself in order to play football. My parents have always enforced school over athletics and have been very involved in both my school and athletic events.

With my completion of 8th grade, I began my high school career. I attended McHenry East High School, one of two high schools in McHenry. The structure of my high school was different than most, in McHenry students either went to East or West for classes, but and athletic events or extracurricular activities were combined. High school was the first time I was introduced to a diverse student body. McHenry East High School was predominately white, similar to both Edgebrook and McHenry Middle School, but McHenry West High School was more diverse with a higher population of African American and Latino students. The transition between middle school and high school was fairly easy for me and I maintained good grades in English, Science, and History. However, I struggled with Math. This was the first time I truly had to devote study time aside for a single subject and spend extra time learning the material. Over the years I progressed and became better at Math, but it is still a weakness of mine.

After my freshman year, the rest seemed to fly by all too fast. I continued to succeed in English and History, and my math continued to improve. I really struck an interest in History and eventually took every History course my high school had to offer. I recently went back to visit my high school teachers and payed a special visit to Mr. Malenius, my history teacher for four years. He was by far the most influential teacher I had in high school, and is partly the reason why I want to major in secondary education and history. During our visit I asked him various questions regarding his thoughts on the current educational situation our nation is facing and other relevant questions. The highlight of our conversation was when I asked him what he thought led to the success of students at McHenry East High School, and primarily my success. He stated that, " I believe that the options McHenry High School provides students with, and the challenging course work majority of the courses hear, are what lead students like yourself to find success." He then added, "Although McHenry East is not regarded as the highest form of education around, it is great environment for students to grow and learn. The teachers here are motivated to teach and care about their students and want to see them succeed." I plan to continue to visit Mr. Malenius and keep in touch with him.

Another important facet to my high school experience was basketball. I had not played any sport, but football until high school. I began to play and found a great passion for the game of basketball, more than any other sport I had ever tried. After freshman year I was starting on my varsity team and traveling in the summer around the nation playing with a traveling basketball team. It was not until my junior year that I completely devoted my extra time to basketball and stopped playing football. Once again my parents played a huge roll with my success on and off the court. They were very clear that my grades came first and foremost and then came basketball. The greatest time I had playing basketball was my senior year. I was the captain and leader of a very young team consisting of only one senior, myself, and a combination of juniors and four sophomores. One of the sophomores was my brother Brian. Playing with my brother was an awesome experience that I would not trade away for anything. I really enjoyed teaching him different facets of the game and watching him grow both as a player and as my brother. As my senior season was continued, I was being recruited more and more heavily to play basketball at the college level, which began my search for colleges. After countless phone calls and recruiting visits I came to the decision that I was going to attend and play basketball at Lake Forest College, where I currently am a freshman.

Looking back on my educational experiences, I recognize and am extremely grateful for the environment that I grew up in, which is a main reason for my success. The main reasons for my success are the challenging curriculum and supportive teachers that were provided to me through my high school and household. The courses I took forced me to try harder and think more critically in order to achieve academic goals I had set out for myself. When times were hard, or I felt as if I did not need to try harder, I had several supporters whether it be Mr. Malenius, my basketball coach Mr. Paddock, or my parents, that all pushed me to work harder and to never quit, ultimately helping me accomplishing my goals to graduate high school and attend Lake Forest College.

Current Models and Organazations Supporting My Reform

There are currently several models that support my reform ideas and beliefs. Two of these organizations that model my reform attempts are The American Diploma Project and Achieve. Both of these organizations stress the problems our current schools and educational facilities are facing and stress the importance and need for change. These two organizations support my reform plan by stating that we must enforce a rigorous curriculum that students nationwide are expected to successfully complete. The American Diploma Project states that too few of high school students are currently taking challenging courses, and although most states require students to take a certain amount English and math classes these schools cannot ensure that the content of these classes reflects the knowledge and skills that both colleges and future employers demand. Achieve, part of Barack Obama’s Race to The Top, states that simply accepting career and college ready standards will not assure all students will be enrolled in classes that guarantees students will adequately obtain the skills and knowledge needed for success after high school. It then explains that we must require students to complete courses of study that accurately reflect the thorough content included in the standards (Achieve, p. 3).
In addition to The American Diploma Project and Achieve, there are current schools forcing students to take advance placement and college level courses that challenge students and effectively teach them the content and knowledge needed after high school. One example of these schools is Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Homewood-Flossmoor (H-F) is a public school located in Flossmoor, Illinois, in the Chicago metropolitan area. H-F has adopted a challenging curriculum consisting of Advanced Placement, Honors, and College Prep classes. Their goal is simple. They want to push students into challenging courses and pull them through each course with the best experiences possible. This philosophy is known as the “Push/Pull Philosophy”. Homewood-Flossmoor has seen great success from this philosophy and from their challenging curriculum. Homewood-Flossmoor graduates 90 percent of their students, and their students graduate with 21.5 ACT score, among the best for public schools located in the Chicago metropolitan area (Homewood-Flossmoor, p.1). Due to their success H-F has appeared in Newsweek’s top 1,000 schools in the past several years. Schools like Homewood-Flossmoor show that with a challenging curriculum student success is more than possible.

New Standards Can Bring Success To All Students

Capital Preparatory Magnet School and its Principal Steve Perry is a great example of my school reform and the new standards I believe can ultimately achieve new definitions of success. These new standards I suggest include, a new longer school year and school day, a challenging curriculum that provides AP courses(Advance Placement)and college level courses, motivated teachers who are passionate to teach students regardless of circumstance, and an increase in parental involvement. These new standards when enforced in schools show remarkable results and ultimately lead to the success of students and their continuation of learning in college.

Capital Preparatory Magnet School's structure, standards, and goals, can all be viewed at
http://www.capitalprep.org/viewEvents.php.


Darling-Hammond, Linda. "Reconstructing Schools For Student Success." Questia Vol..124 (1995): 1-2. Questia.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. .

"Homewood-Flossmoor High School -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .

North Lawndale College Prep - Charter High School. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .

"Public School Teenagers Call For Higher Standards." Public Agenda (1997): 1-2. Www.publicagenda.org. 11 Feb. 1997. Web. 12 Dec. 2009. .

"What Is College- And Career-Ready? | Achieve.org." Achieve, Inc. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .