At Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, just outside Seattle, seniors are thinking about their future. Of course, high school students everywhere look ahead in the last half of their senior year, as they prepare to go to college, get a job, or enter the armed forces or community service. But at Shorecrest, there's a difference.
Here, in order to graduate, all students must complete a yearlong project that represents the culmination of their school work. After presenting their project to a panel of school and community experts, they must write an essay reflecting on what they have learned and how it will apply to their lives after Shorecrest.
The project requirement, which began three years ago, is one of the most popular policies of the award-winning school, and students have produced first-rate work. This year, one student is writing a novella based on the battle of Gettysburg; two others are writing and lobbying for state legislation that would mandate the use of recycled materials; a fourth is working with the Pacific Northwest Ballet to teach dance to young children. The students also take their final presentations very seriously, often dressing in business attire for the occasion. “It's a rite of passage, from high school student to adult,” says Linda Eguchi, the project coordinator.
Teachers and administrators attribute the high quality of the projects in large part to their high expectations for all students. Whether they are in special education or honors classes, seniors are expected to work at least 60 hours on their projects. They do so under the direction of a mentor, who is usually an expert in the field from outside the school.
Students also work hard and do well because the projects offer an opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems and situations. Their mentors show them how their schoolwork connects with the community and the workplace. And students make these direct connections through reflective essays. In the process, they also learn new skills, like how to organize and manage a long-term project and how to work with peers.
“The project is intended to provide an opportunity for students to learn things that, in the normal course of their high school experience, they would not have an opportunity to learn,” says principal Susan Derse. “They are mentored, they are supported, and they can stretch themselves out of the box.”
State-Certified Achievement
The experience of Shorecrest seniors will soon be a rite of passage for students throughout the state. Washington is one of a growing number of states that have adopted the idea of a Certificate of Initial Mastery, certifying that students have attained a high standard of achievement in core academic subjects and applied learning. The certificate, which was mandated by the Washington legislature in 1993, is scheduled to go into effect statewide by the year 2000.
A partnership of 17 states and six school districts—the New Standards Partnership—has been developing the certificate system. The certificate will be awarded based on a point system. Students must earn a certain number of points in each subject, although they can go beyond the minimum and do more work, or more exceptional work, in a subject they particularly enjoy. They must accumulate a specified number of total points to earn a certificate, and a higher number entitles them to a certificate with honors.
Students will demonstrate their accomplishments in a number of ways, including examinations and portfolios of their work as well as capstone projects like the ones Shorecrest High School requires of seniors. There are two reasons for this type of performance-based assessment system. First, one type of assessment cannot measure all abilities, and second, different methods also allow students to show their knowledge and skills in different ways.
Everybody's Personal Best
The basic idea behind the certificate is simplicity itself: Set a high standard and offer a certificate to those who meet it, when they are able to meet it. The implications, however, are profound. The system represents a major shift away from the traditional notion of certifying students according to attendance rather than accomplishment.
Further, a fundamental principle of the certificate system is that there will be a high fixed standard for all students. A few students won't be expected to master complex, challenging tasks, while others are expected to manage only routine, low-level skills. This, too, is a substantial departure from traditional practice, where there are different standards for different groups of students and low standards overall.
There is growing agreement that all students can and should learn at high levels; indeed, this is the concept behind the national standards movement. But what sets the Certificate of Initial Mastery program apart from other standards-setting efforts is the certificate standard, which students are expected to meet.
Workplace Connections
The national Certificate of Initial Mastery will also do away with the false distinction between academic and applied learning; it is unique in combining academic and vocational standards. Students must demonstrate not only mastery of core academic subjects, but also the ability to apply what they know to tasks common to the workplace and life outside school.
In fact, the Certificate of Initial Mastery system refers to generic workplace skills as “applied learning,” and they are an integral part of the system. The student ballet instructor, for example, is clearly demonstrating her abilities in the performing arts. But she also is showing that she can manage a long-term project, communicate information, and teach others—all important applied learning abilities.
This applied learning aspect is critical. We know from cognitive research that people learn best when they are engaged in tasks that matter to them. Studies of illiterate street vendors, for example, have shown that these people can perform complex calculations in carrying out their work, even though they struggle over similar problems that are presented in an abstract, out-of-context way, such as problems posed on math worksheets.
Most teachers and principals are well aware of this phenomenon. They know, for example, that students who participate in science fairs, where they address an authentic problem and present their findings to an audience, learn much more about their topic than they would have in a regular classroom setting. The Certificate of Initial Mastery, in short, is designed to ensure that all students have an opportunity to learn the way students in science fairs learn.
There is yet another reason to include in the certificate standard the ability to apply knowledge and skills to real tasks. Such tasks enable students to develop the competencies they need to succeed in the workplace, competencies such as organizing and managing tasks, working with peers, and using technology and mathematical skills. We can no longer tolerate a society in which only some students leave school with those abilities. But by sorting students into traditional academic and vocational tracks, we risk doing just that.
In fact, this sorting system is harmful to both groups of students. Vocational students tend to learn only narrow technical skills, and academic students fail to learn essential workplace skills. Yet all students, regardless of their aspirations, will go to work. And even those going directly to work will most likely change jobs several times over the course of their careers. Both types of abilities—academic and applied—are essential for all students.
State and Federal Initiatives
The idea of a Certificate of Initial Mastery was first proposed by the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce in its 1990 report, America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages! That report argued that the changing economy demands workers at every level who can think, reason, and solve problems—not just the few at the top of a hierarchy.
To achieve that goal, the commission recommended a national standard whose benchmark was the performance expected of 16-year-olds in the countries whose students perform best in core academic content areas. Those who meet the standard—and all students would be expected to, though some sooner than others—would earn a certificate entitling them to further education or training.
- The New Standards Partnership, composed of 17 states and 6 school districts;
- The National Alliance for Restructuring Education, a partnership of states, school districts, universities, and businesses; and
- The Workforce Skills Program, which is helping to implement the recommendations presented in America's Choice.
The state systems will augment the national system. But to ensure that a student who earns a certificate in Maine meets the same high standards as one who earns a certificate in Washington State, New Standards is developing a core Certificate of Initial Mastery. This core will include standards and assessments in English language arts, mathematics, and science, as well as standards for applied learning. Students will demonstrate their applied learning through their work in the academic subjects. For example, through a math task, a student can not only demonstrate that he or she understands mathematical concepts, but also that he or she can solve problems, organize a project, work with others, and communicate ideas and information.
Forcing Change
These new state standards will force schools at every level, from kindergarten on, to substantially change the way they do business. To enable all students to earn a certificate, schools will have to give them opportunities to engage in activities needed to meet the standards. That means that curriculum and instruction will have to match the standards, even if schools must reorganize themselves to accommodate the redesigned instruction.
And that's not all. Schools will also be forced to improve the support systems they offer students. Without intensive guidance, how can a 16-year-old be expected to conduct a year-long project? Shorecrest High School has found that the best way to provide this guidance is to pair students with professionals from outside the school who act as mentors. They not only provide more personalized attention than high schools usually do, but also offer students a glimpse of the world of work.
High schools cannot do the job alone, however. In order to reach high standards, students must begin in elementary school to learn at high levels and continue on track toward the certificate. High schools must work with middle schools to ensure that younger students are prepared to enter high school, and middle schools must work with elementary schools.
No change in the last 60 years has had so profound an effect on the way educators think about what they do and on how they must do it to succeed.
