Something's wrong with high schools

I'm hoping that last week's "Champions for Education" summit was the start of what has to happen to keep improving schools, not just in Northern Kentucky but throughout the state.

No offense to State Rep. Jon Draud and other candidates for Kentucky's education commissioner job, but I wish I could nominate Kati Haycock for the position.

Dr. Haycock, a national expert on education trends who is president of the non-profit Education Trust, wowed the crowd with a keynote speech that was filled with what I call "Hey, Martha" nuggets -- as in , "Hey, Martha, I didn't know that."

The problem with writing about great speeches, as I'm trying to do here, is that you can't do great speeches justice. Too much gets lost if the reader hasn't experienced the moment. But you can check out details of her presentation by clicking here. (I'd also encourage you to surf around to other areas of the Education Trust site. And you can read our recent, eight-part series on Kentucky schools by clicking here.)

The headline for me from Haycock's speech was this: In Kentucky, as in many other parts of the country, we have made excellent gains with elementary-age and middle school-age kids. But something is happening when these young people hit high school. The earlier gains are being lost. In Northern Kentucky, the percentage of kids at proficiency level in math and reading actually declines by 10 points in reading and 18 points in math between elementary and high school. And U.S. adolescents rank 24th out of 29 developed countries in problem-solving ability.

Haycock also debunked all the knee-jerk excuses you might have for why this is and gave concrete examples of where and how success is being achieved. (For example: "They're teens. It's hormones.") These declines aren't happening in other countries, and these declines are cutting across lines of income, race and class. It's not just about bad parents or whatever social stereotypes one might hold.

"When we really focus on something, we make progress," she said.

We aren't focusing enough on high schools, which means we aren't preparing nearly enough kids for successful lives. This is a critical point for leaders to process in Northern Kentucky, where a lot of laudable effort and money is going toward early childhood programs.

To Haycock, education isn't immunization -- where you "immunize" the youngster against whatever debilitating experiences come later. It's like nutrition -- your body needs constant, good nourishment to stay healthy.

Kentucky Gov.-elect Steve Beshear talked about the need to re-invent high school in his campaign platform. He needs to follow up, and he needs support and energy from every direction.