What’s Missing in American Public High Schools?

In this week's New York Times, columnist David Leonhardt draws attention to the dire college completion crisis facing our country. College enrollment among our nation’s poorest students has grown steadily over the past forty years, but graduation rates have barely budged: scarcely more than one in ten low-income students earn a four-year degree. This staggering educational failure perpetuates cycles of poverty and threatens to create a permanent underclass. Leonhardt places the blame largely on colleges, but I believe our public high schools must play an even greater role in overcoming this urgent challenge.

In 2006, when I set out to pioneer a distinctive K-8 schooling experience for underserved children, I little imagined that the scope of our efforts would eventually widen to include high school. I was certain that by the time Success Academy’s founding first graders were ready for ninth grade, there be enough strong public high schools to serve them. It turned out I was overly optimistic. As our scholars approached high school age, I realized we would need to tackle the 9-12 experience as well, and in 2014, we opened the doors to our first high school, Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts.

From the beginning, we designed our high school with the problem of college persistence in mind. We thought deeply about what the collegiate experience required, and we realized that preparing our scholars for persistence and completion meant getting three core pillars right: academics, college advising, and character development — the habits, mindset, and experiences that build resilience.

We focused first on the academic experience. The average high schooler does not receive anything near the preparation needed to successfully tackle college-level work, and this is particularly true for low income students. At public four-year universities, for example, more than half of all low-income freshman are placed in remediation; in community colleges, three quarters need catch-up classes. For these students, the stress of being out of their depth academically makes it all the more difficult to stick it out when other challenges come up. Not surprisingly, many drop out.

Our high school’s number one responsibility, therefore, is to give our students an academic program that is truly collegiate. The program we put in place seeks to impart a comprehensive foundation of knowledge and cultivate a global perspective through an emphasis on world history and the literary canon. It provides rigorous grounding in math, science, and engineering, immersing students in applied problem-solving that sparks their curiosity, and prepares them for the conceptual demands of college STEM. It hones analytical thinking and writing through seminar-style discussion and sophisticated assignments, and adheres to tough grading standards that match expectations at selective colleges.

The second critical pillar to address was character development. Many college freshman step on campus and are lost without the guardrails they had in high school. This abrupt transition can be a major cause of attrition for low-income students, who often feel particularly out of place and isolated at college. To persist, students must be gritty self-advocates who recognize when they need help and know how to get it. They must have interests and passions that keep them excited and motivated to achieve their goals, and a network they can turn to for emotional and practical support.

We designed our high school to develop these capacities, with numerous long-term assignments, and free periods and faculty office hours built into the schedule, so scholars learn to use time wisely, and to seek out help independently. We supplied a wide range of electives and extracurriculars so scholars can exercise personal preference, and develop passions that will serve as a basis for connection, community, and motivation at college. And we integrated robust internship and summer opportunities into the program, to close experiential gaps and build scholars’ confidence in navigating unfamiliar and diverse settings.

College advising was the critical third pillar. Too many high schools start the counseling process in 11th grade, and the 316:1 average ratio of advisors to students means this advising is perfunctory at best. By contrast, we incorporated college advising starting in ninth grade, with one counselor for every 100 students. Our advising program helps scholars identify interests and strengths, set goals, and take advantage of all available high school opportunities. SAT preparation is integrated into the schedule, to close the “test prep” gap that advantages affluent students, and a full-year college knowledge course for seniors covers topics such as campus resources, financial literacy, and health and wellness. Advisors work closely with scholars and families to find the best college match, navigate the application process, and tap into all possible sources of financial aid.

This fall our first class of seniors will be heading to college, several with full-ride financial packages at top universities. While we have more work to do, our high school already has many components in place that we believe will successfully propel our scholars through college in four years. I am excited to invite you to learn more about our model through a virtual experience of our high schools, which allows you to enter classrooms, explore the daily schedule, and meet teachers and students. Reinventing the American high school is gravity-defying work but we must get it right — the future of our country depends on it.