FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Date: September 25, 2000
Number: nr 00-15
Contact: Nan Powers Varoga, 713-658-1881, ext. 14
nvaroga@houstonaplus.org
STUDENTS TO TELL EDUCATORS WHAT HIGH SCHOOL SHOULD LOOK LIKE
Professor Advocates Ending High School at 10th Grade
HOUSTON - Six students from Houston public high schools will tell educators Tuesday what high schools should look like and how to get to that ideal.
The students will be part of the daylong Schools for a New Society High School Symposium at the University of Houston Hilton Hotel, 4800 Calhoun.
Following the students, noted Prof. Leon Botstein , Ph.D., president of Bard College in New York, will share his controversial views on high school reform. Botstein believes the U.S. should get rid of high school after the 10th grade and start a new system that graduates students when they are 16.
Schools for a New Society is a partnership between the Houston Independent School District and The Houston A+ Challenge. The partnership recently was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation to write a plan to reform all 24 comprehensive high schools in Houston ISD.
Tuesday’s symposium gathers teams from each school, along with community and corporate representatives, to hear the state of today’s high schools and what skills business needs students to possess. The teams then will begin to plan how to reshape the schools to ensure high school graduates are prepared to succeed in a fast-paced, hi-tech global economy where information moves at the speed of light.
Rod Paige, Superintendent of Schools, Houston ISD, also will speak at the symposium, as will Robert Mosbacher, President of Mosbacher Energy Company and chairman of the education committee of The Greater Houston Partnership.
The Houston A+ Challenge is a $60 million, not-for-profit public, private partnership directing the largest single sum of private money ever dedicated to public school reform in the Greater Houston area. The Challenge develops and funds school programs, professional development and leadership institutes to promote higher academic achievement by all students.
Editor’s Note: A complete agenda is attached. For more information on high school reform, visit www.houstonannenberg.org.