Envisioning new high school curricula and graduation requirements in NYC: Competency-based education & workplace learning experiences at the core

Abstract

The twin pandemics of health and racial inequality have upended life as we know it-- causing additional strain on a public education sector that has historically done a poor job meeting the needs of students who are Black, Latinx, or economically disadvantaged. In some instances, schools and school systems seem to have navigated the challenges to make needed changes that meet the moment—which is laudable. Many more are merely doing what they can considering the circumstances. They are treading water and making the best of a bad situation. At the very least, this past year should have provided those who have the authority, both the wisdom and courage to reconsider educational choices, practices, and policies which no longer serve students—and more truthfully– have never served a subset of young people well. While much could be reconsidered, I propose that changes to the high school curriculum and graduation requirements should take priority despite recent nationwide improvements in high school graduation rates.

What I am proposing is a competency-based curriculum for high school students to exhibit mastery of the four core curricular areas. . Students would simultaneously participate in high-quality apprenticeships and other rich work-based learning experiences that will ultimately yield not only a high school diploma but will also micro credentials and/or certifications which validate mastery of cognitive and technical skills in the fields of their choice. We must find new ways of educating and engaging secondary students so they can successfully jumpstart careers in business and industry with the skills that employers and colleges say are desperately needed. For years employers have bemoaned a critical “skills gap”. And while there has been controversy regarding the veracity of these claims, what is not in doubt is that there is a need for more workers skilled in new and emerging technologies (Bessen, 2014; Engler et al., 2018). Deloitte’ and the Manufacturing Institute's 2018 skills gap in manufacturing study projected “2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of 2.5 trillion” (Giffi et al.,2018, p. 2). Additionally, research by Carnevale and Smith (2013) delineates that five of the top ten cognitive competencies in high demand across all occupational groups include: (a) communication, (b) teamwork, (c) sales and customer service, (d) leadership, and (e) problem solving and complex thinking (Carnevale and Smith, 2013, p.43). Without a rich and rigorous curriculum providing these technical and soft skills, students will not have a pathway beyond minimal wage offerings.

Prior to the current crisis, there had been some good news regarding high school graduation rates in public schools over the past few years. Nationally, the 2017–2018 school year graduation rate was 85% (NCES, 2020). Most recently, the percentage was even higher still at 88% https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/see-high-school-graduation-rates-by-state. Nonetheless, these numbers, gloss over troubling graduation statistics for students of color and disadvantaged students throughout the nation. There has been improvement in this area for underrepresented racial groups, nevertheless, the lower graduation rates for these students have been stubbornly persistent and substantially lower than those of their white and Asian peers as is evident from the graduation rates for Native American (74%), Black (79%) and Latinx (81%) students (NCES, 2020).

Other high school statistics from my own state of New York provide additional cause for concern. As can be seen in Figure 1 below, in New York State, in 2019, 6% or 58,000 teens ages 16 to 19 were not attending school nor were they working. 14% or 182,000 youth in the 20- to 24-year-old age group and 11% or 240,00 youth in the 16- to 24-year-old age group were not attending school and not working in 2019 (Datacenter.kidscount.org, 2021).

Further indication that we have not served students well can be found when reviewing statistics for the City University of New York (CUNY) which has a symbiotic relationship with New York City's public schools. In fall 2019, roughly 81% of NYC public school students are enrolled in two- or four-year degree programs on CUNY’s campuses ("A Profile of Undergraduates at CUNY Senior and Community Colleges: Fall 2019", 2021). It is no secret that CUNY has long grappled with issues related to remediation. Until recently, CUNY offered a host of developmental courses to students who did not meet proficiency standards on entrance exams at its community colleges. With such large numbers of NYC students enrolled, it is hard to imagine that the preponderance of these students are not primarily the graduates of the city's public schools. In 2017, approximately “80 percent of freshman entering community college in the CUNY system required remediation in reading, writing, math, or some combination of those subjects ("CUNY to Revamp Remedial Programs and Hoping to Lift Graduation Rates (Published 2017”). In its objective to revamp enrollment policies, fall 2020, was the first year in which students were no longer required to take required proficiency exams and/or remedial courses in math and/or English if the freshman did not achieve needed scores on state Regents exams, the SAT, or the ACT. Instead, students who need additional academic support are now expected to take a set of pre-requisites and/or co-requisite courses—which only further suggests that there is continued need for developmental education by significant numbers of entering freshman. This academic year there was a small increase in the number of freshmen deemed proficient, jumping from 80% to 82% of students proficient in mathematics and from 86% to 88% proficiency in reading. Persistence of students too is disquieting. Of the 21,795 students that entered Associates and Baccalaureate programs in CUNY in 2015 (the last year for which four-year retention rate data is available), only 15.9% were still enrolled and just 29.6% graduated with either a Baccalaureate or Associate Degree (Cuny.edu., 2021).

The data addressed here make the case that something is amiss. More critically, the problem lies in the educational system which insists on relying too heavily on standardized assessment measures and outmoded curricula, rather than on students’ mastery of the competencies needed for success after high school. In 2013, Carnevale et al. forecasted that by 2020, 69 percent of jobs in New York would require postsecondary education and 28 percent of jobs would require some college, an associate degree, or a postsecondary vocational certificate (Carnevale et al., 2020, pp. 3–5). Almost a decade ago, we were cognizant that there would be double-digit growth in a host of occupations including healthcare support, healthcare and technical professionals, food, and personal services, among others (p. 72). The evidence is compelling that we need new solutions for this enduring problem. We are well past the time for a critical restructuring of the high school curricula and graduation standards for all students—but particularly for those who opt to either temporarily or permanently forgo a two- or four-year post-secondary degree (instead of being tracked out of).

Some NYC schools have already embraced competency-based education. In some ways, these schools can serve as a foundation for a reconceptualization of the high school experience for far more students than now have access to rich competency-based programs. To date, at least three networks of schools are intentionally implementing competency-based curriculum frameworks. First, the Mastery Collaborative is a collective of approximately fifty public schools operating under the auspices of the NYC Department of Education. Core to the Mastery Collaborative model is a focus on equity and culturally sustaining pedagogy and the creation of equitable learning environments for middle and high school students. While many of the schools are early in their understanding and development of schoolwide mastery programs, a subset of approximately eight schools have implemented “full-school mastery systems” which are guided by Mastery Collaborative Implementation Framework.

The second network, the New York Performance Standards Consortium, has advocated for decreased dependence on standardized testing and improved mechanisms for assessing student learning since the late 1990s. A supportive NY State Board of Regents and NY State Education Department provides Consortium schools waivers which enable graduates from the thirty-six schools in NYC to earn a Regents diploma. Student are assessed using teacher-developed Performance-Based Assessment Tasks (PBATs). Graduates must complete four PBATs (analytic literature essay, a social studies research paper, a student-designed science experiment, and higher-level mathematics problems) both in writing and orally. Despite the waiver, students must still take the ELA Regents exam and earn a minimum score of 65. Noteworthy is that the demographics for underrepresented s and economically disadvantaged students match other city schools but outcomes for Consortium surpass those of similar schools. Four and six- year graduation rates are higher and dropout rates are lower, and college enrollment is higher than other NYC public schools (FairTest, 2018).

Finally, South Bronx Community Charter High School (SBC) provides yet another example of a competency-based programs offered within New York City public schools. SBC is a competency-based school aligned to New York State Learning Standards and organized around core skills, mindsets, and abilities that students must master to graduate. SBC’s competency framework seeks to ensure students have the skills need to pass the Regents (the state-mandated exams), graduate high school and complete an associate degree and/or a career internship. Students only advance through the curriculum once they have demonstrated the skills to do so. One of three EPIC schools, SBC was a product of the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) which has sought to tackle the 1 in 10 disparity in the college- and career-readiness rate for Black and Latino young men. The early data from ESI indicate “meaningful changes… These changes included the development of a culturally relevant orientation to teaching and learning; a stronger schoolwide commitment to supporting students’ post-secondary goals; and improved relationships among students and between students and staff” https://research.steinhardt.nyu.edu/research_alliance/publications/esi_challenges_and_progress (Villavicencio et al.,2018).

These schools provide excellent alternatives to traditional reliance on standardized tests as the sole arbiter of what students know and can do and to curricula which fails to engage students in problem solving and deeper learning skills. While there is substantial evidence (noted above) about the fidelity and effectiveness of these schools’ implementation of competency-based curricula, there are far too few schools in the school district with such offerings. More importantly, competency-based curricula and diplomas, without complementary career-readiness curricula, apprenticeships, and micro credentials is a necessary but insufficient strategy for preparing students who are actively seeking preparation to do meaningful work in professions that will reward them commensurately with their skills. For these students, the schools described here have not yet created robust career readiness frameworks which deeply integrate academic readiness, employability, and technical skills within their program designs that I argue are needed. Fletcher et al., (2018) argue that “a more nuanced definition of college and career readiness should involve an appropriate set of academic skills in addition to generalizable and specific occupational skills required in broad industry clusters (e.g., IT)” (p. 79). Carnevale and Smith (2013) also propose that educators “provide a curriculum that conveys both general and specific competencies” as “workers benefit most from having broad knowledge and abilities alongside specific skills” (p. 44).

Indeed, there are career and technical offerings provided by the city which provide students opportunities to explore the world of work. At last count, there were more than 100 schools with CTE offerings. In March 2016, the New York State Board of Regents approved a new Career Development Occupational Studies (CDOS) graduation pathway for all students which went into effect in June 2016 (NYSED Field Advisory, 2016). This amendment by signaled some understanding that new pathways are necessary. Despite this, currently—in all but a few cases—students must still pass five Regents exams or state-approved alternative assessment as well as meet additional requirements to obtain a Career and Technical Education endorsement. The CDOS pathway merely scratches the surface.

I am proposing that rather than make the CDOS endorsement and other career and technical education offerings ancillary to the traditional curriculum, we treat them as the main course from the start of students’ high school careers. We would then seamlessly integrate a competency-based core curriculum with apprenticeships and work-based learning experiences that can be undertaken by all students who desire them. In this way, we would truly achieve the kind of authentic, real-world, and relevant learning we advocate for students.

Let's take the next step and forgo these assessments in lieu of a rich integrated competency-based curriculum which centers work-based learning experiences at its core. In my proposal, students would graduate with both their high school diploma and a set of micro credentials verifying competencies. Such a curriculum would: be aligned to the critical facets of competency-based education (determined by workforce needs, provide flexible offerings, provide mentoring/coaching support for academics and career coaching, etc.) but would also attend to overlooked needs that often stymie persistence for young people of color and those with limited financial resources.

To be clear, the same factors which often derail underserved young people, continue to exist. As such, this proposal would be meaningless without needed additional supports for students like wages for work, transportation and/or childcare stipends, a cohort-based approach, ongoing career coaching, and the opportunity to be hired into a good job upon successful graduation. Most important, is the need for resources committed to such an initiative. One such resource would be the creation of a school-based Workforce Coordinator position. Among other responsibilities, this individual would have primary responsibility for: finding critical apprenticeships aligned with local needs, working closely with human resource personnel within those organizations, assessing the fit of the students for the apprenticeships and learning opportunities, working with faculty to create, implement, and assess the effectiveness of individualized student plans for achieving both the requisite micro credentials and his or her competency-based diploma. Such an approach would entail new policies for high schools issued by the state department of education. It would also entail the need for a new set of skills for teachers, guidance counselors, and school leaders. These essential supports would better serve populations that are routinely denied access to high quality jobs.

Because of the pandemic, the Regents exams were not given last year. It is quite possible that this will also be the case during the current academic year. Instead, the state provided guidance that enabled schools to make decisions about graduation based on a variety of factors. While these decisions likely were implemented with wide variation across schools, it was possible. If it was possible then, it is possible now. We can choose to provide high school students with a transformed curriculum and opportunities to get the credentials they need to find good jobs and succeed in them. But first, we must commit to providing seamlessly integrated competency-based and career readiness educational offerings that are implemented with high standards, intentionality, and rigor.