For decades now, disgruntled and dismayed parents, lawmakers, researchers, and the general public have criticized the American public school system for its inability to adequately meet the needs of poor and minority students. Many argue that dismal performance of all students, especially low-income and minority students has become the norm. The data certainly seem to support it: African American and Hispanic students have low K-12 academic achievement, poor four-year high school graduation rates, and very low college completion rates.
In a highly competitive and technology-driven country like the United States, one would think that indicators such as these would set off alarms, resulting in a resurgence of movements comparable to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. In a recent interview, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal asserted that this is indeed a civil rights issue, “When it comes to the American dream, I think the next civil rights fight is really about making sure that every child has a great education”.
However, a quick scan of the front pages of any major newspaper immediately dispels this notion. It is a rare moment when the media provides meaningful and sustained coverage of the challenges confronting our American education system, the children within the system, or what our collective failure to improve the system means for the nation.
Despite this doom and gloom there are some rays of light peeking through the ominous clouds that are transforming the high school experience—at least for students in the Golden State. Over the last several years the James Irvine Foundation has invested millions into changing the high school experience for California high school students. The Linked Learning initiative, which will grow to serve more than one-third of high school students in California, is an approach to learning that completely transforms students’ educational experience by linking classroom learning to real life outside of the classroom.
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