Secondary School Change

Meeting challenge with the three R's of reinvention.

By Tony Wagner

Districts are making progress with elementary school reforms around the country. Fourth grade reading and math scores are up in many states. In elementary schools where recently I've spent time, there's a sense of emergent pride and hope.

Not so in secondary schools. Districts that have seen test scores increase for elementary-age children see those same kids' scores fall in 8th grade. The slump is often even worse by the time the students get to 10th grade. Secondary school reformers are profoundly demoralized. They have no sense of what's going wrong, or what new strategies they might try.

What is little understood is that the change challenge is profoundly different in elementary vs. secondary education. To understand the differences, I'd like to suggest a three-part lens for analyzing successful improvements in teaching, curriculum, and school structure. They are the interdependent principles of...