Educators in California Set Their Sights on Improving High Schools

Sacramento, Calif.

With California’s secondary schools making little of the progress seen at the elementary and middle levels, state leaders, educators, and scholars attending a conference here last week agreed that setting higher expectations for all high school students could help raise achievement.

The gathering, billed as a summit and convened by state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, brought together some 4,500 school and district administrators and teachers from across California to discuss strategies for improving students’ proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, and science.

Like their counterparts in California, educators and policymakers across the country have begun to turn their attention...