States Take Steps to Put More Rigor Into High Schools

College, Work Readiness Are Focus of Governors

Even before the nation’s governors convened in Washington this past weekend for a national summit on high schools, many already had proposed plans to make secondary education more rigorous.

“A high school graduate from Green Bay isn’t just competing against graduates from Appleton and Oshkosh,” Gov. James E. Doyle of Wisconsin said in his Jan. 12 State of the State Address. “She’s competing against graduates from all over the world.”

Noting that current state graduation requirements do not even meet the basic standards for admission to the University of Wisconsin, Gov. Doyle, a Democrat, proposed legislation requiring a third year of mathematics and science for all the...