Thank you, Carla (president Carla Nino). And thank you for being such an effective representative for the PTA. Carla really plays an important part in the education coalition and is someone we all look to for support and insight.
It's an honor to be here with you all today.
Friends, this is such a critical and interesting time for education in California. Our schools are showing such promise, making such progress, and yet great challenges remain, demanding so much of us all.
The PTA has a vital role in helping us to stay the course with programs that are working to help our children succeed.
And you will have a vital role in helping our schools take the next necessary steps in the statewide effort to improve student achievement.
We know that supportive parents are the backbone of educational success. Without the PTA, we could not have made the important progress we've made in raising standards in our classroom and helping students to achieve to those higher standards.
Over the past five years we've seen real and significant gains in student achievement, particularly in our elementary schools.
We cannot afford to lose ground. Our children need us to be their advocates in protecting the progress we've made and increasing the gains we've seen in student achievement.
We must continue to focus on closing the achievement gap in every school and in every grade.
And it is particularly important that all of us focus on improving achievement at California's high schools.
Far too many of California's 1.7 million high school students simply are not reaching the academic levels needed to succeed, in the workplace, in college, or as effective citizens.
In California over the past four years, high schools have met annual goals for improvement only about 40 percent of the time. And it is in high schools where the achievement gap is most severe.
Most of you know about the latest, distressing report from California State University — that fewer than half of its freshmen are proficient in reading and math.
What this translates to — not just in California but across the country where similar results are seen — is a tragic loss of opportunity for thousands of our students.
The world is demanding more of our high school graduates, and we have not kept up by preparing students for those demands.
Today, higher-level math skills and strong communications skills are needed to succeed whether or not a student goes on to college.
The job of K-12 education in California must be to ensure that all of our students graduate with the ability to fulfill their potential — whether that takes them to higher education or directly to their career.
So there is an urgent need to improve, regardless of limitations placed upon us by the budget.
So I am sponsoring a comprehensive initiative aimed at improving high school student achievement this year and I hope you will support it.
I'm asking that we raise expectations for our high school students as we have in the lower grades. We can no longer afford to expect high standards of only our college-bound students.
We know that not every child is bound for UC or CSU. But all students deserve access to the most challenging classes.
Students who take rigorous academic courses are more likely to persist in school. And all students, even those who start out with low test scores, do better when enrolled in college-prep courses.
Therefore, I propose that all high school students take a-g requirements — the minimum course load required for admission to our fine four-year universities — in order to graduate.
This requirement may take some time, but I firmly believe it is where we need to be if all of our students are to have an equal chance at success. Not because every student will go to college, but because every student deserves this level of preparation, for life.
As parents, I know we all believe our children are capable. We can see at home that when we expect more of our kids, they so often surprise us by meeting the expectations we set. So I'm asking that all of us begin believing in all of our children, and setting our expectations high.
I also want to help schools meet higher expectations by developing world-class high school leaders and teachers. More professional development aligned to our rigorous standards, and more support for our school principals.
And I'm asking that we improve high school instructional materials so that all students have access to texts reflecting high standards. I am proposing a state review process and "seal of approval" for standards-aligned high school instructional materials. This won't confine districts in their textbook choices. But it will help them choose wisely.
I am asking that high schools work more effectively with higher education and middle schools to smooth the transition for students as they enter and leave high school.
And finally, I want to begin a serious campaign to engage parents, businesses, and communities in improving high schools.
Successful high schools are everybody's business. It is time for a consistent and committed partnership of parents, students, teachers, principals and political leaders to focus as never before on making our high schools successful for students.
So I ask you to support me in this effort to give our high school students the futures they deserve.
Now before your conference officially gets underway, I want to again thank you for the endless, tireless work you do for your children, for all of our children.
Our schools are more efficient, more accountable, more welcoming, more successful because of all the work you do. Our teachers are more supported, and our students happier and higher achieving because of your efforts. I thank you, on behalf of all the public schools in California, and I wish you a very successful conference.
