Three Ways to Improve High School Education, Right Now

With summer on the horizon, I recently asked a group of my students, freshmen in high school, what they would be doing in exactly a month, when vacation would be well underway. Some planned to be on the beach, or with family or friends, and many would be working summer jobs. (But when I asked them this at 7:35 in the morning, most were pretty sure that in exactly one month’s time they would be asleep.)

For students especially, the freedom to put down the weight of academic work for a time has an undeniable appeal. But for those of us in education who always have school on our minds, summer is also an opportunity to reflect, reset, and get ready to try again. And, we hope, do it better than before. The best educators are the best learners; we can look at what works, what doesn’t, and use that evidence to guide us. Or, at least, we should.

But some of what educators see as not working is beyond our scope of control. Sometimes our leaders need to help us. As we head into the summer, here is my personal wishlist for some very important steps the Healey administration, lawmakers, individual districts, and school administrators could take right away to make school work better for many more students as early as this fall.

First, provide permanent, universal free breakfast and lunch in all Massachusetts public schools. Maine, Colorado, and California have already done so. Educators know that a hungry student isn’t on the same playing field with a well-fed student, but we also saw how many students who should have been receiving free and reduced meals were not getting them before the pandemic. There is a social stigma, a shame that comes from taking such assistance that many families resist. Offering meals to all students, regardless of income, really is as essential as offering a desk and a chair.

Let’s also resolve to accommodate later start times. There’s a wealth of science showing connections between teen sleep patterns and not just academic success, but mental health, including suicide risk. Right now, Massachusetts high schools have an average start time of 7:38 a.m. — one of the five earliest averages in the country. California recently passed a law requiring high school start times to be no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Massachusetts should do something

similar: if not requiring later start times, requiring schools to accommodate later arrivals so that our most vulnerable populations aren’t further marginalized by unrealistic start times.

Lastly, pass the Thrive Act proposed by state legislators, which would end the use of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System as a graduation requirement. Named for the idea that it would help our most at-risk students thrive in the post-pandemic world, the bill would also prevent the state from taking over schools with low test scores and would empower schools to determine how best to use their resources to help their students. This would be a first step toward making a high school education useful for all students, no matter which path they take once they have that diploma. Massachusetts is one of only eight states that in 2023 still require a standardized test as a graduation requirement, according to FairTest. org. Educators will tell you that preparation for that exam and the anxiety around high-stakes testing take time away from what educators know works, what we see is most relevant, and what builds the best humans on the other side of graduation.

Eliminating the MCAS requirement is also an important step toward fully reconsidering what we believe should be the essential core knowledge of our graduates. Muddying the waters about what is truly “core” creates a lack of trust in our system and weakens our ability as teachers to get the truly important information across to all learners. I scrolled past a meme the other day from a poster who lamented not learning in high school how to pay taxes and poking fun at their own memorization of the Pythagorean formula. It’s not that both aren’t important, but as adults, we know which set of knowledge comes in handy on a more regular basis. Other states, such as New Jersey, have been requiring personal financial literacy for years.

By requiring students to study facts and ideas relevant for a standardized test — but not necessarily relevant for success beyond high school — we again hold back the success of students most at risk of not graduating. These are the students I teach at Project Vine alternative program at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, where I’m the English teacher and program chair.

There isn’t one particular thing that connects all of my students, except that they really weren’t loving school and needed to try something different. Alternative programs and schools all over the state offer just that: something different for those who really need it.

By being part of an alternative program, teachers start to see there are fixes that could be made to the entire high school experience that would benefit all students, and probably even keep some out of alternative programs like mine in the first place. Though I love these kids and don’t wish for a day not to have them with me, I love all students. A school system that does right first by its students is what’s best for them, and for our future.

I’m not much of a gardener myself, but I know that everything grows better when conditions are right — whether it’s plants or humans. Let’s make Massachusetts schools the gardens that grow a future as wondrous as summer, through all the seasons ahead.

A school system that does right first by its students is what’s best for them, and for our future.