Education reform has once again become a key topic of debate among educators and politicians, many of whom claim to have affordable solutions for improving teacher effectiveness and raising student achievement. Their oft-recycled arguments include: Give parents more school choice. Tie teacher pay to student progress. Offer schools more flexibility in the classroom.
However, research has taught us one critical lesson. Schools where teachers clearly demonstrate to adolescent students that what they are learning is relevant get better achievement results compared to schools where teachers focus strictly on content.
What's more, studies focused on learning have confirmed that when classroom content is linked to future applications, students retain more of what they learn and show greater hope for a positive future. In other words, students are just like adults - we all want to understand that what we are learning now will be useful today or in the future.
Adopting such a strategy is especially important in middle school. Most parents and educators already know, and research supports, that the middle school years are a particular challenge. Despite the fact that most students in the fifth grade, even those from families struggling economically, feel good about their teachers and school, and see lots of hope for their futures, their success begins to shift over the following three years.
In middle school, students switch teachers more frequently, parents visit schools less often, hormones rage and students pay as much attention to peers as to the adults in their lives. In addition, research has shown that students leave eighth grade feeling less of a connection to school than when they entered sixth grade. As a result, these children are more at-risk for performing poorly academically and even worse, dropping out of school altogether.
But there is reason to hope. One middle school intervention program in our state continues to demonstrate the kind of success education reformers eagerly seek and may be the key to unlocking students' potential and improving their academic futures. Since 2005, CareerStart has helped keep more students engaged in their education, has raised student test scores and has even shown success in narrowing the achievement gap between minority and disadvantaged children and their white peers. Begun in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Career Start now serves more than 25,000 students in six school systems across the state.
The fundamental focus of this program? Helping teachers connect their classroom lessons to students' future career opportunities.
For example, lessons in language arts help students see how writing skills are used in almost all jobs today. Lessons in science show links between biology and health-related careers. Lessons in social studies illustrate how policies are developed and how many jobs are linked to policy changes.
For students, such career-relevant instruction more clearly illustrates that what they are learning today will benefit them down the road.
The results in student learning are significant. Students who hear more career examples in the classroom have fewer unexcused absences and fewer suspensions. Furthermore, student engagement in school increases along with test scores in math and reading. More recent analysis of the program has found that students from CareerStart schools who are now in high school are passing end-of-course tests in ninth grade at higher rates and earning more credits toward graduation than students who were not exposed to CareerStart lessons.
Clearly, bringing future career relevance into teaching in the middle schools is one promising key for education reform. It is an inexpensive strategy that is easy to implement. Such a tool may be just what students need to unlock their academic and life-long success.
Dennis K. Orthner is a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Social Work and adjunct professor in the School of Education there. Donald Martin, Ph.D., is superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and is the 2011 Superintendent of the Year for North Carolina. Orthner and Martin developed CareerStart and continue to evaluate the program's effectiveness.
