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How is high school relevant to real life?
nHuntsman set out on his task by tapping a reluctant soldier in his battle against ignorance: Gayle McKeachnie, a four-term legislator from Vernal and lieutenant governor during Gov. Olene Walker’s 14-month term. He would marshal the forces to participate in those SMART sessions and create a report on outcomes. n

McKeachnie likes to call himself a good ol’ rural boy, but he’s about as backward as an armed missile. A graduate of the College of Southern Utah (now Southern Utah State University), he earned his law degree from the University of Utah and was an adjunct professor of law at Brigham Young University. n

In his years of focus on rural issues, McKeachnie’s knowledge of oil and gas issues won him a place running the Huntsman administration’s Rural Affairs Office. He’s also on the board of the School and Institutional Trust Lands Association (SITLA)—a funding mechanism for public education. SITLA manages lands deeded to Utah by the federal government at statehood. Income from the lands is used, in part, for the benefit of public education, which gets about 0.5 percent (or more than $8 million) of its state funding this way. n

“Were we just blowing holes in public education? We hope not,” McKeachnie says of the 21st Century report. The report, with results expected to go public in late January, was issued just before Christmas. “Pervading all of our SMART sessions was this notion that we don’t have support from parents, the community, and the students do not feel high school is relevant to their future lives.” n

Not that this is news. And the sticking point, it seems, is that task force after task force, report after report, identify the same problems over and over. They seem to ask the same questions, and while their solutions may differ, they have no clear path to implementation. n

“The 21st Century Initiative does argue for the need for a long-term plan and sticking with it, but that was brought forward in the middle of other long-term plans,” says McKell Withers, superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District. Withers did not participate in the SMART sessions, he says, because he was informed too late to juggle his schedule. n

Withers looks back to the Employers’ Coalition and its admonition against piecemealing its recommendations. “They said, ‘We’ll tell you what needs to happen, and you have to support the whole thing’ … and then it was cut into pieces. If you don’t create any clear pathways, then it has to be muddled through.” n

Perhaps it’s the fear of muddling through that has silenced state superintendent Harrington on the issue. “It has been very difficult for [Harrington],” McKeachnie says. “While they have participated, they have not been happy. And while the leadership of public education has been not easily brought along, the people under them—the principals, teachers and superintendents—have been very enthusiastic about it.” n

So, as for specifics, the 21st Century report offers both observations in the “no-brainer” category, and findings in a field of dreams. Observations appear to be all about “aligning” things. Utah needs to “build the capacity of talent in our citizens,” it says. n

Also: n

“Budget and finance processes need to be changed and aligned across all workforce development activities. n

“The policies and data within management systems need to be aligned in order to support and inform statewide workforce objectives. n

“There is a need for establishing a process for leadership training and continuous improvement, as well as research-based evaluation tools for monitoring leadership performance.” n

The report also mentions recruiting and compensating teachers, supporting early-childhood education, determining why students drop out, acknowledging the fact that curriculum was built pretty much by committee, and of course, reviewing—again—the system for testing. n

But one of the most problematic observations is this: “The session looked at the potential to integrate education, economic development and the development of Utah’s talent pool through identified clusters and occupations and clear career pathways that lead to high skill levels necessary for the 21st Century workforce. The approach should encourage personal creativity and innovation while increasing a system-wide focus on science, math and technology.” n

Salt Lake district’s Withers worries that this approach, as well as one suggested in “Tough Choices” would actually stifle creativity by placing students on career tracks too soon. “Tough Choices” suggests testing early to determine academic or vocational tracks for students. Such “gatekeeping” tests are a hallmark of many European educational models and have historically been frowned upon in the United States. It’s unclear just how rigid the American model would be. n

“Tough Choices” states that testing could take place continually throughout a lifetime. “It almost appears like a cop-out,” Withers says. “I’ve not yet seen the right test in other systems to help them open doors to their own future.” n

But Withers acknowledges he’s confused over how much the 21st Century recommendations are tied to the “Tough Choices” report. National pundits aren’t too fond of either paradigm. n

Gerald Bracey, a psychologist and associate professor at George Mason University’s Graduate School of Education, runs a Website to slam stuff like early tracking of students. He calls it the Education Disinformation Detection and Reporting Agency (America-Tomorrow.com/bracey/EDDRA), and in his 17th report, he damns “Tough Choices” as delusional. n

The National Education Association wasn’t too fond of it, either, concerned that poorer communities would be disenfranchised and that the “Tough Choices” weighted school-funding formula would not help struggling schools. Utah legislators continue the dialogue about how to equalize funding for schools, and the issue is set to come up again in the 2009 session. n

Jay Mathews, a Washington Post education reporter, takes on the 21st Century skills idea as “the hottest trend in pedagogy.” He takes this from a report of the Tucson, Ariz.-based Partnership for 21st Century Skills, to which Utah has yet to sign onto. “Every aspect of our education system—pre-K to 12, postsecondary and adult education, after-school and youth development, workforce development and training, and teacher preparation programs—must be aligned to prepare citizens with the 21st century skills they need to compete,” and calls it “the all-at-once syndrome, a common failing of reform movements.”n