Transforming American High Schools: Possibilities for the Next Phase of High School Reform

The next phase of high school reform is ripe with possibilities. Over the last 3 decades, educational research has identified a number of promising and effective high school models. Research demonstrates the benefits of career academies and early college schools. Schools that offer small, personalized environments; comprehensive approaches to schoolwide instruction and operations; and integrated opportunities to experience career and college have exhibited positive impacts on labor market outcomes, student achievement, or high school graduation. Guided by advances in research of high school reform and recent education policy, leaders and funders of reform and educational innovations should seek to further integrate structural arrangements and instructional practices with local employers and higher education institutions. Reforms should also search for ways to accelerate rapid and dramatic improvements in school performance.