Stick To An Education Plan, Consultant Says

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(INDIANAPOLIS) - A Columbus education consultant says choosing among competing ideas for reinventing American high schools may be less important than settling on a plan and sticking to it.

Bruce Ricklin with the Indiana Student Achievement Institute says a good plan sets high expectations for students regardless of their background, and backs them up with a structured learning environment.

But he told a state conference on redesigning high schools the first step has to be to commit to a vision of where you want the school to go, then work with teachers on one plan for getting there.

Ricklin says too many school systems announce a plan, only to have a new superintendent or school board cast it aside after a few years and announce another one.

Administrators in Ricklin's workshop say they've had trouble getting their communities to raise expectations. Several say the only vision they see is for no one to get beaten up or knifed.

Others say their schools often get bogged down discussing what's expected of teachers instead of students.

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