By Fritz Edelstein
March 7, 2005

The U.S. Conference of Mayors tapped St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly to be its representative at the National Education Summit hosted by the National Governors' Association (NGA) and Achieve on February 26 and 27, 2004 in Washington, D.C. This Summit focused on the urgent need to redesign the American high school. It was only the fifth National Education Summit to be held by the nation's governors since the first one held in 1989 in Charlottesville, Virginia when the National Education Goals were set.

Only two mayors attended the Summit, Kelly and the host city, District of Columbia's, Mayor Anthony Williams. This is the first time that NGA invited a Conference representative to attend and participate in the discussions.

Kelly was chosen because of his innovative mayoral involvement and commitment to education in St. Paul, as well as his strong ongoing partnership with St. Paul Public School's Superintendent Pat Harvey. Over the last three years, Kelly has worked with the Superintendent to develop and implement the Mayor's Capitol City Education Initiative, which has placed more than 1,300 volunteers in the public schools. This partnership was also highlighted when Kelly and Harvey participated on a panel discussing mayoral and superintendent relationships at the Council of Great City Schools Conference last year.

The Summit brought together 46 of the nation's governors, along with business executives, prominent K-12 and higher education leaders, a few other elected officials and some education association executives. The importance of education is all too familiar to mayors because they all have a first-hand understanding of the economic implications of a poorly performing education system in their city.

The Summit had three plenary and three different breakout sessions. The opening speaker at the Summit was Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who, through The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, helped support the summit. Gates described the American high school system as "obsolete, compared with education abroad, adding that the American system was undermining the workforce of the future and "ruining the lives of millions of Americans every year."

Nationally, only 68 out of 100 students who begin high school in the 9th grade will graduate; 40 will go on to college; 27 will return for their second year of postsecondary education; and only 18 will graduate from college. In addition, colleges and employers from around the nation report that many of those who do graduate often lack basic skills. Colleges also complain that an overwhelming number of incoming freshman need to take remedial courses rather than college level ones.

Following the Education Summit, Kelly expressed that it "reinforced my thinking that partnerships must be built to redesign high schools to benefit cities and states, and to provide rigorous curricula for all high school students. It is critically important for mayors to express their ideas on high school redesign, become actively involved in their city and begin working with their governor and the corporate leadership to accomplish the redesign in their cities and states."

Kelly gleaned eight key issues on high school redesign from the discussions and these are:

1. Reduce the size of the high school to become smaller learning communities;

2. Revamp curriculum so it is applicable to 21st century needs for college and the workplace;

3. Increase the rigor in the high school curriculum;

4. Improve the integration and alignment between K-12 and postsecondary education institutions to reduce the need for remedial courses when one graduates from high school;

5. Need to provide a different approach and options for the senior year of high school so when students to include other educational and learning experiences outside of the classroom sometimes called alternative learning tools;

6. Ensure that adequate financial resources are available to support the redesign;

7. Increase the goals and expectations for high school graduation rates, especially those for students of color;

8. Align the education experience for Pre-K through 16, and make sure there are sufficient financial resources available to make it happen.

Kelly took away from the Summit was a greater understanding and appreciation of the importance of redesigning the high school, its impact on the future of America's cities, and the key role mayors can have in this effort. First on his agenda when returning to St. Paul was to set up a meeting with School Superintendent Pat Harvey to discuss what he heard and learned at the Summit so it could be applied in St. Paul public schools. He wants to learn:

• Where do the St. Paul schools stand at the present time in redesigning their high schools?
• What it will take to implement some of the changes discussed at the Summit and mentioned above?
• How can the city with mayoral leadership as well as the state be involved in initiating these redesign changes?

After he meets with the Superintendent, he also plans to meet with key business leaders in St. Paul to discuss high school redesign, its importance, and to request their support and involvement in making it a success in the city. Kelly was impressed with the remarks by several business executives attending the Summit including Microsoft's Bill Gates, Prudential Financial CEO Arthur Ryan and Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger.

"I plan on talking about my experience and what I learned with my fellow mayors at the Conference's Annual Meeting this June in Chicago and at the Mayors' National Education Summit being planned for this fall. I also want to encourage them to get more involved with their governors as this effort expands," said Mayor Kelly. The Mayors' Education Summit is being made possible with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.