The New York Times reports that public schools across 8 states will launch a program next year that will allow students who pass a variety of proficiency exams to receive their high school diploma after 10th grade, and immediately enroll in community college.

(It seems that if you want to go to a regular (non-community) college, you can’t do that.  Instead you have to stay at the high school and go the regular route.)

The program is supposedly designed to decrease the number of people who have to take remedial level classes when they get to college, though I think the logic behind that rationale is kid of odd.

Its backers say the new system would reduce the need for community colleges to offer remedial courses because the passing score for the 10th-grade tests would be set at the level necessary to succeed in first-year college courses. Failure would provide 10th graders with an early warning system about the knowledge and skills they need to master in high school before seeking to enroll in college.

Currently, many high school graduates enrolling in community colleges are stunned to find that they cannot pass the math and English exams those colleges use to determine who need remediation.

Not sure why the same couldn’t be achieved by just administering proficiency tests, or by increasing standards in public high schools, but that’s beside the point.

As a gut reaction, I like this idea.  What I like most is that it gives kids who are achieving an early out.  They don’t have to waste the last 2 years of high school being dragged down by their less successful peers. They also get out of the destructive public school system, although they will just end up in the public college system.  Still, I’d take the college system over high school any day.

I attended community college during high school under a different program. My experience at the community college was less than stellar.  The quality of the instruction was a joke, and the non-selective nature of admissions made the whole thing feel a lot like an extension of the high school.

However, I did have a significant advantage, in that I acquired quite a few college credits before I had even graduated high school.  In this new program, the students would already have their diploma, and they would be able to have a college degree by the time their peers were graduating.  That gets people into the work force much earlier, and that is a great thing.

But while my initial reaction is to cheer this new idea, the fact that it’s supported by the teachers unions makes me skeptical.  So what am I missing here?  Can I really agree with the NEA on a school reform idea?