Issue Twelve

Last Sunday, President Obama and Vice-President Biden traveled to Beckley, West Virginia to pay their respects and offer their prayers, on behalf of all Americans, to the 29 coal miners and their families who lost their lives at the Upper Big Branch mine in Raleigh County on April 5. And-once again-our nation focuses on tragedy in West Virginia. Maybe some of us question the profit motives and safety record of the Massey Energy Company.  Others may take the extra step of reading about the history of coal mining in West Virginia, and shake their heads.  A few others may even feel guilty about their own energy consumption.  But soon enough, most of us will go back to our business, vaguely sensing that West Virginia exists in a constant state of impending tragedy, or is, as West Virginia writer Denise Giardina put it in The New York Times, “a national sacrifice area.”

This is not the West Virginia I have come to know and love.  For the last three years, I have traveled to West Virginia from my home in Buffalo, New York and my office in Washington, D.C. to work with some of the most innovative high schools in the country.  These schools are part of a growing national movement aiming to prepare not just some high school students, but all high school students, for post-secondary education and training.

In last year’s State of the Union, President Obama urged all Americans to finish at least one year of post-secondary education.  Last month, in the U.S. Department of Education’s blueprint for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Administration said the purpose of K-12 is no longer just graduation, but readiness for college and career. 

This is a critical, and extremely difficult, shift for high schools.  But I can attest, from having worked with schools all over America, that two of the finest examples of schools making this shift are Shady Spring and Liberty, in Raleigh County, where the Upper Big Branch mine is located.

When you walk into the cafeteria of Shady Spring High School, early in the morning, before classes begin, you will see groups of 9^th graders meeting with 12^th grade students to discuss their futures. These 12^th-grade students have volunteered to coach the 9^th graders (whom they call “my 9^th-graders”) throughout the year on how the academic and social choices they make as freshmen will affect their college preparation and the rest of their lives.  This act of taking responsibility for the younger generation, supported in a structured way by the school’s teachers and administrators, is changing the culture of the school and creating unprecedented demand for college on the part of both students and parents.  At Shady Spring, parents have even started calling to request that their children be coached by a 12^th-grade peer leader.

At Liberty, the school counselor collects student record data on long yellow legal pads, by hand, tracking the indicators that leading researchers say predict whether or not students will fall off the path to college.  Based on what she finds, she helps the Liberty High leadership shift resources to help struggling students stay on track.

Along with my colleagues from College Summit, I go to Raleigh County about once a month to help document how these high schools are boosting college enrollment so we can export these practices to schools across America.  I choose to drive, because I love the craggy beauty of the landscape and I like the people I meet at the diners and gas stations along the way.  When I get home, I’m exhilarated by the work of West Virginia educators, students, and families.  My wife feels like she knows half the people in West Virginia because I won’t stop talking about the talent, resolve, and triumph I see in these schools.

I hope that as the news of the mining disaster subsides, Americans will not just shake their heads and forget, but will instead be inspired to visit this great state and experience what I have seen in its high schools, especially in Raleigh County -- grit, community, and deep collaboration to enact far-reaching change. 

Nothing can undo the deep tragedy that’s befallen Raleigh County.  But we can take solace in its youth and its future, knowing that so much important work is being done to take education and opportunity to new, and exemplary, levels.