2005 Economic Club

May 12, 2005
Prepared remarks by Melinda French Gates, co-chair

Thank you, Vernon, for that kind introduction—and for inviting me to be here this evening.

I’m here tonight to tell you about how we work at our foundation. But I also hope to show you how we work, by discussing a very specific problem that we are focused on: the state of America’s high schools.

I believe this is one of the most urgent problems that our country faces today. And I know it’s an issue that will resonate with every business leader in this room.

Earlier this year, my husband, Bill, gave a speech on education to a meeting of the National Governors Association here in D.C. We both felt encouraged to see the nation’s governors and CEOs commit to fixing high schools.

Today I’d like to expand on some of the things Bill said, and I’d be grateful to hear your ideas about how to bring the private sector’s creativity into this ongoing conversation.

Why are Bill and I so interested in America’s high schools?

We started our foundation because we believe we have a real opportunity to help advance equity around the world—to help make sure that, no matter where a person is born, he or she has the chance to live a healthy, productive life.

To do that, we know we have to take a new look at some of the most intractable problems here in the United States and around the world.

And we know that making meaningful progress on those problems requires a major expenditure of time, effort, and money.

But we also know that improving equity means finding solutions that will continue working long after our grantmaking has ended. We want to find resourceful partners who will stay with these issues for the long haul.

And we look for strategic entry points—the places where a dollar of funding and an hour of effort can make the biggest impact.

These principles—advancing equity by making high-impact investments—have led us to work in two main areas.

Around the world, we think we can do the most for equity by investing in health, because millions of people in developing countries die every year from diseases that have been virtually eliminated in the rich world.

Here in the United States, we believe we can do the most to promote equity through education.
 
Most of us feel we know something about education, if only because we all went to school ourselves. But many people don’t realize the extent of the crisis facing American high schools today.

They were designed for a different era. They are failing to prepare the majority of students for college or work.

And they are perpetuating some of the worst divisions in America, deepening the divide between those who have access to a high-quality education and those who do not.

As Bill and I have learned more and more about public education in this country, we have come to a painful conclusion: America’s high schools are obsolete.

By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded—though I could argue for all three of those points.

By obsolete, I mean that our high schools—even when they’re working exactly as designed—cannot teach our students what they need to know today.

I realize that “obsolete” is a strong word. It always provokes a strong reaction, especially in the media.

But I’ve also learned that it can sound harsh.

When people hear it used to describe America’s high schools, they sometimes think: “Isn’t it unfair to blame high schools for failing? Aren’t there a lot of other problems that need to be addressed too?”

First, let me be clear: High schools are a critical part of our education system, but they’re not the only part of it.

To get a student ready for college and work, we need success at every level of the school system, including elementary school and middle school.

Second, this isn’t an issue of blaming anyone.

The nation has many great teachers and principals doing great things—but we’re asking them to succeed in an impossible situation. They work in an institutional system that is outdated.

Our high schools were built for the industrial age, not the information age. Fifty years ago, we mistakenly thought that only select students could do serious academic work.

So young people were separated like machine parts onto different tracks. Some learned to work with their heads. Others with their hands.

It may have made sense then, but today it’s a social and economic disaster.

How bad is it? Today only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work and citizenship.

The other two-thirds, most of them low-income and minority students, either never graduate or are tracked into courses that won’t get them ready for college or a family-wage job.

In other words, we have a two-tiered system.

The best-educated students in the United States are still the best-educated students in the world. We should be proud of that.

But only a fraction of our students are getting the best education.

In district after district—here in D.C., in Virginia, in Maryland, and around the country—wealthy white students are taught Algebra II while low-income students are taught rudimentary addition and subtraction.

The first group goes on to college and careers; the second group will struggle to make a living wage.

High school graduates who do not go on to college earn an average of $25,000 a year. For a family of five, that’s close to the poverty line.

Asian and Hispanics students earn less than their white counterparts, and black students less still—14 percent less.

High school dropouts do even worse. Only 40 percent have jobs. They are four times as likely to be arrested. One in four turns to welfare or other forms of government assistance.

This is morally wrong for the simple reason that all Americans deserve an equal chance at a decent education. We are letting all Americans down by denying millions of students the chance to live up to their potential.

The failure of our high schools is also economically devastating. Our economy increasingly depends on the skilled workforce that only a rigorous education can provide.

In almost every line of work, from high tech to manufacturing, employees need to be able to use computers effectively, communicate clearly, and handle higher-level science and math.

Employers here in D.C. understand as well as anyone the need for critical thinking skills in an information economy. This city was built on information and analysis.

But most students are not getting these skills in high school—not even close. High school reading scores in the U.S. have dropped steadily over the past decade.

In math and science, the story is even worse. American fourth graders are among the best in the world in those subjects.  By 8th grade, they’ve slipped to the middle of the pack. In 12th grade, they’re near the bottom.

We’re also cheating ourselves by letting high schools languish. Studies show that by spending more on education, we can reduce poverty and economic inequality.

And increasing the nation’s average education level by just one year could increase our economic growth by as much as 15 percent.

Everyone agrees that the failure of our high schools is tragic. It’s bad business, and it’s bad policy. But we act as if it can’t be helped.

It can be helped. We designed these high schools; we can redesign them.

To make this new design work, first we have to do away with the idea underlying the old design.

The idea behind the old design was that you could train an adequate workforce by sending only a third of your students to college—and that the others either couldn’t do college work or didn’t need to.

The idea behind the new design is that all students can do rigorous work, and—for their sake and ours—they have to.

Fortunately, there is mounting evidence that the new design works. There are terrific schools around the country that are preparing all their students for college and work.

I’d like to tell you about three of them—all right here in the District of Columbia.

The first is Bell Multicultural High School.

Bell is a magnet school for young people who are learning English as a second language. Its students come from 50 different native countries, and 90 percent of them are from low-income homes.

Yet Bell has a 97 percent attendance rate, and 70 percent of its graduates go on to college.

These students are succeeding because they get the individual attention they need to sharpen their communication skills, start to focus on a career, and learn about technology.

They also learn by doing. The school’s work-based learning program starts in the 10th grade, and includes an internship in their senior year.

Another great school here in the District is one I’ve been lucky enough to visit: the Maya Angelou Public Charter School.

This is a charter school that actively recruits at-risk students. Half of them have either failed a grade or are under the jurisdiction of a court when they enroll.

At Maya Angelou PCS, these students get the personalized attention they need – including daily one-on-one tutoring. They also attend school year-round and get real-world experience in a workplace.

The results are amazing. Seventy percent of the school’s graduates go on to two-year or four-year colleges.

That’s a solid statistic for any public school, but it’s particularly powerful when you consider that these students represent groups that rarely graduate from high school, much less go on to college.

Of course, a few great schools like Bell, Maya Angelou, and César Chávez aren’t enough to answer the crisis. We need to make entire systems of schools—at the district and state level—work for all students.

One great example is the Kansas City, Kansas, public school district.

Seventy-nine percent of their students are minorities and 74 percent live below the poverty line. Kansas City was struggling with high dropout rates and low test scores when it adopted a program called First Things First in 1996.

This included setting high academic standards for all students, reducing teacher-student ratios, and holding teachers and administrators responsible for improving student performance while making sure they had the resources to do it.

The district’s graduation rate has climbed more than 30 percentage points.

These are not isolated examples. In my experience, great schools and districts all have three things in common. I’m sure you all remember the 3 R’s from your school days: Reading, ’Riting, and ’Rithmetic.

We think that successful schools all incorporate a new version of the three R’s, the basic building blocks of better high schools:

• The first R is Rigor—making sure all students are given a challenging curriculum that prepares them for college or work;
• The second R is Relevance—making sure students have courses and projects that clearly relate to their lives and their goals;
• The third R is Relationships—making sure students have a number of adults who know them, look out for them, and push them to achieve.

The three R’s are almost always easier to promote in smaller high schools.

I’m not just talking about smaller classes. We need more-intimate learning communities where teachers and staff can help students achieve at a higher level and make sure they never fall through the cracks.

Students in smaller schools are more motivated, feel safer, and graduate and attend college in higher numbers.

Our foundation has invested nearly one billion dollars so far to promote the new Three R’s and help redesign the American high school.

We are supporting more than fifteen hundred high schools—about half are totally new, and the other half are existing schools that are being redesigned.

Four hundred fifty of these schools, both new and redesigned, are already open and operating.

This kind of change is never easy. But I believe there are two ways that business leaders like you can help build momentum for change in our schools.

Number 1. Demand that all students in and around the District of Columbia graduate from high school ready for college, work, and citizenship.  

As you know too well, your business relies on an education system that works for everyone. You need employees who can think critically, write well, and do college-level math.

I ask the business leaders here to become the top advocates for the belief that every child should take courses that prepare him or her for college—because every child can succeed, and every child deserves the chance.

The cities and states that have committed to getting all students ready for college have made good progress—but every community must make the same commitment.

Number 2. Work with the D.C. school system to design a strategy for transforming high schools. Business leaders can help raise expectations, but that’s not enough. You also have to help schools change.

In Boston, the business community launched a decade-long push to improve the city’s high schools. Businesses helped design the blueprint for reforming every school.

This included creating small learning communities that get students ready for college and a career. Students also take part in innovative internships with local businesses.

As a result, Boston now has one of the highest graduation rates of any urban school district in the country.

Here in D.C., the business community got involved by supporting DC-CAP, a program that is helping 6,000 local students apply to colleges, get scholarships and other financial aid, and stay in school so they can get a degree.

If we can focus even more on these two steps—setting high standards for all; and involving businesses in the effort to turn around high schools—we will go a long way toward ensuring that all students have a chance to make the most of their lives.

On the other hand: If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will never get a chance to fulfill their promise because of their zip code, their skin color, or the income of their parents.

That is offensive to our values, and it’s an insult to who we are.

Every student can graduate ready for college. Every student should have the chance.

Let’s redesign our schools to make it happen.

Thank you very much. I’d be happy to hear your questions and comments now.