Improving high schools has proved much tougher than changing elementary schools, but does it require fundamentally different leadership?

That was one of the basic questions pondered at a conference here last week on high school leadership.

“I think part of the problem when we’re dealing with high schools is
we think the kids and the issues we’re dealing with are just bigger
and more numerous,” said Richard Laine, the director of education
programs for the Wallace Foundation.

Speaking at the conference, “Preparing Today’s Leaders for Tomorrow’s High Schools,” Mr. Laine contended that at least some of the issues are also different. The Oct. 3-5 conference was sponsored by the Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education, a policy, research, and advocacy group whose mission is to ensure every child graduates from high school prepared for a productive future.

During the meeting, the alliance also released a collection of essays on secondary school leadership.
 
High schools now are being asked to prepare all young people to succeed in postsecondary education and training when, historically, their task has been to prepare only a select few, participants at the meeting noted. Yet in urban districts, in particular, many students enter 9th grade reading well below grade level.

Closing that gap, said Michele Cahill, a senior counselor to the
chancellor of the New York City public schools, “is going to require
systems to go way beyond tinkering.”

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http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/10/13/07high.h24.html