Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said that he is "terrified" for our workforce of tomorrow, because our nation's youth are unprepared for today's knowledge-based economy:

• 75% of the top 50 fastest-growing jobs require education beyond high school.
  
• Only a little more than 3 in 10 high school graduates are ready for college.

In Ohio, the situation is similar. Only 32% of high school students are considered college-ready after graduation, with the necessary coursework and literacy skills; only 7 in 10 graduate; and less than 3 in 10 will complete a bachelor's degree within 10 years. There are several problems responsible for these statistics, including:

• Lack of meaningful classroom experiences. High school students are simply not engaged in the coursework being offered. In a national survey of high school students, about 40% reported they were just going through the motions in high school, and more than 30% said they never tried hard or paid attention during class.
  
• Poor student attendance. Student attendance is low in Ohio's high schools-a situation that can be changed if students develop more personal relationships with teachers, and feel like their absence is noticed. Students in small schools have said "the teachers notice when you're not there, and they talk to you about it." This attention can make students feel more valued.
  
• Culture of low expectations for performance within schools and school systems. In general, high schools are not providing students with a learning atmosphere of high expectations, accountability, or college preparation. In a national survey, 1 in 5 recent high school graduates reported that it was "pretty easy to slide by." Nationally, only 34% of high school students take a course load preparing them for college.
  
• Significant achievement gaps across racial and socioeconomic groups, and urban and non-urban populations. Ohio's graduation rate is as low as the rest of the nation, but it's particularly low among African-American and Hispanic populations. In addition, only 12% of students in these populations are considered college ready; this rate is the second lowest in the nation.

The Ohio High School Transformation Initiative aims to solve this problem by transforming Ohio's large, anonymous, urban high schools into smaller, personal schools with a rigorous, relevant curriculum centered on relationships. Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships are the new Three R's supported by the initiative which seeks to transform a high school system still relying on yesterday's factory-like model. They are:

• Rigor stands for coursework that is rewarding to teach and challenging to learn.
  
• Relevance stands for curricula that relates to students' lives.
  
• Relationships stand for learning that makes connections between people, places, resources, and ideas.