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Petition calls for ouster of NH school officials

Petition calls for ouster of NH school officials
A petition in Franklin, N.H., is calling for the dismissal of the school superintendent, principal of Franklin High School and the school board chairman.

Moxie

Moxie
It bodes well for the future that there are kids with enough intelligence and moxie to gracefully pull off telling the adults in charge (parents, teachers, principals, chancellors of education) that the current state of D.C. high schools could use a little work, and that they’d like to do a ninth-grade year at their only-to-eighth-grade [...]

It bodes well for the future that there are kids with enough intelligence and moxie to gracefully pull off telling the adults in charge (parents, teachers, principals, chancellors of education) that the current state of D.C. high schools could use a little work, and that they’d like to do a ninth-grade year at their only-to-eighth-grade middle school to, you know, prepare.

Shaw Middle School had, until recently, been a sketchy educational institution. Now it’s amazing, the kids love it, and they see no reason to leave their wonderfully overhauled school if the high school options have yet to be improved.

The kids ended up in Michelle Rhee’s office, the chancellor who—if her reputation is to be believed—doesn’t take anyone’s crap and rarely goes in any direction but her own.

In the end, it was impossible to say no to children who were telling her that D.C. educators had done such a good job bringing high standards and creative teaching back to Shaw that they wanted to get more of it before moving on. “It’s maybe not the right decision for the system,” said Rhee, who had to make many last-minute adjustments, “but it is the right decision for those kids.”

By letting 90 students remain [at Shaw] for one more year, Rhee is acknowledging that some of the high schools they might attend still need work. “I wasn’t in a situation where I could look these kids in the eyes and say, ‘I have a really good option for all of you to go to high school’ ” next year, Rhee said. But she said the schools that would most likely take them, such as Cardozo, Dunbar and Roosevelt, were improving and would be ready for them as 10th-graders.

So. Damn. Cool. I’m proud of the whippersnappers and the grown-ups.

Further Reading:

Some Happy D.C, 8th-Graders Moving Up Without Moving On
Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Beware the College Rankings Machine

Beware the College Rankings Machine
The National Review Online has an illuminating article up pointing out the illogicality (and foolishness) of putting too much faith in the warped college rankings system. I’ve said about all I can say (using professional language) about the rankings, so I’ll hold back and let Frederick M. Hess and Thomas Gift from NRO speak [...]

The National Review Online has an illuminating article up pointing out the illogicality (and foolishness) of putting too much faith in the warped college rankings system. I’ve said about all I can say (using professional language) about the rankings, so I’ll hold back and let Frederick M. Hess and Thomas Gift from NRO speak wisely (and way more professionally) instead:

Some of the schools with higher rankings may truly have improved, but the most significant factor is that two of the Barron’s criteria — high-school grades and percentage of applicants accepted — don’t mean what they did a decade ago. Grade inflation, and students’ applying to more schools than they used to, have juiced the numbers to make students look more qualified and schools more selective.

Grade inflation, dubbed “high schools’ skeleton in the closet” by Lehigh University education professor Perry Zirkel, has been a creeping phenomenon for two decades.

Also, whereas college-bound students used to limit applications to a few top choices, it is not unusual for students today to apply to many more. UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute has reported that the percentage of high-school seniors who applied to four or more colleges increased by more than a quarter from 1996 to 2006 and now stands at over 60 percent….. when students in general submit more applications, colleges in general get to reject more applicants — making schools across the board more “selective” by the Barron’s criteria.

And that is why trusting the evil genius rankings machine is a mistake. Be aware of who’s in charge and make decisions accordingly.

Previous Posts, Venting Language Included:

Acceptance
College Rankings
Unigo.com
New System for Ranking Colleges

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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