This is good: More schools de-emphasizing students' class rankings

Here's why:

"Finishing first or fifth at your high school doesn't tell a college as much about you as your standardized test scores or the strength of your curriculum because that they can compare to students at other schools," said David Hawkins, director of public policy for Alexandria, Va.-based National Association for College Admission Counseling .

Hawkins said ranking does not make sense in small, private institutions such as boarding schools where there are 20 students in a class.

But there is still a strong emphasis on GPA and this quote from a "top" student is telling:

Valedictorians of schools that don't rank say they are glad they didn't know they had the best grades in the class until the end.

"It takes some of the pressure off of getting good grades," said Brian Lloyd, 17, Darien High's valedictorian for the class of 2004. "The students in Darien are extremely brilliant, so of course there's competition. But because the school doesn't rank, it doesn't seem like they are endorsing that competition.

But the schools are endorsing that competition in a de facto sort of way. Here's proof:


The pressure to lead the pack at Greenwich High is so fierce, Hindman said, that the only way to have a shot at being named valedictorian is to take all honors and Advanced Placement classes where the grades are weighted. Taking an elective for fun was not an option because it would have brought down his average, he said. All five valedictorians that year graduated with a 4.8 GPA.

"Toward the end of my career, I was even taking honors band to give my GPA that extra little boost," he said. "The joke was that the next thing was going to be honors gym -- that's how competitive it is."

Honors Band?

High school exit exams set low bar

States are setting a low bar for high school seniors and requiring only middle school knowledge to pass English and mathematics exit exams to graduate, according to a study released June 10.

Achieve Inc., a bipartisan, nonprofit education organization formed by governors and prominent business leaders, analyzed public high school graduation exams in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas. Students in those states make up a quarter of the nation’s high school students and half of U.S. students who must take exit exams to earn a diploma.

Read between the lines to make sense of this story.

The California teacher of the year was a guest columnist in the Washington Post today. He was asked one question: If you were "emperor" of education what would you change?

Here are a few of his views:

It's been an average day in a regular week in the middle of a typical year. I got off the phone about an hour ago with another parent in denial. At snack, the usual six or eight of us complained about today's crisis. After school, I read the latest administration e-mail on something I can't control that is still my fault.

My first two imperial acts would be to fire one-third of American teachers and then to give every parent a one-question quiz.

I'd fire the teachers who have stopped trying in their rooms, who use their training and intellect to belittle the kids. There's no place in our schools for teachers who pass out endless worksheets or show non-stop videos. I'm a proud member of two unions, mind you: the California Teachers Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (from a former career). Unions were not designed to protect the incompetent workers, but instead were designed to protect workers from incompetent bosses. We built the strongest middle class in the world in the last century because of unions, but now are in danger of losing the middle class, also because of unions.

My last act as emperor is the only one I know could really be achieved in the "real world" I hear so much about. I would take teacher evaluation away from administrators. Who is in charge of the American Bar Association? Attorneys. Who runs the AMA? Physicians. Who watches the teachers? People who haven't been in a classroom in many years. Administrators, criminally overworked administrators. They must watch hundreds of students, tens of secretaries and custodians, and also a few dozen teachers. Guess who takes up most of their time? The children who spent four years watching videos. Yet, these same harried administrators are also asked to give clinical input into the skills of classroom teachers.

I really like the peer evaluation idea. The union stance is more of a philosophical difference.

*The link to the Washington Post will send you to a registration page.

Oh Well:

About 96 percent of this year's high school seniors passed the MCAS test required for graduation, prompting state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll yesterday to renew his call for making the exam tougher.

Obviously Massachusetts' students are in a lose lose situation.

Why can't we just acknowledge that maybe public education is doing a good job, instead of continuing to say, `Well, the only reason we did this well is the test is too easy?' " asked Robert J. Calabrese, superintendent of schools in Billerica, where 100 percent of seniors passed. "Maybe we did this well because public education is doing the job that people don't want to give us enough credit for."

Posting will be light(er) with graduation and finals coming up. Maybe Travis will find some insights to share? Travis are you out there?

Last year about this time Quasi counted how many "admins" were at central office: 43 and all making six figures (or close).

In Houston we find the same situation.

Here's an excerpt:

The 10 most highly paid Houston school district administrators will earn a total of more than $1 million this year, in some cases after double-digit raises, even as nearly 500 school district employees have lost their jobs since 2002 because of budget cuts.

In all, about 50 administrators will earn more than $100,000 in 2004, with salaries ranging from $271,288 for Kaye Stripling, the superintendent of schools, to $100,533 for Mario Vasquez, a district lawyer, according to HISD employment records.

The district's highest-paid teachers, however, including those with 20 years of experience and a master's degree, top out at about $65,000 in annual pay.

But -

Rob Mosbacher, chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership, said more state funding is the answer, not cuts from the top.

"In my experience in the business world, everyone needs to tighten their belts in tough times," Mosbacher said. "But cutting those salaries would not save enough money to make much of a difference."

He added, "Whether we need as many senior people as there are, that's a question that needs to be looked at, which I'm sure the district has."

I agree with this. It's not so much the salary, it is the number of people making that salary. And in this case I'm also for "symbolic" pay cuts for the admins even if they don't solve the budget woes.

Saw the movie Super Size Me last night. Of course it raises the same issues about food,nutrition, and schools that Fast Food Nation does.

I don't think it's coincidental that schools offer "fast food" in their food courts... uh cafeterias. It's cheaper and very popular which makes it the perfect choice for cash strapped districts.

However, in his great book Teaching With the Brain in Mind, Eric Jensen states that most school programs focus on muscle and bone growth not brain development. My guess is that most school programs now just focus on getting food (is that the right word?) out at a designated time. Nutrition has nothing to do with school lunch programs.