| I marveled at the size of Trenton Central | | | | entrance standards as a baseline to find out |
| High School when I toured the facility on a | | | | how many students qualified for college |
| public tour. It is 380,000 square feet; to | | | | admissions? The NCAA Clearinghouse guidelines |
| put that in perspective, imagine three anchor | | | | for student-athletes could be converted into |
| stores in a suburban shopping center stacked | | | | a performance matrix of grade point averages |
| one atop the other. Trenton Central High is | | | | and test scores. The Clearinghouse guidelines |
| the seventh most populous secondary school in | | | | are not only quantifiable; they are also more |
| the Garden State. With nearly 2,800 students, | | | | stringent, as more than 750 four year |
| it has the fourth largest enrollment among | | | | colleges do not even require the SAT for |
| urban high schools; among New Jersey's high | | | | admissions. High scores and high grades would |
| schools, only Elizabeth High, Dickinson High | | | | be assigned the highest point value, low |
| (Jersey City) and Eastside (Paterson) enroll | | | | scores and low grades would obviously be |
| more students. The 75 year-old building has | | | | rated lower. Such a matrix might give |
| character, as well as a theatre that might | | | | principals and school board members a sense |
| have been envied on Broadway half a century | | | | of the students they are sending on to |
| ago and a swimming pool that was probably | | | | college. - The Armed Force Qualification Test |
| state of the art in its day, but there are | | | | (AFQT) within the Armed Services Vocational |
| the problems that you might expect to find in | | | | Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) scores for students |
| a structure that's lasted so long. The | | | | who choose military service: according to |
| problems do not stop there; the building is | | | | Military's website, the AFQT is a test of |
| just the tip of the iceberg for this troubled | | | | arithmetic reasoning, math knowledge, word |
| school. The Trenton public school system is | | | | knowledge and paragraph comprehension. That |
| "in need of improvement" district-wide under | | | | sounds much like a standardized test. Since |
| No Child Left Behind, and has entered the | | | | schools are required to supply student |
| later years where the school board and | | | | information to the military under No Child |
| administrators must consider options for | | | | Left Behind, the armed services should have |
| restructuring elementary, middle school and | | | | no problem sharing the pass/fail rates of the |
| secondary education. Trenton Central High | | | | students who take their test. - Pass rates on |
| School has failed to make Adequate Yearly | | | | licensing examinations, if the school offers |
| Progress (AYP) under this federal act for the | | | | pre-professional or vocational training. This |
| past five years. The Daylight-Twilight High | | | | is obvious, as the goal of the training |
| School, also a Trenton public school, is in | | | | programs is to help students pass. - |
| similar straits. Under No Child Left Behind, | | | | Proficiency/advanced proficiency on |
| AYP is based on scores from standardized | | | | state-required high school examinations such |
| mathematics and English-language arts | | | | as New Jersey's High School Proficiency |
| examinations. In New Jersey, the bar, or pass | | | | Assessment or New York State's Regents |
| rate, is raised each year, with a goal | | | | Examinations. I would add two other measures |
| towards 100% proficiency, regardless of race, | | | | to the list: the reduction in the dropout |
| special education or economic circumstances. | | | | rate and a redefined graduation rate. Beyond |
| When a school fails to meet AYP, No Child | | | | age 16, the definition of grade level takes |
| Left Behind implies several possible | | | | on different meaning depending on the high |
| remedies: restructure the school, change the | | | | school. While well-to-do school districts are |
| management, privatize the school or convert | | | | likely to have a very high three or four-year |
| it into a charter school. Parents must also | | | | graduation rate, others that serve |
| be offered the option to transfer their | | | | economically disadvantaged students will have |
| children to another public school within the | | | | students who must juggle school, work and |
| same district that has made AYP, or to | | | | family responsibilities. They are less likely |
| arrange for tutoring for their children at | | | | to graduate "on-time," but it is completely |
| the district's expense. That leads me to one | | | | wrong to label them failures when they are |
| major concern: what happens when students and | | | | dealing with their own reality. The important |
| their parents have no options - because their | | | | thing is that high school principals should |
| local public high school is the only one in | | | | have access to the graduation rates for each |
| town, or they have none that consistently met | | | | freshman and transfer class that enters their |
| AYP? I do not have to look far beyond the | | | | school, just as college admissions officers |
| Trenton suburbs to find communities in a | | | | do. They should also know why students leave |
| similar predicament. Three communities that | | | | and whether they graduated from another |
| surround Trenton: Ewing, Hamilton and | | | | school after they left. These measures, when |
| Lawrence Township face the same dilemma. I am | | | | combined in some index, would do more than |
| not naïve enough to believe this problem | | | | indicate whether a high school is "good" or |
| is unique to New Jersey. The problem is not | | | | "bad;" they would show the direction that |
| as much with the schools as it is with No | | | | their students were headed - and if they did, |
| Child Left Behind - the act uses proficiency | | | | or did not succeed. If the school is the only |
| as the basis for public policy. The | | | | game in town, then educators may use this |
| measurement of the success or failure of any | | | | information for curriculum development, or |
| high school cannot solely be based on student | | | | work out agreements that offer their students |
| performance on high stakes standardized | | | | real choices, even if they must transfer to |
| tests. High school students are not the same; | | | | another school. I doubt that there would be |
| they have different ambitions, they do not | | | | any argument between educators, parents and |
| take the same classes, and they have the | | | | politicians that the SAT's or professional |
| option of leaving school after they turn 16. | | | | and vocational test batteries are already |
| Proficiency can be one performance measure | | | | high stakes tests for high school students. |
| for a high school, but it cannot be the | | | | We need to know what our high school students |
| be-all, end-all, for-all. Moreover, No Child | | | | want to do, whether it is college, |
| Left Behind offers no incentives for a school | | | | employment, military service or family |
| to perform better, only threats of | | | | responsibilities, and help them get there. We |
| embarrassment; the annual list of schools | | | | do not need more standardized tests to give |
| that fail to make AYP merely angers residents | | | | high schools pass-fail grades; their students |
| and parents, and it only validates that | | | | already take enough of them to get ahead in |
| perception of a bad school is reality. A | | | | their lives. |
| better policy would recognize and reward | | | | |
| students who have become more than | | | | Stuart Nachbar has been involved with |
| proficient, and acknowledge a high school's | | | | education politics, policy and technology as |
| accomplishments on a broader set of measures | | | | a student, urban planner, government affairs |
| that use the tests that their students | | | | manager, software executive, and now as |
| already take, such as: - SAT scores: Since | | | | author of The Sex Ed Chronicles. Visit his |
| people continually mock the intelligence of | | | | blog, Educated Quest. |
| college football players, why not use their | | | | |