Celebrating the Average     5/17/1999 Many top high school students in the Washington, D.C., area will not be recognized for their hard work and diligence. Area schools are abolishing the tradition of naming valedictorians and salutatorians. Published reports indicate a national trend in scrapping the tradition. Two reasons given are feelings of inadequacy among lower performing students and an unhealthy competitiveness between students. Blair Ewing, a member of the Montgomery County Council in Maryland, says, “This is an invitation to celebrate the average“ (Washington Times, 5/7/99). And in other areas of the country, lawmakers are endeavoring to lower the standards for earning a high school diploma. In 1993, the Montgomery County Board of Education passed a resolution saying that high schools no longer had to report student grade ranks to colleges. As a result, many county high school administrators interpreted that policy to mean that they should not honor valedictorians. Therefore, they have dropped their honors program. Sixteen of the county´s 23 high schools do not honor individual valedictorians. Believing that colleges care more about which classes students take and less about their “weighted“ grade-point averages, Daniel Shea, principal of Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, dumped his school´s valedictorian program. Grade-point averages are weighted when they include extra points students can receive when they take honors and advanced-placement courses. Those extra points can push grade-point averages beyond 4.0 (Washington Times, 5/7/99). And in Fairfax County, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, one of the country´s top schools, has also dropped its valedictorian tradition. “To sort out people at the top, we would have to deal with hundredths of decimal points, and that seems not productive to us,“ said Shirley Bloomquist, Thomas Jefferson´s guidance director. In contrast, T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, has kept the tradition of naming only one valedictorian and a salutatorian each year except in cases of ties. Those students speak at their graduation ceremonies. The school´s principal, John Porter, said that the tradition “is something that is still valuable for us“ (Washington Times, 5/7/99). Jack Jennings, director of the D.C.-based Center on Education Policy, agrees. Jennings said that naming students as valedictorians boosts their morale and helps them get admitted to top colleges. To those who cite competitiveness as a reason for doing away with valedictorian programs, he says “Competition is a part of life, especially in a country like ours that is a capitalist country“ (Washington Times, 5/7/99). Meanwhile, New York lawmakers are pushing to scale back new, more stringent graduation requirements for nearly all public school students. Beginning next year, students will have to pass a more rigorous Regents English exam to earn a high school diploma. Later, students will have to pass similar standardized tests in four other subjects: math, American history and government, global studies and science. Some lawmakers fear that as many as 20 percent of seniors might be unable to pass the exams. Others fear increased dropout rates (New York Times, 5/12/99). But Richard P. Mills, the State Education Commissioner and one of the architects of the new graduation standards, said any move to relax the standards would rob students of the education they need to compete in the workplace. Few would argue with him considering the soaring illiteracy rates and our lagging national test scores. Mr. Mills said that the new standards have raised academic performance. Seventy-eight percent of high school seniors passed the Regents English exam last year, even though it was not required for graduation. Mayor Rudolph W. Guiliani favors the tougher standards. His spokesman Sunny Mindel said the Regents´ Plan “restores the value of a high school diploma. To reverse this would be a terrible step backward in time“ (New York Times, 5/12/99). Education Trust, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D. C., seeks to improve education for the poor. Its study supports the theory that higher standards in education transcend socio-economic backgrounds. Schools that are doing well or have improved share five characteristics: Increased learning time for reading and math Money devoted to continuing education for teachers and staff members Systems to monitor student progress and provide extra help Efforts to involve parents in the day-to-day learning process State or district accountability requirements for teachers and the staff if students fail to show measurable improvement The group based its conclusions on a survey of 366 elementary and secondary schools in 21 states. These schools scored above average on standardized math and reading tests but had poverty levels of more than 50 percent. At least half of the students received free or reduced-price lunches (New York Times, 5/9/99). After adopting new teaching approaches, Public School 72, in Buffalo, New York, displayed dramatic improvements in reading. Ninety-five percent scored at or above grade level in the 1996-97 school year, compared to the state average of 86.1 percent. The previous school year, it had reported a score of 45 percent compared to a state average of 83.1 percent (New York Times, 5/9/99). In Gary, Indiana, 78 percent of students at the Arthur Melton Elementary School scored at or above grade level in reading and math, compared to the state average of 68 percent. They scored 91 percent in math, compared to 70 percent. And at Shallow Water Elementary School in Shallow Water, Kansas, students scored 80 percent in math, compared to state averages of about 45 percent for 1996 and 1997 (New York Times, 5/9/99). “Poor kids can achieve at high levels if we teach them at high levels,“ says Kati Haycock, the director of Education Trust. Bob Sexton, the director of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence in Lexington, Kentucky, an advocacy group seeking education improvements in Kentucky, agrees. “Every child can learn. The socio-economic barrier can be overcome with the pursuit of high standards for every child. But we have a long way to go“ (New York Times, 5/9/99). CWA believes that students should be rewarded for their diligence. We also know that students perform better when parents are involved. Therefore, we are seeking educational reform by returning authority to the parents where it belongs. Please help us work toward that goal.