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