Catholic schools mix prayer and special ed
Though exempt from federal rules, schools are expanding services
Paul VI students in the "Options Program" walk to drama class with their peer mentors. (Tracy A. Woodward-TWP)
Senior to parents: Let kids pick their own college
My guest is Adam Turay, a senior at South County Secondary School in Fairfax County. He is editor-in-chief of his school paper, The Courier, a member of his school’s "It’s Academic" team and plays guitar and keyboards in a rock band.
By Adam Turay
Over the summer and at the start of this school year, I was one of many college-obsessed young students. I checked out numerous schools and tried to figure out which would be best for me. I looked at class size, best programs of study, and requirements for admission. All in all, I did a pretty good job of deciding where I wanted to apply and what I wanted from each of the schools that I chose.
By Adam Turay
Over the summer and at the start of this school year, I was one of many college-obsessed young students. I checked out numerous schools and tried to figure out which would be best for me. I looked at class size, best programs of study, and requirements for admission. All in all, I did a pretty good job of deciding where I wanted to apply and what I wanted from each of the schools that I chose.
I thought I had more or less figured things out. Between information sessions at school and all the research I’d done, I felt prepared to begin applying to the colleges I’d chosen. I had taken the classes, sat for the standardized tests and written the essays. Bring on the application process! I was ready to go.
Or so I thought.
Continue reading this post »
Welcoming a new school rating
My clever colleague Valerie Strauss suggested readers come up with alternatives to my high school rating system, the Challenge Index. On Feb. 20 she posted an intriguing suggestion by Montgomery County parent Louis Wilen, which she dubbed the Wilen Index, on how to move school rankings to a new level. This was smart because not only did it reveal she was working on Saturday, and thus winning our editors' untold devotion (I was at the supermarket with the other househusbands), but it showed how easily and cheaply I can be replaced.
Wilen, who has also favored me with some wise emails, showed a way we could use the trend toward rating schools under federal and state law by measuring how much students improve each year. Since thePSAT has become a popular tool for getting high school ninth and tenth graders ready for college-entrance tests (and seeing what kind of high school courses they might be ready for), he suggested that we take the average for all PSAT tests given tenth graders at each high school and compare it to their average SAT scores when they are in 12th grade. Subtract the 10th grade average from the 12th grade average and you see how much value that school has added.
Continue reading this post »
Report: Twelve teachers fired for abuse
Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee has fired ten DCPS teachers for administering corporal punishment and two for sexual misconduct since July 2007, according to a report she has submitted to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.
Another 28 served suspensions ranging from two to ten days for some form of corporal punishment, defined by District law as the use or attempted use of physical force against a student, "either intentionally or with reckless disregard for the student's safety, as a punishment or discipline."
(Click here for the accompanying letter from Rhee to Gray.)
The report, which comes in the form of a spreadsheet, does not supply names or other identifying details and offers only cursory descriptions of the offenses. It was requested by Gray after the uproar Rhee triggered by telling "Fast Company" magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 D.C. public school teachers who were laid off in October had physically or sexually abused students. She later revealed that five had been suspended for corporal punishment and one was under investigation for sexual misconduct. That teacher allegedly had sex with an 18-year old special needs student, resulting in her pregnancy. That case is not included in the report, Rhee said, because the investigation was still pending -- an assertion disputed by the Washington Teachers' Union, which says the charges were found to be unsubstantiated.
Continue reading this post »The report, which comes in the form of a spreadsheet, does not supply names or other identifying details and offers only cursory descriptions of the offenses. It was requested by Gray after the uproar Rhee triggered by telling "Fast Company" magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 D.C. public school teachers who were laid off in October had physically or sexually abused students. She later revealed that five had been suspended for corporal punishment and one was under investigation for sexual misconduct. That teacher allegedly had sex with an 18-year old special needs student, resulting in her pregnancy. That case is not included in the report, Rhee said, because the investigation was still pending -- an assertion disputed by the Washington Teachers' Union, which says the charges were found to be unsubstantiated.