Beverly Schrenger, coordinator of charter school programs for the Georgia Department of Education, says some local boards have been adversarial with charter petitioners. She predicts that board members and school officials will change their minds if they see their charter schools becoming successful. First, remind your patrons that evaluating something as complex as a high school is more difficult than dividing any one number by another. Second, look at the research by Clifford Adelman, who demonstrates that students who take high-quality courses in high school have a much higher rate of success than those who don't. Third, Adelman notes that students in the lowest SES groups who are also in the most rigorous high school programs later earn bachelor's degrees at a higher rate than the majority of students in the highest SES group.
Students do well when they work with good academic content and good teachers.
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study report noted that eighth-graders who had taken algebra compared very favorably with their international peers. In a sidebar, Jay Mathews says the Challenge Index was devised to draw attention to the widespread failure to challenge students in even our best schools. Since the Index counts only the number of tests taken and ignores how kids perform on the tests, the list encourages schools to coax more students into the examination room. Many schools do not understand that even students who failed AP or IB tests were better off than before, because they understood in a visceral way what they had to do to survive in college. They are prepared under the supervision of Philip K. Piele, professor and director, ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management at the University of Oregon.