A confrontation is looming between post-secondary schools who want the best and brightest students, and secondary schools who want to keep their best students. Colleges and universities are expanding their curriculum to include high-performing high school students. This makes sense both financially (more money coming to the school) and academically (better prepared students).
At Montana Tech, a residency program for high school students raised concerns from local school districts worried about the impact on their test scores. Tamara Fisher, a blogger at edweek.org gives us great commentary. She lives in Montana, and she gives us first-hand knowledge about the situation. Based on comments from her peers, it’s obvious that many teachers and administrators see students as nothing more than a test score.
Read more about the program at Montana Tech’s site: Jumpstart Program at Montana Tech.
The American education system will never improve unless administrators, teachers, AND parents understand that children are more than test scores. Treating a child as a test score is like treating a Ferarri as just a car. Like Ferarris, children are special and should be treated as such. If we see children as test scores, they will begin to see themselves as test scores. We need children who are passionate about learning, and not just worried about passing that next test.
I hope more post-secondary schools will do what’s right for their institutions and our children, without regard for the shallow posturing of local school districts.
You can read Tamara’s article on her blog, “Unwrapping the Gifted”: Unwrapping the Gifted: Riding on their Coattails