A longtime instructor and author writes about excellence and equity after New Jersey considers lowering the minimum score to pass the high school proficiency test for graduation.Years ago, I was teaching at a private prep school in Philadelphia and was charged with creating a writing center by my boss. It was a small school, so it was a small affair — a pair of Apple IIe’s in my homeroom and a small pool of graduating seniors acting as volunteer tutors.
From freshmen through emergent seniors, kids came and checked out the contents or read an essay on the spot. Some had questions, some sat and read, some went off to find the author, often a senior about to graduate. How did a paper end up in the archive? They were referred to me by colleagues in English or Social Studies. Were they anonymized? No, I had checked with the authors and decided there was no need to shield identities since we were a small school, and many of the kids had been together since pre-k.
Don’t miss an issue of our Opinion newsletter! Get it delivered each Wednesday right into your inbox by adding your email below and hitting"subscribe."She wondered if it was quite fair to students who didn’t measure up to subject them to what she suggested was an arbitrary measure of “excellence” — her scare quotes. I asked what other “measure” should be used. She suggested, “One that would treat all studentsAn amiable conversation instantly soured.