Education in the News

First Impressions Can Create Unrealistic Expectations for Recruits

While some middle school students are behind, others are soaring ahead. A New York Times article discusses Kendall Marshall, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound junior guard at Bishop O'Connell high school in Columbia, S.C. But years ago, when Marshall was just 5-foot-2 and 90 pounds, he was ranked the No. 1 sixth-grade basketball prospect in the country by analyst Clark Francis. The story discusses how Marshall is still a good player but is no longer the best. Perhaps ranking children at a young age sets them up for failure, the NYT says.

Rewards for Children Under a Microscope

What are they, dogs? High school students have been getting paid to perform well on standardized tests. Now, it might be backfiring. Lisa Guernsey, of the New York Times, writes, "Reward programs that pay students are under way in many cities. In some places, students can bring home hundreds of dollars for, say, taking an Advanced Placement course and scoring well on the exam."

2 Schools Bloomberg Started Cited for Poor Performance

The Schools Under Registration Review is a list of state schools that comes out every year to show what schools are doing so poorly that they are in danger of being shut down. The Bloomberg administration created several smaller high schools in hopes of replacing "large, abysmal high schools." This year, two of Bloomberg's schools made the cut and appeared on the state list.