The recent announcement that Camden Hills Regional High School is one of America’s most challenging and top-performing high schools rings hollow when you read the details. First, let me be transparent and say that I was the superintendent of this school system and think very highly of the school and its potential, but this award is not one of those reasons.

The criteria to be on this coveted list is driven by a formula: Divide the number of students by the number of advanced placement classes they offer. It doesn’t even calculate how many kids actually take or pass the test.  And, it is based on the premise that AP classes offer an indicator of the merits of the school. 

I am in good company when I state that AP classes are more of a fundraiser for the College Boards.  In a well written article, “AP Classes are a Scam” in the October 2012 Atlantic Monthly, the author gives many reason for his argument, but perhaps the most compelling is the fact that the typical AP course syllabi is so scripted, with little depth, that the courses have little relevance to students and even less alignment with actual college courses that they purport to parallel.

So, what could a high school herald as evidence of greatness?  I have five criteria that I would offer, and would love to have your thoughts.

1.  How many students with IEPs (special needs students) are successfully employed two years after graduation?

2.  Each student is deeply valued, respected by the faculty and finds the principal to be approachable and believes in the goodness of each student?  Does your principal know students by name? Is he or she frequently visiting classrooms to support and shape instructional strategies?

3.  What percent of the high school students who are enrolled in the local vocational center ride that bus without shame or embarrassment?  Does the faculty and school policy truly support out-of-school, hands-on learning opportunities?

4.  How many gay, lesbian, trench coat kids, barely ‘C’ students and kids eating a free and reduced lunch feel that the school is ‘their school?’”

5. Does the school embrace and promote project-based learning, off-campus apprenticeships, dual-enrollment (getting college credits for high school classes), online learning and flexible scheduling? Though most schools say they support student-centered learning, most instruction is still ‘sit and git,’ lecture driven by a well-worn teacher-made syllabi.

I would like to see an independent survey, easily developed using a tool like Survey Monkey that taps into the culture of a high school that purports to be so outstanding. 

It would be interesting to see how many kids really feel like there is a place for them in the school. Most high schools are deeply dedicated to the status quo.  Oh, there are pockets of incredible excellence, teachers that have such heart and talent, but in general, I see the hierarchy of schools to thwart innovation, teachers who think out of the box and students who challenge the establishment.  I look at the attendance of the average parent/teacher conference in high schools and wonder if parents really lost interest in their children or if the school has little investment in hosting meaningful forums for schools. 

A high school or a school system belongs to all students.  It is not just for the elite.  The great unwashed, poor, disenfranchised and lonely kid deserves to be celebrated, welcomed and honored in every school. But, in my experience they seldom are. 

I spoke at length to a 17-year-old boy standing in line to get coffee in downtown Camden and asked him why he wasn’t in school at l0 in the morning.  He didn’t flinch.

“That school could care less if half of us never walked in,” he said.  “The school is for the Lexus crowd.” 

Sadly, I have seen this in my experience over five decades working in schools. Oh, I can predict the retort to this allegation….’we have high graduation rates, many kids go to college, our budget passes every year, our plays and musicals are well attended…..” All true.  But at the core, if you are reading this and have a high school student, or know one, sit them down and ask them if this school is meeting the five criteria above.  I would like to see students have an open dialog about this.  Wouldn’t you?

William Shuttleworth has been a school psychologist, school principal, director of an alternative school, and school superintendent for more than 40 years, is currently a superintendent for four communities and engaged and committed to making schools work for all kids. He can be reached at wshuttleworth@hotmail.com

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