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There is no doubt that many high schools across the country have faced serious challenges in light of the current economic slowdown. With shrinking budgets and the pressures of standardized test scores, schools have made difficult decisions regarding staffing, programs, and resources. With attention to these circumstances, the annual ranking conducted by Newsweek made some significant changes to take the challenges into account. With an expanded advisory board and a wider range of criteria, the publication recently released its ranking of the top 500 high schools in America. We’ll examine the criteria used by Newsweek to make their choices and highlight some of the schools that made the top of the list this year.

In this TEDTalk, Elizabeth Daves peels back the layers of the practice of ranking students, exposes the negative impact that ranking has on those being ranked, and calls for a shift in mindset about what learning, and teaching, means.

How Best to Rank High Schools?

When Newsweek embarked on this project for the current year, it was no easy task. In previous years, the publication had ranked schools based solely on the number of AP tests taken by each graduate at the school, according to a report at the . This year, Newsweek wanted to focus less on mere achievement and more on the solutions high schools were using to ensure the

Colorado School District Facing Outrage Over Voucher Program

School choice has been an ongoing debate in districts nationwide, but one Colorado district has been getting plenty of attention on this subject lately. Douglas County, located in the southern part of the Denver metro area, has unanimously approved a voucher program that provides state funding to parents who want to enroll their children in private schools. The Douglas County school board approved the measure in March of this year, but the fight is just beginning over the constitutionality of such a move. We’ll look at both sides of this potentially explosive issue to determine whether using taxpayer dollars to fund private schooling should be allowed under the law.

The History of the Voucher Program

The “Choice Scholarship” pilot program, due to launch in Douglas County during the 2011-2012 school year, was the brainchild of Milton and Rose Friedman. These two economists established the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation in 1996 to advance an education system based on free choice. This couple firmly believes that the most effective way to raise the bar on the quality of education in this country is to provide free choice to parents and students that promotes healthy competition within the educational framework.

The Friedmans state on their , “This foundation is the culmination of what has been one of our main interests for more than four decades: improvement in the quality of education available to children of all

Buckling under the performance pressures placed by some standardized test scores, teachers and administrators are allegedly backed into corners where they either alter test results or lose funding for their schools. The problem has been seen in Washington D.C., and now Atlanta schools may be joining the ranks of school districts caught in the act. Allegations of widespread cheating that have plagued the Atlanta school system for the past year are not showing any signs of going away, as new accusations have recently come to light from a former school district official. The latest news suggests that the former superintendent for Atlanta 51����s may have known about the problem – and even taken steps of her own to cover up possible indiscretions.

A History of the Atlanta Cheating Scandal

During the summer of 2008, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution launched its own investigation into the validity of standardized test results from some of the schools in the district. Of particular interest was Deerwood Academy, which showed “suspiciously large gains,” according to a later report in the . When the publication questioned school officials about the improvements made at Deerwood, as well as a handful of other school districts, reporters were assured that the gains were “valid and defensible.” School officials saw no reason to pursue an investigation of test results at that time.

However, questions about Deerwood began brewing again a few months later, when a state investigation was initiated in response

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This amendment has protected the right of young American students to express themselves throughout history, even if what they have to say is not complimentary or even popular.

However, free speech has become muddied waters since the advent of online forms of expression. A court in Pennsylvania has proven that fact with two rulings that suggest the discussion is not over in regards to off-campus speech conducted over the Internet. We’ll take a look at both of these cases that have garnered much publicity in recent months, as well as the most recent rulings by the court. We’ll also consider the questions that were not answered by these landmark cases that leave schools and students unsure of how to move forward in the era of online expression.

What the 3^rd U.S. Court of Appeals Decided

According to a report in , the Philadelphia-based 3^rd U.S. Court of Appeals heard two long-running cases this month involving the freedom of students to express their opinions online. Both of the students involved in these cases posted content on MySpace that mocked their principals. The students were both suspended by their schools for the content and