September 7, 2012
2011-2012 was a terrific school year. I was reminded how spectacular this past week, as we put up the three large posters listing the college acceptances and scholarship tallies for the Class of 2012 in the Gallery, just outside the Dining Hall. At graduation back in May, I was able to share some of their gaudy stats; the Class of 2012 reported one-year merit scholarship money of $5,561,315 and a staggering four-year total of $22,245,260.
Of course, for a college-prep high school like Good Counsel, a key indicator is how our students perform on the two highly-regarded programs—Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate. A decade ago, we had 190 students combine to take 279 AP exams. Since then, we have more than doubled the number of test takers and exams taken. This past May, 386 students took 641 AP exams. You would think that in opening the door for college-level coursework to so many more students we would see our pass rates decline. Not at all! In 2002, students earned a passing grade on 56% of the tests, and 20% earned the top grades of 4 or 5. Ten years later, our students are passing a staggering 80% of these tests; 49% earn 4's and 5's. Scores on IB tests and passing rates on the IB diploma have shown similar dramatic improvement for more than a decade; this year's 421 IB tests taken is almost double the number of those administered as recently as five years ago.
This sort of success is no accident. It is an outcome of increasing rigor and "raising the bar" for our students.
Washington Post Education writer, Jay Mathews, is well known for having created his Challenge Index. He divides the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests at each school by the number of graduating seniors. According to Mathews, only 9% of U.S. public schools have a participation ratio of 1.00 or higher. Mathews' Index, "indicates how hard a school is trying to involve as many students as possible in programs that provide a bracing taste of college academic demands" (Washington Post website – May 20, 2012). For the past school year, our Challenge Index ratio was 3.99.
It's difficult not to be impressed by such data. This high level of student performance points to the remarkable efforts made by all our teachers – those who teach the individual AP and IB courses and those who teach the courses that get them to that level – over many years.
Most of you are familiar with our one hour late start at 9:00am each Wednesday throughout the school year. That precious hour is mostly used in professional development. It is only one of the more obvious reminders that our teachers are dedicated to the practices of reading and reflection, sharing and feedback that move good teachers to the ranks of the great. Every school wants to get better. Here, we allocate both the time and the financial resources that assist the plans our teachers have for their professional growth. It was typical of the commitment to growth that three of our teachers were excused from the first full faculty meeting of the 2012-2013 school year as they finished up a conference that focused on ways to help students who have learning differences.
Getting better at what we do is clearly a core value for the teachers of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School.