Uncle Sam isn't the only one who wants to see evidence that schools are adequately educating their students. In Boston, a group of 8th graders caused a stir by creating a guide to the city's high schools based on their average test scores, dropout rates, and attendance records. According to the Boston Globe, several students have rethought where they will enroll in the fall based on information in this guide. Fourteen-year-old Christie Andre, for example, was planning to go to Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, where most of her friends were headed, but has since decided to enroll at Boston Arts Academy. Evidently, Madison's lofty dropout rate turned Christie off. "How would I turn out going to that school?" she asked. "I didn't want to drop out." Of course, some administrators say the portrayals of their schools in this guide are unfair. Karen Daniels, headmaster of Excel High School in South Boston, whose school has MCAS scores well below the citywide average as well as high dropout rates, complains that "the data doesn't [sic] tell the story. It . . . doesn't speak to how we're trying to individualize the experience for kids." It sounds like even the kids aren't buying that anymore.
"8th-graders draft handbook for choosing Hub high schools," by Anand Vaishnav, Boston Globe, May 24, 2004 (subscription required)