Last week, the Washington Post shed some light on the T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria.

By several standards, T.C. Williams seems like a well-off American high school, an institution successful at pumping out college attendees. Not only does the school offer over twenty Advanced Placement courses and free laptops to every student, but 80% of its graduates go on to college.

Why then, given these reputable results, has then has the school been placed on a federal list of schools in most need of reform? Alexandria’s superintendent Morton Sherman questions the placement, even writing to Obama to convince the President to reconsider the decision.

However, even Sherman acknowledges that T.C. Williams is far from perfect. The fact remains that 80% of the school’s graduating students proceed to college. What of those students that do not last through the four high school years? Though T.C.’s college-bound students perform well academically, minorities and students with disabilities consistently get lower test scores and are less able to graduate. Standardized reading and math tests are causing particular trouble. Last year, only half of special education students passed standardized math tests. Minority students had lower pass rates than white students, 10 percentage points lower in reading and 20 points lower in math. Only 75% of black students and 66% of Hispanic students graduate on time.

This article brings up a critical point. T.C. Williams has fallen into the trap in which it appears to be performing well, with its record of sending kids to college. However, only a small subset of the students is succeeding academically; the majority of the students face a very different reality. Commonly seen in schools with socioeconomically diverse students, the small proportion of high-achieving students masks the larger failings of the school; the problems faced by minority and special education students never get addressed. Though T.C. Williams appears to be a decently-performing school, its placement on the federal list is needed. The placement brings the disparities in performance to light and begins conversations on how such gaps can be closed.

Over the coming summer, T.C. teachers and other faculty members will continue discussions on how to reform the school. There is talk of implementing programs which encourage community-building and try to make people of all cultures feel welcome. Additionally, T.C. will have new math and writing centers in the fall, as well as an initiative to encourage special education students to join mainstream classes. With the placement on the federal list comes $6 million in funding for these new projects.

The assessment of high schools must be based on more than the percentage of graduates that go to college. Such assessments have to take into account the percentage of students from the original class that actually graduate. Digging even deeper, it’s important to consider the percentage of students that graduate on time. Schools cannot continue to ignore major shortfalls in performance; they cannot use the success of a few to shield fundamental problems. Once these problems are recognized, the schools can begin to make reforms where they are most needed.

Don't you remember the computer game?!?

As I am about to become a senior in college, it was difficult for me to look back over all the years of education to come up with the most powerful educational experience I have had.  I attended Princeton Montessori School, a very small school, from kindergarten to 8^th grade, and then a small private high school in Princeton from grades 9-12.   Because of this, I had an incredible educational experience from start to finish, and it was very difficult for me to think of one defining moment that has really changed me the most.

However, such moments do exist, and I have had several educational experiences that I feel have changed me, and will continue to change me as I learn and grow as a student and as an adult.  The one I have chosen to write about was in the 8^th grade, at the very small Princeton Montessori School.  The way the curriculum was set up, there was a different history theme every year.  Because the school was so small – only 9 people in my graduation 8^th grade class – the entire middle school was broken up into only two classrooms, and each class was made up of students from 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades.  This enabled the rotation of history and science curriculums.  The three history themes were American History, Ancient Civilizations, and European History.  At the end of each year, the 8^th grade class would go on a complete immersion experience to the location of that particular year’s history curriculum.  When I was in 6^th grade, we learned about European History, and the 8^th grade class visited Paris and London.  The following year, the 8^th grade class visited Greece and Rome as part of the Ancient Civilizations study.  In my 8^th grade, year, the theme was American history, and we were to spend a week on the Oregon trail, traveling by wagon and horseback, sleeping in tents, and learning all about the history of our country.

To many, this trip would appear like a complete letdown after the previous two trips ventured to Europe.  However, not to my class.  We saw this experience as perhaps the most powerful educational opportunity we had ever had.  It was a ten day trip, beginning with a huge steak dinner at a Nebraska lodge.  We then set out on the covered wagon, carrying all of our belongings and spending most of the day either walking or riding on horseback.  Putting ourselves in the shoes of those that walked across the country to find new land was an incredible experience.  There is no better way to teach a student than to show them.  It is commonly said that the best writing will show not tell a story, and this experience on the Oregon train was a precise example of the merit of that statement.  No amount of work or studying we did could have possibly given us the depth and immersion experience that we had out in Nebraska and Utah.  We hiked and rode for 8 days, sleeping in authentic canvas tents and cooking authentic meals.  Ironically, our tour guide couldn’t read or write, much like many of the settlers we read about in our American History textbooks.

This experience, I believe, has been my most important and influential educational experience.  Not only did I learn an incredible amount of American history, but it really taught me the best way to teach and learn.  Teaching and learning is about more than sitting in a classroom and lecturing; it is about letting the students experience whatever you are trying to teach.  Of course, the overwhelming majority of students will never have the type of opportunity I had in the 8^th grade, but teaching and learning strategies can be taken from it, and applied to the typical school classroom.

This experience also showed me the important of teamwork, and that a strong team has the ability to do whatever we set our mind to.  The 8 days on the trail were not easy, and they were certainly not the same as Greece, Rome, Paris, or London.  We knew we had a more difficult experience ahead of us before we began, but we knew to use this experience to draw us together as class, and the bonds became stronger than ever.  It is because of all this, in addition to the immersion experience itself, that I believe had made my 8^th grade trip to the Oregon Trail the most important educational experience of my life.