Several recent editorials in The Baltimore Sun have addressed Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to spend education funds to cover PSAT and AP fees for students who do not come from disadvantaged families ("Dollars for these scholars?," July 16).
Critics of the plan are quick to categorize it as a political motive to gain votes from the state's affluent communities, but in all fairness, there is an important underlying component that has yet been examined and should not be overlooked.
Like it or not, the current trend of ranking public school systems has trickled from post-secondary institutions down to the secondary level. Major publications such as U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek have added the rankings to their annual repertoire. Similar to the effect of the much-anticipated yearly college rankings, the quality of public school systems (as determined by each publication's methodology) has created a national awareness of which public school systems are performing successfully.
Maryland's public school system has recently benefited from this fairly recent movement by earning its own number one ranking. Education Week, the nation's leading education newspaper, placed Maryland's state education system at the very top of the national rankings this past year. Maryland public schools rank first in the nation in the percentage of high schools offering—and students taking—college-level courses. In addition, Newsweek magazine recently released its annual "America's Top High Schools" issue. The magazine lists 98 Maryland high schools among its top 1,622 schools—the top 6 percent in the nation. This statistic is even more impressive when considering that only New York, California, Florida, and Texas had more schools listed, but all of those states have far more schools overall.
Although the methodologies utilized to rank school systems by the authors of these publications varies, it is important to note that the numbers of students taking Advanced Placement courses and ultimately the AP tests, is a common factor in each publication's number-crunching formula. One of the major reasons the Maryland public school system has done so well in these rankings is the dramatic increase over the years in students taking the more rigorous Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate coursework, and the rise in the numbers of students taking the tests at the end of each course.
Placing students in these courses is typically dependent upon previous success in all academic areas, but standardized test results are often considered. Consequently, the PSAT results are utilized to predict a student's potential to succeed in advanced courses. Based on prior research, and not surprisingly, there appears to be a positive correlation between student success on the PSATs and student success in Advanced Placement courses. Furthermore, the earlier students are exposed to the PSAT, the better chance they have of improving their scores when they take the examination in future years. Therefore, the benefits of improving the rigor of a student's academic program and test scores not only includes maximizing one's chances for getting accepted to the college of choice, but also increasing the chances of earning merit-based scholarships. For these reasons it makes sense to invest money for our public school students to encourage them to take the most rigorous coursework available and to have a chance to prepare to take the high-stakes SAT examination by having multiple opportunities to take the PSAT.
As a college counselor who works with students and parents as they prepare to navigate the college admissions process, I cringe when I see dog-eared copies of US News and other college ranking publications. Many quality schools and potential "good fit" institutions will miss making those lists yearly simply because the numbers didn't quite add up to make "the list", and my concern is that they will be discounted altogether. However, at the same time we need to realize that rankings have become a major part of our culture, and despite their shortcomings, they will no doubt continue to become more important as the need for accountability at all levels of education increases. The quality of a student's school could certainly factor into an admissions decision, but only time will tell how the trend of ranking high schools will affect the college admissions process. Regardless of how this trend plays out in the future, the money spent to allow public school students to take the PSAT in the sophomore year and to take more rigorous courses and AP tests could lead to a much bigger gain by improving the quality of our students and by qualifying for scholarship opportunities that may not have been possible heretofore.
Kevin L. Ensor, Parkton
The writer is a college counselor at Hereford High School