Just a few weeks ago the Oregon Department of Education announced that it has not, for some years now, had the 'time' to nominate schools for national recognition (Blue Ribbon Schools). Given that the Department has had time to sponsor banquets for schools that, according to the state assessment folks, have 'improved' their performance on State Assessments, the issue is clearly not time so much as priorities.
Along the same lines, for the past two years the Oregon Department of Education has failed to publicly recognize Oregon's Advanced Placement State Scholars...students who have set the bar for Advanced Placement achievement in Oregon. Each year one boy and one girl from Oregon are selected based on their total number of AP exams passed during high school. The College Board does all the work, even going so far as to provide sample letters of congratulations and press releases. ODE has shown no interest.
In 2008 Corbett was ranked #8 in the nation by Newsweek Magazine, and the Oregon Department of Education chose never to publicly acknowledge the achievement. Nor did it ever mention that Corbett was the only Oregon school to be awarded Gold Medal status (and a top 100 ranking) by U.S. News and World Report. Because of my association with Corbett, I am likely more bothered than most by these omissions. But the trend of elevating 'improvement' to the highest (only?) educational value and of repeatedly devaluing or ignoring excellence should be troubling to anyone who cares about schools.
Does their attitude matter?
Six years ago, Oregon boasted three high schools among the top 500 in the nation based on participation rates in the Advanced Placement program. Last year there was only one. Is it possible that Oregon's top schools are beginning to reflect the disregard with which the State of Oregon views its high achievers?
I am deeply concerned that Oregon seems to have given up on a vision of extraordinary education, seeking instead a comfortable 'middle' in which the narrowing of 'the achievement gap' trumps all other concerns. Equity matters, which is why we organize life in Corbett as we do. But while equity is an ethical imperative, it is not an adequate vision for Oregon's future. There simply has to be more.
Do we Oregonians have a vision for our best and brightest? For exceptional students? For exemplary schools? Is there life beyond benchmarks? Learning beyond State Standards?
Oregon has been doing educational triage to the exclusion of everything else for much too long. We need to get our heads out of the 'emergency room' paradigm and start building something really interesting with our schools. This effort requires that the State leadership and the professional organizations grow into the trust that has been place in them and do something bold for a change.
Next week's annual conference of the Oregon School Boards Association is called "Ripples of Hope". Wake me when it's over. Ripples? That's what we're shooting for? How did we regress from the President's 'Audacity' to 'Ripples'? This is just too sad. Ripples?
We need to do better. We need to lay claim to a future in which Oregon places more graduates in better schools than anyone else in the country. We need to demand more from our students than others are willing to dare, and we need for more teachers to be willing to take on the impossible and make it work. 'Audacity' on a book cover is one thing. (It is certainly better than 'Ripples', but still...) We need Audacity in action.
I believe that Oregon has the talent to be extraordinary. That talent needs to be fed, and 'ripples' won't nourish it. The goal of bringing everyone up to average won't do it. Talent wants a vision. It wants boldness. Will Oregon provide either?
