School Maze II

As a Phila. school district counselor who, along with my colleagues, works tirelessly on behalf of my 8th grade students, the high school application process provides for me my best and worst day, simultaneously. This is the day that I get to tell my students they were accepted into the school of their choice, or that they didn't. The problem I've had with the process is that all of the City-wide, Special admission and Charter schools are all going after the same students: those with good grades, test scores and attendance.
When I first met SLA principal, Chris Lehmann, he said to me, "I want to change how the magnet school process works in Philadelphia" and he has. First, he promised and delivered, that he would talk with each counselor about every student. Second, as a project-based school, he recognizes that test scores and grades do not necessarily indicate a student's potential; thus, he began a process whereby his staff and students interview applicants BEFORE VIEWING their grades, test scores, etc. and actively seek students with potential, regardless of testing statistics.
In SLA’s first year, he accepted a special ed student with behavioral issues that was the only option that student had for a high school educational chance. Unfortunately, after 2 years, this trial didn’t work. Two years later, SLA accepted another challenged student with intelligence and personality that didn’t “fit” the typical student mold. This student will, with a more than a few grey hairs added to the staff at SLA, graduate successfully.
SLA’s success and innovation has created a stir amongst schools, both public, charter and private, that has engendered each year an application list coveted by schools throughout the Philadelphia county. Few schools, or corporations I might add, can boast such success in the few years that SLA has been in operation. Is it any wonder that with the number of high class students that apply to SLA, many of those students are disappointed because of the few spaces available? That SLA and Chris Lehmann seek to enroll a truly diverse school population and reach out to all schools and their counselors seeking students for whom SLA may be the equalizing factor and not just a “given” for a successful student should not be assailed. It should be encouraged, studied and copied for its determination to provide quality education to ALL applicants, which by necessity, means that many well-qualified students will be “wait-listed”. I predict that SLA will become one of the nation’s most highly rated high schools. Let’s not assail this success. Let’s emulate it.