A "high rejection rate" for free money
Not every kid who applied for Virginia's Providing Real Opportunities for Maximizing In-state Student Excellence (PROMISE) college scholarships this year was accepted, and that's a real shame. At least, that's the spin that reporter Carley Amico is trying to put on this story, starting with the headline, "Students See High Rejection Rate":
Nearly half of the Northern Panhandle PROMISE scholarship applicants were denied this year...In Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Ohio, Tyler and Wetzel counties 909 public and private school students applied for PROMISE scholarships this spring. Of those, 473 students were awarded scholarships while 436 applications were denied because they did not meet grade point average or standardized test score requirements.
So, for those who are determined to see the glass as half-empty, rather than half-full, what exactly were those requirements for the free tuition money?
The West Virginia PROMISE (Providing Real Opportunities for Maximizing In-state Student Excellence) scholarship program was approved by the state legislature in 1999...It offers each West Virginia high school graduate who completes school with a 3.0 GPA and an ACT score of at least 21, or a combined SAT score of 1000, a full tuition scholarship to a state college or university.
Umm-hmmm. A 3.0 is a B average. The average SAT score for college-bound seniors in 2002 is 1020. The average ACT score for these same students is 21.8. In other words, a Virginia high school student need not even score higher than the average of their peers on either exam in order to receive a full tuition scholarship.
Oh, I agree that it's a shame that half of the PROMISE applicants didn't meet this requirement, but I don't think the problems are with the exams.
At John Marshall High School, 76 of the 233 PROMISE applicants received the scholarship. Principal David Takach said he is not certain why 157 applicants did not meet the requirements and he has not seen data regarding why the applications were denied. But he does believe students' performance on the ACT standardized test could be the problem.
"I really don't know the reason," he said. "I'm guessing ... with most of the people who didn't get it, it was because of the ACT. He noted that many students who excel in the classroom simply do not perform well on standardized tests...And the PROMISE scholarship is not for average students, he said. The requirements of a 3.0 GPA and a 21 on the ACT are benchmarks that even some fairly successful students cannot meet.
Umm, actually, it is for average students. It's for slightly-below-average students, in fact, if I may be so blunt. (And I do need to be this blunt, given that another school principal describes the requirements as "stringent" later on in the article, an opinion that the reporter lets go unchallenged.) I give the principal credit for defending his students, but he should get the facts straight, first.
David Wood, Superintendent of Marshall County Schools, pointed out that many of those students who did not receive PROMISE scholarships will go to college and can do very well. "That does not mean that child would not be successful in college," Wood said. He added the college attendance rate at both John Marshall and Cameron is high. "I think we do an excellent job of preparing kids to go to college," Wood said.
Good for you. Do you do an excellent job of preparing them to excel in college and graduate from college as well? That's the real test of the quality of a high-school education these days.
I'm not bashing the scholarship here - not at all. I think it's a fine idea - but it's also amusing that the requirements can be called "stringent" these days. Amusing, but maybe a bit sad, too.