MY THOUGHTS ON HONOR ROLLS AND HIGH HONOR ROLLS IN KATY ISD HIGH SCHOOLS:

Following are two letters.  The first is one I wrote to the Katy Times Editor--it explains the issue as I saw it.  The second letter is one I wrote to a parent after the Board meeting when the parent responded to my letter.  I've changed the name of the parent and the school for obvious reasons.

Editor

Katy Times

 Dear Editor:

 Thank you for your extensive coverage of last Wednesday night’s School Board workshop meeting.  I have always believed that the public needs to hear about the issues that are on the Board’s table.  The workshop forum is the place and time when important matters of our school district are discussed.  More parents and teachers should come to these meetings.  They would then have a better understanding of the issues.

 Since no sound system is used at these meetings, it is sometimes difficult for the audience to hear.  For that reason I am writing to amplify the comments that were reported with regard to the “high honors” and “honors” designations that are utilized at graduation ceremonies.  Currently at graduation, students who have received an “4.” average are accorded “high honor” recognition.  (And one need not take any honors courses to obtain a 4.!) At some schools these students receive their diplomas first, and at all schools these students wear a cord around their necks that so designates their honor status.  The students who have a 3.5  graduate with the “honors” designation. 

 The point I made last Wednesday was that we honor these students at graduation ceremonies, but I am concerned about whether they are truly “honor” students.  I then gave the factual information that of the 115 students last May who were “high honor” graduates, only 70 students, or 60%, made 1100 or above on the SAT.  That is significant because 1100 is the cut-off score for entering the University of Texas or Texas A&M, our state’s two finest public universities.  Of course since these students are in the top quarter of their class, they can gain entrance on that basis, but if they cannot score 1100, they are going to be at a distinct disadvantage if that is all they can muster on this test.

 The break down by school for the above composite is 19 out of 37 at KHS made 1100 or above, 13 out of 35 at MCHS made 1100 or above, and 38 out of 43 at THS made 1100 or above. 

 My recommendation was that only the top 5% of each class be honored as “high honor graduates” and only the next 5% be honored as “honor” graduates.  This designation of honor students has become meaningless.  We must honor excellence and not the appearance of excellence.  We must set standards that are not a joke to our students.  We must insist that the handing out of accolades be taken seriously. The question becomes “When is an honor really an honor”?  If everyone gets the honor, then is it still an honor?  I think not.

Sincerely,

Mary McGarr

[Note that since I wrote this letter, the SAT has been dumbed down and scoring is different; UT and A&M only accept the top 10% of high school grads, but the use of the "High Honor Roll" and "Honor Roll designation has remained the same--mediocrity is still rewarded!   This quote is from the "KISD Student Handbook":

High Honor Graduates - GPA of 4.0000 and above. These students are awarded a gold cord for graduation. • Honor Graduates - GPA of 3.5000 through 3.9999. These students are awarded a silver cord for graduation.]

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I wrote this letter to a parent while I was on the school board.  I had been trying to address the "honor roll" and "high honor roll" designations that are used for graduating seniors in the Katy schools.  It has always been my opinion, that unless students take AP course work and have more than a 4.0 average, they are NOT honor or high honor students.  As was pointed out by Dave Mundy in a column in the Katy Times many years ago, almost half of all students each six weeks make the "honor roll."  Given that grade inflation is rampant and proved as being very much a part of the grading system in KISD, it just seems as though someone should have made this an issue, so I did!

 Boy did I get the retorts. This first letter was sent to a man who tried to tell me his child deserved to be among those so honored at graduation.

Dear XXXXX:

I am not sure how an argument based on fact somehow became a “ruse” in your mind, and I am pretty sure that I am wasting my time with ANOTHER explanation, but the teacher in me will not allow such fallacious reasoning to go unchallenged!

Your inability to understand the concept of academic excellence seems to be at the root of your problem.  I am not sure why anyone cannot understand that students who take many honors courses and make “A’s” in them and who have grade point averages that place them in the top 5% of their class, are superior and more deserving of a “high honors” designation than those students who do not, can not or will not take honors' courses, or who take these courses and cannot make “A’s” in them. Stop reading right here if you do not understand these statements because the rest of this letter will slip right past you. 

Your diatribe appears to be based upon a dearth of factual knowledge.  I am not sure to what “subjective value judgments” you allude, but yes, having served on the KISD Board of Trustees for four years does afford me the privilege of having valid opinions about the state of education in our school district.  If you had been committeed to death, sat in endless boring meetings, listened to thousands of anxious parents whose children have gotten short shrift at their school and scores of teachers who were totally frustrated with the system, then you might be able to understand why I am indeed entitled to have opinions, especially when  they are based in fact, on anything I want!  Do not misunderstand; I asked for this job, and I enjoy doing it.

I have been served well by a 16 year long Texas public education, and it grieves me that students no longer receive that same fine education. Giving back is, I think, a worthy reason for seeking to serve, but it's not the only reason I serve. It is extremely frustrating to be the only person in this school district who has tried consistently for the past fourteen years to improve the overall academic excellence of this school district and then have some dullard like you berate my efforts because you are unable to fathom the meaning of true academic excellence.

I am happy that your son received the “high honor” designation at KHS last spring.  If he were indeed one of the eighteen students in the top 5% of the class, then he earned that honor.  If he was not, then the school district, and his family, have lied to him about his abilities, and that is the crux of the problem. You need to go back and read the Katy Times editorial on Nov. 8, 1995 where the editor pointed out that over 50% of the students in Katy schools are listed as being “honor roll students” each six weeks and how ridiculous that situation is.

With regard to your obvious failure to understand the difference between the cut-off score for college admission and the “average” score of the entering freshmen, let me point out that most Texas high schools are no different from ours, and a great many students in the top 25% of the class do not make the SAT cut off score, but are allowed to enter these colleges based on being in the top quartile, or are allowed to enter in the summer, and if they are able to do college level work are allowed entry in the fall, thus the lowered average score.

 Although you accuse me of “making superficial adjustments to our system,” I maintain that it is easy, as you have done, to point out the deficiencies of our school district.  The difficult part is to offer reasonable solutions to improve upon our system, and I have done that with great regularity over the last fourteen years.  For you to be unaware of those efforts means you perhaps have not been paying attention.

MY Katy Plan was written several years ago and has hundreds of suggestions to improve upon the academics in our district.  I have given copies to other board members, the superintendent, the administration, principals, the teacher’s association, individual teachers and parents, and anyone else who acted interested. I am even sending you a copy.  So far, because of lack of Board support, our district is still on its same mediocre course. We have potentially marvelous students, obviously supportive parents, and verified outstanding teachers but a lousy curriculum and methodology!

Like so many others, you prefer to live in a world where lying to students about their abilities just for the sake of their self-esteem makes perfect sense.  Telling students the truth, Mr. XXX, is a more honorable course.

Mary McGarr