White dresses and red roses.

The Ridgewood High School Class of 2011 graduates tomorrow and once again I got choked up seeing the Stadium Field set-up for the occasion. I truly have never seen a graduation ceremony anywhere that's as beautiful as Ridgewood's. The white dresses, the white dinner jackets, the red roses...such a great tradition!

Graduation starts at 5:00 tomorrow. I'm sad that I won't have the honor and privilege of walking with the graduates as part of the Board of Education. I did love that part of the job -- the view of the ceremony is great from the dais. Instead, tomorrow at 5:00 I'll be at BF Middle School heading up the Project Graduation "watch dogs" -- parents of the RHS class of 2012 who are keeping an eye on the BF party decorations while the parents who created the scene are watching their children receive their diplomas. I also have the important job of sending the buses to RHS to pick up the kids and take them to the first stage of Project Graduation, the Dinner Dance at the "secret, undisclosed location," (where the Dinner Dance has been held for at least the last 30 years...ssshhhh!).

Graduation is a great day in Ridgewood. Congratulations, Class of 2011!

Post-graduate plans for the RHS Class of 2010.

Last night I had the honor of participating in the Senior Awards Ceremony at RHS. What an impressive group of students (and what a generous community in giving scholarships!).

Based on a survey of all 420 graduating seniors:

88.6% are attending a 4-year college (Last year, it was 88.0%)
4.5% are attending a 2-year college (Last year, it was 7.9%)
40.8% are attending a Public/State college (Last year, it was 40.1%)
59.2% are attending a Private college (Last year, it was 59.9%)
21.6% are attending a college in New Jersey (Last year, it was 22.1%)
16 seniors will be attending an Ivy League College (Last year, it was 12 seniors)

College destinations for the top 20% of the Class of 2010:

American University
Amherst College
Bard College
Boston College (2)
Boston University (3)
Bowdoin College (2)
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Colgate University (2)
College of William and Mary
Columbia University (3)
Connecticut College
Cornell University (4)
Dartmouth College (2)
Drexel University
Fordham University (2)
George Washington University (3)
Georgetown University
Hamilton College (3)
Johns Hopkins University (2)
Lehigh University
Loyola University (2)
McGill University (2)
Middlebury College
New York Institute of Technology
New York University
Northwestern University (2)
Pratt Institute
Rice University
Ringling College of Art and Design
Rutgers University
Skidmore College (3)
The College of New Jersey (3)
Towson University
Tufts University (3)
Tulane University
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Michigan (2)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania (2)
University of Richmond (4)
University of Rochester
University of Vermont (2)
University of Virginia (2)
Vanderbilt University
Vassar College
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Wake Forest University
Washington and Lee University
Wesleyan University
Williams College

Congratulations and all the best to the Class of 2010 and their parents!

NJ's new high school requirements

Did you see the article last week about the new requirements the state of New Jersey is setting for students to graduate from high school? Here's a paste from the article in the Bergen Record 9/17/08:

The state education commissioner today outlined a broad “vision for transforming secondary education” for the next eight to 10 years. Specific plans call for a host of new tests and courses designed to better prepare students for college. The plans also call for districts to develop individual learning plans for all students in grades 6-12 beginning next school year.

New testing requirements were unveiled in April, and today Commissioner Lucille Davy presented some additions that include requirements for high school students to have completed coursework in personal finance and world history.

The state also plans to require high school students take at least five credits each in laboratory science and world language and be tested for proficiency in a language other than English. In addition, the state wants high school students to have completed at least one course online.

In order to graduate high school, students will have to pass tests in a host of individual subject areas, including biology, chemistry, language arts, foreign language and Algebra II by the year 2016. The tests are being phased in over the next eight years – starting with biology last year and Algebra I at the end of this school year.

I'm interested to hear what you think about these new requirements? How do you think this will affect our kids? Does it sound like too much testing? Or do we need to test more to ensure that our kids are actually prepared for their 21st century adult lives?