What makes a school exceptional?

Today is ACT day at Lindblom (as well as the rest of CPS) and I realized this week that the way a school handles the ACT is an excellent indicator of what kind of school you have.

At my previous school, the administration went to great lengths to reduce the number of students taking the test. Notably one year, many students with IEPs were told to report to the auditorium and were then dismissed. In the weeks leading up to the test, many students with junior status found themselves moved to a demote advisory (10th grade), often without a valid reason.

My school on the other hand seems to do the opposite. Yesterday, 2 students were added to my junior advisory. Several other students were moved up to junior advisories after their service learning hours and/or credits were audited to promote them.

And that's the difference. A great school will make sure as many juniors as possible take the test and are not afraid of what some students may do to the school average. A not-so-great school will go to great lengths to ensure that certain students do not take the exam in an effort to bring up the average. They will, in effect, cheat.

It's kind of a minor thing overall I know but I think it's how schools deal with situations such as this that can make you stand out. Our juniors will take the ACT and PSAE. Hopefully they will all do very well but we're not going to cheat. We've done what we can to prepare them and I have a lot of confidence in that.

More Random Acts of Art

I haven't posted in a while but it's that time of year again here at LMSA. Time for the random acts of art! These have shown up in the last few days. I'm not sure what the project is but they certainly draw your attention.


This one is on the lawn in front of the school. From the street it looked just like a little kid.


You need to look at the larger version of this picture to appreciate it.