Principal Says BRHS is 'Outstanding,' 'Effective'
BRHS principal Brett Charleston reacts to the NJ Monthly rankings.
For Bridgewater-Raritan High School principal Brett Charleston, he believes the school is "outstanding" and "effective."
This, Charleston said, is despite the recently released statistics from NJ Monthly, that places BRHS at No. 113 on its list of the top high schools in the state, out of more than 300—and the school is down from No. 67 when the survey was last released in 2010.
"This is an outstanding high school, and please note that I have worked at other schools that were ranked higher (West Windsor Plainsboro) and lower (Egg Harbor Township), with very effective educational programs, a quality teaching staff and, perhaps most importantly, supportive parents and community," he said.
NJ Monthly bases its rankings on a four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate, which was mandated by the federal government. It has also increased the weighing of data on test results.
Charleston said he has not thoroughly reviewed the results, but he has observed the outstanding school environment at BRHS.
And, Charleston said, he will continue to work to improve the school community.
"Over the next couple of months, I will focus on gathering information from all stakeholders to better identify areas of strength and areas of need," he said.
Harvey
9:45 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
Effective & outstanding...Show me don't tell me Brett. Good luck.
Mike
9:15 am on Friday, August 24, 2012
Magazine ratings are a bunch of hooey, for the most part. Read the following from a former BRHS principal to learn more.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080309153456/http://www.bridgewaternj.com/boardofeducation.html
If your child is truly lazy, unmotivated, or a genuine delinquent hell-bent on failing (or worse, keeping others from learning), sending him/her to a high-ranked school won't help. If your child is disciplined, self-motivated, and goal-oriented, you could enroll him/her in one of the lowest-ranked schools and (assuming s/he wasn't shanked), s/he would do well (though I'd argue, not quite as well).
My point is that the bakers cannot be expected to make award-winning blueberry pie with inferior or damaged blueberries. As long as parents/caretakers and the kids themselves (gasp!) do their jobs, the educators can and will do theirs.
That said, I personally hope Mr Charleston ensures that the keys to learning and success that the school can control (a safe environment that's conducive to learning being paramount).
Metoo
2:04 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
Stop Mike, it's always the teachers/schools fault if little Johnny doesn't do well. Haven't you been reading the papers, listening to the radio, reading the on-line rants?