## WISE in the News

Educating for Democracy: How to Educate, not Just Test

www.huffingtonpost.com

I would like to present several examples in which good teaching and, more important, good learning can take place without emphasizing testing.

WISE program helps students pick careers with hands-on experience
By Lynn Taylor Rick, Rapid City Journal, November 20, 2010
The first time Jenn Wold saw a surgical technologist at work, she knew that was the career for her. “I fell in love with what they did,” she said. She is now three months into her one-year degree in surgical technology at Western Dakota Technical Institute in Rapid City. Read More

A Potential Vaccination for ‘Senioritis’
By Dave Marcus, The New York Times, October 10, 2010
Halfway through his senior year of high school, Ralph Vasami stopped going to most classes. He spent a lot of time gazing at the sky. Senioritis? Burn out? Read More

Rondout Valley High School
By Beth Croughan, Orange/Dutchess/Ulster/Sullivan YNN, May 11, 2010
It's an alternative to routine classroom education. High school seniors across the country are given the chance to head out and put their skills to 'real world' use. Our Beth Croughan went to Rondout Valley High School where students have participated in the program for the past 12 years. Read More

How to Combat Senioritis
Time Magazine, Monday, May 08, 2006
Early symptoms of the disease—lethargy, lack of focus, difficulty making decisions—often appear in the fall. By spring the average, healthy high school senior may have completely succumbed. Senioritis attacks high-achieving, average and struggling students alike. Read More

ORINDA
High school seniors design courses
Innovative program designed to bypass 2nd-semester slump
By Janine DeFao, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer, June 9, 2005
Call it the cure for senioritis. In an era of cookie-cutter educational curricula designed to prepare students for the ever-important standardized tests, seniors at Orinda's Miramonte High School are taking a novel approach—studying what they actually want to learn. Read More

IN BUSINESS; Getting Credit for That Copter Flight
By Jeff Grossman, The New York Times, April 24, 2005
Jordan Franklin, a high school senior in Hartsdale, is getting a head start on his career plans, by flying with the emergency rescue crews at Life Net of New York, the helicopter service at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. Read More

ORINDA
Student's film winning awards, changing minds
Documentary on S.F.'s gay weddings has helped break down stereotypes
By Janine DeFao, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer, July 14, 2004
Zach Landman had planned to do a documentary for his high school senior project on a subject he knew intimately—the pressures of high school sports. Instead, the linebacker at Orinda's Miramonte High ended up tackling the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage, which he'd barely given a passing thought. Read More

FOR THE RECORD; Sharing the Power At an Athletics Apex
By Marek Fuchs, The New York Times, June 13, 2004
EASTCHESTER—From the cataloging of worn baseball jerseys to heated discussions about the cancellation of the lacrosse season, Cassie Forcello's introduction to the adult world has left her a little battle hardened. Read More

Fighting that Contagion of the Classroom, Senioritis
By Marek Fuchs, The New York Times, June 18, 2003
Instead of coasting through the final weeks of her senior year in high school, Greer Lanzet is fine-tuning punch lines and working on a stand-up routine. Andrew Feldman, a Scarsdale High School classmate, is learning to play the sitar, while other seniors are working alongside nurses and cooks. Read More