Community Chat

[lolakimono]

and thought I would share this request. At the end of the administration, one of the students in my small test group asked me to fill out a paper for his school. I had to sign my name, title, print my name, and mark the date. I told him that I had never seen this before (have proctored about 40 times at the same school) and he said that because his school is full of a lot of "bad kids" that paper is his ticket to be eligible to go to the prom.

I thought it was strange that a school would "make" a student prove that he/she had taken the S.A.T. in order to attend a school sponsored event.

Thoughts?

[scotttie]

I've never heard of such a thing either. I don't think it's any of their business if you take the SAT or not. Not every kid needs or wants to go to college. There are many vocations and trades that don't require college.

[wildcat fan]

That surprises me. I've never heard of anything like that. I wonder if that student had any strikes on his behavioral record that would have made him ineligible.

We have just the opposite attitude around here. In the past, our district held dances (grades 5-8) after testing as a reward for students who had perfect attendance during testing week and no behavioral referrals. There were so many complaints that now any student can go to the dance. This was supposed to be an incentive because schools are penalized when students don't show up for the state examination and behavior can get out of hand at the end of a school year. Too many parents complained, so administrators caved. It's amazing what an angry parent can get away with around here. Personally, I thought this incentive was a good idea because attendance and behavior was better when the students thought they would be denied the opportunity to go to the dance.

[stilltamn8r]

This may be a ""contract"" made for this individual student.....

[stilltamn8r]

This may be a ""contract"" made for this individual student.....

[151949]

Did you not read this paper before you signed it?

[lolakimono]

On 5/3/2014 happy housewife said:

Did you not read this paper before you signed it?

Yes, I read it. That's how I relayed the information in the OP.

I have not seen this before, so I am wondering if others have heard of this. I don't teach in HS, so we have no prom, and my kids aren't "behavior" problems, so it wouldn't affect whether they could attend "school sponsored" events.

[scotttie]

I still don't see what the SAT would have to do with the prom. I don't think that's right. I could understand if this kid was a problem and they would insist on a certain grade point average from him in order to go but not the SAT.

I don't really agree with the grades being a stipulation either as long as he is not a troublemaker, but at least that makes some kind of sense.

[wildcat fan]

When I taught high school, the only thing that could make a student ineligible for the prom was a behavior record.

[september]

I've never heard of this. There are so many expenses associated with going to a prom, but now some students who might not otherwise be taking the SAT, have to pay for this as well?

That's not right.