Norview High named one of America's best by magazine

For those who post negative comments on what is a positive achievement, your bitterness is keeping you from seeing that this award is well deserved. If not for the people at 2 Norfolk High Schools who refused to give up on me, I would not have graduated from high school. I was a one of those at-risk students who would have failed due to my own foolish choices, but I was fortunate to have people who cared enough to look past the surface and keep high expectations for me, just as they do for all students. I may be part of the "dropout" statistic since it took me 5 years instead of 4, but I got there! When a school earns recognition for helping all students, we all win! The community should recognize and support the schools' efforts.

It saddens me to read the comments written by others regarding this article. How neagtive and bitter many of them seem. Can we not agree that students in these systems deserve some praise for their achievements? In the eyes of many reports like these seem ridiculous, but it may be the catalyst needed to drive the students that fit in this category to excel. As for the high performers in the Appalachian area, I commend them but remind you to ask how many of the students there live in single parent homes or in high crime areas? My hope is that all schools will strive to meet the needs of ALL of their students not just those college bound seniors.

let me get this straight...one of the best but cannot meet the advanced placement requirement? Maybe you should have digged into the actual schools statistics about such matters and then printed the story.

Don't kid yourself. Johns Hopkins labeled all Norfolk public high schools "drop out factories." I'm more inclined to believe that than this "recognition."

Author,

Please review your sources, read them more carefully and resubmit a corrected factual article or you'll receive a D- for this writing assignment.

Journalism should be based on fact not creative fiction.

The article was updated at 10:23pm and now says "Another 1,086 schools - including Norview and Gates County - received a "bronze" ...status because they didn't meet the Advanced Placement requirement." That is a big difference from "college readiness". Norview also offers many dual enrollment courses with TCC, which was not calculated in the data.

From the article:
The 2008 U.S.News & World Report America's Best High Schools methodology, ...is based on the key principles that a great high school must serve all its students well, not just those who are bound for college...

Here is the link. You should read it before you make judgments. http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/the-ranking-formula.html

High school students not ready for college but named one of America's best schools. Sounds good where do I enroll my kids. Great story again pilot.

So I guess that means you want to take all the kids out of all Hampton Roads schools, right?

Norview High named one of America's best by magazine??
Is this the punchline to a joke? See below!
"Another 1,086 - including Norview - received a "bronze" or honorable mention status because they didn't meet the college-readiness requirement."
Do I need to say anything else? The template on this story is grossly misrepresented. How can a school be one of the best if its students are admittingly not prepared for college? Get your kids out of Norfolk Public Schools.

This list is meaningless, as are all list of this nature. I spent the last 3 years teaching at a college that year after year received top rankings from such lists. We just chuckled at these lists. While it is nice to get such recognization, we all realized that it was meaningless. What counts is results such as having the highest graduation rates for student-athletes in the nation, earning regional and engineering accreditation, having more Rhodes Scholars over the past three years than any other institution in the nation. Results matter, not false accolades based on suspect premises. I hope this school does not get complacent and stop trying to improve. If this is a valid praise then the Pilot should list some genuine accomplishments.

Oh never mind...i just read through the article..."scores compared with expectations based on poverty levels". Hmmmmm, Appalachian schools are some of the poorest in the country, yet their academic achievement levels are on a par with the national average. Students dont need to be told that poverty makes them sub standard performers..once again the wrong message, and the usual poor results.

Isn't it the main purpose of a high school to make students ready for college? Those not going to college should be in a vocational/technical program for some skilled trade. If a student is not in a vo-tech program, and the high school is unable to ready them for college, the what in the world are they doing? What options do Norview students have after high school other than welfare and prison? This "recognition" is not much to be proud of...