While I’m pretty handy around the house and enjoy home improvement projects, I occasionally get myself in over my head. It is at such times that I call upon Kevin, a local handyman, to help me out. I have known Kevin for a couple of years now. He is a great guy and a talented craftsman.

What separates Kevin from other handymen, however, is that he is currently earning a masters degree in education. Yes, at the ripe old age of fifty, Kevin has decided to change careers.

Here’s where things get interesting:

As part of his degree requirements, Kevin served as a student teacher in a Princeton-area public high school last year. Now keep in mind that I have never worked in a public high school and I know very little about how public high schools are rated/ranked with regard to their average SAT scores. Anyway, Kevin was telling me that in this particular school, the administration annually identifies the juniors that it thinks will score low on the SAT. It then encourages/directs such students to either (i) skip the March SAT and opt for a later date or (ii) skip the SAT completely and rely on the ACT for college admissions. By removing the junior class “low-liers” from the March administration, the school manages to skew its data upward. Hence, it receives a better ranking when its junior-class SAT scores are compared to those of other public high schools in state and national rankings.

Very devious! Very crafty! Once I find the time to do a little more research on the topic, I will post an update.

I think Kevin is going to make a great teacher, by the way.