Thank you for your attention to this important issue. Mason has been a leader in providing college access to home school students without adding the ridiculous hurdles of many other colleges. I am very familiar with the success of home school students, and welcome them to our institution.
Our approach to our new score optional is very conservative, so we have made the initial opportunity very limited. I am open to considering Home School students on a case by case basis for score optional consideration, but believe in most cases that submitting standardized test scores is to the advantage of home schoolers. While there are exceptions, at Mason our Home School applicants have generally performed very well on the SATs and ACTs, a trend I gather in consistent nationally.
Regardless, it is important to place this program in context. The standardized test score is already one of the smaller considerations in our admission process. Home School students, with a track record of great success here at Mason, are at no disadvantage in our process. That being said, I am always open to further discussion of the issue, and welcome any additional input you might have. My e-mail address is aflagel@gmu.edu.
As a California resident, I have been following the high school exit exam story very closely. I heard today that the media is not telling us how many out of the 47,000 students supposedly not graduating because of not passing the exit exam would not be graduating anyway. They have failed to complete the required courses or get passing grades so they are not going to receive diplomas. I found that very interesting. The media makes it sound as if the *only* reason they are not graduating is their inability to pass the exit exam.
I would like to hear the whole story.
Barbara
What I find disturbing about the whole California Exit exam is how much emphasis is placed on the kids failing and NOT the teachers that allowed them to make it to 12th grade illiterate....
How DOES a kid make it to 12th grade without a 12th grade education? My guess for what it is worth. It started waaaaay back in 3rd grade when they only got oh lets say 85% of 3rd grade Math, then onto 4th where they got about 80%, and then on to 5th where it was about 75%....and on and on....I think you see where I am going. Lets face it, if a child doesn't get the bases 100% then it is pretty much downhill from there. So much for the "no child left behind".....nice thought...but I live in the real world. I wish educators would join me.
Gina, remember school is the "real world". It is we homeschoolers who need to understand that our "Ozzie and Harriet" life is nothing but a fantasy. It is so sad.
Commenting by HaloScan
