America's "Best" High Schools (Newsweek/Daily Beast)

Radio Free Hamilton notes that HCS is #874 among the country's high schools "that have proven to be most effective at turning out college-ready grads." HCS Rates Among Best Public High Schools in U.S.

Only a handful of schools in the area were included on the list:

• Clinton 635th
• Cazenovia 903rd
• Skaneateles 941st
• Cooperstown 1,386th
• Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 1,896th

I would also note that New Hartford Senior High was #250, Jamesville DeWitt was #561, and Fayetteville-Manlius was #606. Morrisville was not on the list.

"Won't Back Down"

Teachers on the Defensive - NYTimes.com

“Our very best teachers ought to be treated much, much better than they are today,” said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. “But in order to get there, we need to be able to say out loud that some teachers are better than others.”
That’s precisely what “Won’t Back Down” says. Although the movie is bound, in this politically charged climate, to be analyzed solely in terms of the position it seems to take on parent trigger or its qualms with union behavior, it’s ultimately about the impact of superior teaching, the need to foster more of it and the importance of school accountability. Who could quibble with any of that?