Later this week, all of our soon-to-be-graduates will know their high school plans for next year. This marks the end of a process that began last spring and included orientation meetings, panels of admissions officers, a secondary school fair, school visits, admissions tests, interviews, essays, and more. Fortunately, they do not go through all that alone. Our incredible secondary school counseling team, currently led by co-directors Alison Marcell and Lauren Romeo and supported by assistant director Brenda Siegel, shepherd, advise, and cajole families and students along each step of the process.
All of that is in support of helping each of our students find the right high school environment that best helps them thrive. Every year, I love hearing about the conversations that families and their children have throughout this process, discussing what learning environment and other factors would be best for their growth. Such a conversation requires no small amount of self-awareness and reflection, and it is a rare treat indeed for parents of fourteen or fifteen-year-olds to hear such reflection from their child. I know I had no idea about my own learning style/priorities when I was that age, and I had even less interest in sharing that with my parents! And yet, our students reflect capably and (relatively) willingly as they navigate the high school admissions process.
And the results, like this year, are most often tremendous. Our students resonate with admissions offices because they speak well, they can share of themselves readily, they are involved community members with demonstrated leadership experience, and they are talented students. It is no wonder that they are in very high demand from some of the best schools in the region and the country.
As is typical, some interesting trends have emerged in this year’s process. Secondary schools, not unlike colleges, are reviewing the role that standardized testing plays in the process. Some schools changed to optional testing during covid while others retained mandatory testing. Some of the schools that are optional are reconsidering that decision, and I imagine we will see continued change in this area in the coming years. NCCS students have markedly high test scores, as reported by the high schools, and this is particularly notable since we do not explicitly prepare students for the tests beyond an optional Plus Program test prep class.
Another trend is that throughout the educational landscape, in colleges, high schools, and other elementary/middle schools, grade inflation has been a constant characteristic over the last decade or more. At NCCS, we have largely avoided this phenomenon. Our adherence to more stringent/traditional grading standards can be concerning as it is not uncommon for our students to have several ‘B’s’ or even ‘C’s’ on their transcript. And yet, due to the long track record of success our graduates have at many schools, their strong test scores, and the tremendous work of our guidance department in cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with these schools, admissions offices remain most impressed with our students. Notably, schools often remark that they like NCCS’s standards because they know that an ‘A’ student will be a “real” ‘A’ student and not a grade-inflated one as is so common these days.
So, as our graduates and their families can breathe easily knowing their plans for next year, our secondary school counseling department is deep in preparation to begin next year’s process at the end of this month. There sure is no rest for the weary for them!
Letters from Aaron 