What Do You Need to Qualify for Athletic Scholarships?

Qualifying for college athletics is an extremely serious issue in the DC area. We are a hotbed of basketball, football, and boutique (lacrosse, tennis, golf) NCAA athletic talent. Yet in some sports, the most talented athletes do not fully address qualifying until the beginning of their senior year. This is particularly tragic given the true nature of college admissions. You have to have both a GPA and a test score to be eligible to play sports. The GPA creates all kinds of confusion. Athletes can play in high school with a 2.0 across all of their subjects, no matter whether they are college prep or college core classes. Unfortunately, these students who qualify to play high school sports for four years may not qualify to play Division I or Division II college sports for even one year. After the jump I'll describe and interpret eligiblity requirements in greater detail as I refer to the NCAA Clearinghouse Chart.

Where'd all the posts go?

The tone of this blog is changing from mildly militant to informative and conciliatory. This reflects two changes in my values. First, I feel that I will build better relationships across a wider spectrum if I dial down the militancy of this blog. I still feel passionate about issues; I'd just like to be a bit friendlier along the way. Second, I am actively seeking clients and contracts now, and I do not want this "woodshed" to give people false impressions about my agenda. On previous posts, I've been venting in a cathartic manner. It's been overall healthy, but I feel that the season for that has passed. If you miss the former posts, they're still around. Ask me and I might email one to you.

Going forward, I'll be describing more of my adventures in friendly fashion and seeking to be a bit more parent driven. Many of the posts will be directly driven by issues that have been raised in conversations with families, teachers, and school administrators. As always, I hope that you'll comment, and I hope that you'll stick around.

A Challenge to Michelle Rhee; In praise of Kaya Henderson

I saw a video on Anderson Cooper on Michelle Rhee and an article praising the consensus that Kaya Henderson has managed to organize around her candidacy to move from Acting Chancellor to permanent Chancellor. I recently had the opportunity to ask a question of the Acting Chancellor at the Ward 6 State of the Schools Meeting. Essentially, my question was "How would she navigate the politics that killed her predecessor?" My sense of her answer and some thoughts on these two articles after the jump:

Welcome!

Glad you dropped in. This blog is basically a woodshed for a lot of my intellectual ideas. I'm currently in the research phase of trying to apply to a Ph.D. program. Here, I'm gaining the discipline of consistent writing as I network with other families, leaders, activists, and curious folks. The focus will be on education in DC and the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia), but I expect that I will wade into some educational debates and offer a few digressions along the way.

A few reminders:

• Please say hello if you stop by! I allow anonymous comments so that people feel comfortable sharing there viewpoints.
• Please respect other commenters and avoid excessive profanity. I reserve the right to delete any posts that I consider to be disrespectful to others or bleed into personal attacks.
• This blog expresses opinions, working research, and changing viewpoints. Please be generous in allowing me to correct my mistakes or evolve in my thinking.
• I am interested in guest bloggers and freelancing (at prices from exposure on up) for other blogs. Drop me a line at jasoneducator@gmail.com if you're interested.
• I am a professional tutor, presenter, researcher, activist and school/nonprofit provider. If you're intrigued by what you read here, please consider making a request for those services at jasoneducator@gmail.com.

Some thank yous off the bat:

• My mom! She helped me change the name from the old blog that's only got 3 posts. 
• Patrick Reddington at Federal Baseball. A lot of my writing style, twitter habits, and networking skills were developed on his blog. I respect him a great deal.
• Mark Zuckerman at Natsinsider.com. Mark courageously went the independent route full-time when the Washington Times foolishly removed its sports section (since restored). I respect his writing and responsiveness on his blog.
• All those who prodded me to make this kind of move, especially JE, BMG, and numerous others I'm forgetting.
• All loved ones who have helped me get through some very tough times with my intellect and gifts intact, especially  DNC, ADC, APC, NDC, DSC, JE, DD, RD, MD(RIP), CLC(RIP), CMW, JE, BMG, MK, and TN.
• My intellectual heroes, teachers, doctors, mentors, and counselors. You have all showed courage, love, and patience in working with a demanding student.
• My past, current, and future coworkers and students, especially SG, brother of hated Big Blue fan AG and dogmother of DG. Let's change our world and its values.