Superintendent Tucker on the Radio

Worthington's new Superintendent, Dr. Thomas Tucker, participated in a discussion about the state report card on Ann Fisher's program "All Sides" on WOSU radio. Ann Fisher pressed Dr. Tucker about the difference between "Excellent" and "Excellent with Distinction".  Dr. Tucker  correctly points out that other districts in Central Ohio received the "Excellent with Distinction" rating with worse scores than Worthington but because they had more "growth", they received a higher grade.

Let's use a football analogy as we celebrate the start of the football season. Let's say that Mark Sanchez throws 30 touchdown passes for the Jets this year and receives an "A". Now let's say that Tom Brady throws 15 touchdown passes for the Patriots this year and also receives an "A" because of the low standards for getting an "A" that the NFL has. Fast forward to next season where Sanchez throws 31 passes and again gets his "A" but Brady improves to 22 passes and earns an A+ (excellent with distinction) because he "grew" more than Sanchez even though Sanchez clearly had the better stats.

You can catch Dr. Tucker's comments on the WOSU podcast starting at around the 27 minute mark.

Convocation 2011

Convocation in Worthington is part giant-staff-meeting and part pep-rally. The day before school officially starts, teachers and staff members are welcomed back and a short program is provided featuring addresses by the Superintendent, Board President, WEA President and WESP President. This year, convocation was tinged with sadness at the retirement of Dr. Melissa Conrath and excitement as we welcomed Dr. Tucker into the district. Before the speeches this year, the legendary theatre teacher at TWHS, Bronwynn Hopton, in conjunction with teachers at Evening Street produced a play called "The Wizard of Worthington".  It was too good not to share. It is in two parts and you can access them here:

The Wizard of Worthington Part 1

The Wizard of Worthington Part 2