#3 in the state!

Metro High School Ranked Among Top in America - News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | (http://www.news9.com/Global/story.asp?S=11417020)

If you can get the video to work (I have issues but Mid made it work on his computer) the audio is messed up but you get an idea of the students I work with every day!

Wow, that's amazing! Congrats!

We are very proud of our students :) Thanks, Doug!

<<<Last year, 80 percent of the graduating seniors went on to a four-year college.>>>

WOW!! That is so amazing and wonderful! Thanks for the good news, Bandnerd!

My daughter graduated from Harding last year and my son will graduate this year. They made the choice to go there because of all of the AP courses they offer and the individual attention they received. There are some great teachers at Harding who really care about the kids (including Bandnerd for sure). Last year's graduation was quite impressive when all of the scholarships and awards were presented. The seniors have a class called Capstone (bandnerd was my daughter's capstone teacher) that is wonderful. They are required to have an internship with a local company. For example, we had a young man who is interested in being an accountant as an intern last year during busy season and we taught him what being a CPA is all about. My daughter said that the teachers are crazy cool.

Haha Harding is the one place where nerdy people like me can be considered "cool." ;) Thanks for the kind words, CC! I'm glad to know your oldest enjoyed her time with us!

She says she is a nerk. A mixture of a nerd and a dork.

I am now adopting this word, nerk, into my vocabulary.

I am now adopting this word, nerk, into my vocabulary.

Me too. I am married to one. And that is perfect, for me.

Is Harding an OKCPS magnet school?

Not a magnet, a charter.

Unlike Classen, they take all who apply. So far it's been first come/first serve. They could alternatively do a lottery system.

So out of the three top scoring API schools in the state, two were from Oklahoma City Public Schools? Sweet. Congrats Classen SAS and Harding.

Yup :)

And yes, Mid is right. We accept all who apply. There is nothing more to the application than filling out the basic information and supplying the same stuff you would for any public school enrollment. Charters are not allowed to turn anyone away from enrolling. A lot of people have the misconception that we hand-pick our students, and that is why our scores are high. Trust me, there is no hand-picking going on. Some of these kids wouldn't make it very far in the real world without some excellent teaching/mentoring.

Magnets, on the other hand, can have qualifications for acceptance, such as an audition or test, which is what Classen SAS does. Depending on the school's mission, they determine the best way to choose kids for their school. In Classen's case, I know there is an audition requirement and a written test to be part of the music program, and I'm sure there are auditions/portfolios for the other performing/fine arts, as well. They can and do regularly turn students away.

Thanks for the info. I was curious as to the differences between Harding and OSSM.

Keep up the good work!

Yup :)

Magnets, on the other hand, can have qualifications for acceptance, such as an audition or test, which is what Classen SAS does. Depending on the school's mission, they determine the best way to choose kids for their school. In Classen's case, I know there is an audition requirement and a written test to be part of the music program, and I'm sure there are auditions/portfolios for the other performing/fine arts, as well. They can and do regularly turn students away.


They only turn away vastly underqualified students though, and it really is not that difficult to get accepted. I auditioned in the piano department and had to attend two auditions. The first one I played 1 song and took a music theory test. Perhaps I should put "test" in quotations because on questions where I didn't know the answer, the proctor basically just explained the concept to me and gave me the answer...LOL. Then later I attended another audition where I played another song on the piano. I was accepted, but eventually decided I'd rather focus on academics and applied for the IB (International Baacaulareaute) program. For that, they require you score at or above the 85 percentile on the standardized ITBS test , and you also have to write an essay as part of the process. The essay is written at the school, and the prompt question was also simple. Like I said, its pretty easy to get accepted to CSAS, the hard put to managing to stay afloat there. And no, I didn't come from Westminster Elementary or West Nichols Hills Elementary. I graduated from Classen SAS a little over 6 years ago and not much has changed.