No Pass, No Play. No Problem? Do School Activity Eligibility Requirements Help Students?

The school rule known as “No Pass/No Play” is designed to motivate high school students to pass every class, or be barred from school-sponsored extracurricular activities. “No pass” means no football, no drama, no nothing, for students with failing grades.

The rule sends some powerful messages:

Academics come first.

Failure has consequences.

Don’t mess with Texas. No kidding.

Texas was the first state to enact No Pass/No Play into law, based on recommendations from a 1984 commission on school reform led by Dallas businessman H. Ross Perot.

Texas later amended their rule, exempting some high level classes from “no pass”, and cutting the “no play” period to 3 weeks – just in time to get a player back on the field during football season.

But No Pass/No Play spread like wildfire from Texas to the rest of the nation. Sixteen states have No pass/No play rules and by 2007, a total of 32 states had some ...Continue Reading

Tags: academics, eligibility, sports

Harford Nets Hundreds of State and National Scholars; HCPS Students Earn Recognition for Achievements

From Harford County Public Schools:

The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) recently announced the finalists for the 2009-10 Maryland Distinguished Scholar Award, which include three students from Harford County Public Schools (HCPS).

The finalists from HCPS are Alex Hutcheson, senior at C. Milton Wright High School; Drew Thatcher, senior at C. Milton Wright High School; and Jacob Silverman, senior at Patterson Mill High School. Both Mr. Hutcheson and Mr. Thatcher were recognized for the achievement category, while Mr. Silverman earned his award in the talent category for instrumental music.

Furthermore, 17 Harford students were selected as semi-finalists this year for the Distinguished Scholar award in the achievement category, three were named semi-finalists in the talent category and 201 students and 22 students earned an honorable mention for the achievement and talent categories, respectively.

In addition, the National Merit Scholarship Program announced the nation’s 2010 semi-finalists, including three students from HCPS. These three students are ...Continue Reading

Tags: academics, award, education, scholarship