HA!

Waooo, they are good in numbers! perfect fir, 100-27=73, 27+73=100, they have an A+

The Star runs scripture on its flag? Doesn't that seem a little strange? Unbiased news media and all.

Logan, Indy is one of a few papers (if there are more than one these days) that run scripture or political slogans in page furniture. It's something that papers in decades past commonly did -- heck, there are still some small papers in isolated parts of West Virginia with taglines in their nameplates like, "Official Newspaper of the Democratic Party in (withheld) County." (And if you think scripture references are out-of-date... but then again, some people say those taglines are still valid at many papers, but they're just printed with invisible ink.)

It's a nice, individual touch in a world where many newspapers do the same thing across the board, don't you think?

And no, a 73 isn't an A. It's a C on most grading scales.

I think the papers gets an A+ for getting their math correct, whereas so many others are fuzzy on the issue.

Doug: I like knowing where newspapers stand. Sometimes it's their taglines; sometimes it's their headlines.

I never understand these types of stories. Texas Monthly does this every year, too, where they take the State's official numbers, rework them and say that all the schools that Texas named "Exemplary" actully suck. It's a great way to sell magazines and newspapers, don't get me wrong. But are the readers ever so fed up with numbers telling them boom-oh-wait-doom anytime we say so? It's like the whole "eggs are good for you, but could kill you, too." I know a lot of people who just say "F it - I'm eating eggs 'cause I like 'em." I wonder if people just stop listening to their newspapers and the state's dept. of education and start asking their kids.

Nah, that would take too much, what's that called, parenting.

As someone who attends an "elite highschool" (google for TJHSST), I more than understand the need for better funding for public schools. It's the best public school in the nation, and the building is a piece of crap from the 70's that hasn't been renovated since. The bathrooms are run down and disgusting, there are desks at least as old as the school that are still in use, the tiling is cracked, the ceiling is flaking apart, and we're going to have to park another set of trailers in the front yard to go with the set that already graces our parking lot. Even in Fairfax County, one of the most liberal and wealthiest places in the US, education still needs a helping hand.

Newspapers, keep at it. Rework those numbers, the students appreciate it.

Andrew: Oh, I didn't mean that newspapers shouldn't be highlighting all of the problems facing public education today, many of which are worse than what you or I experienced in school. I just mean that I don't think this method is very effective. It abstracts the idea of numbers and statistics equating to success - and then shoots those numbers in the foot by re-reporting someone saying the numbers are wrong. It leaves readers with a confused response: "Who do I believe?"

Believe those on the frontlines. The teachers, the administrators, the students, the cafeteria workers, the graduates 10, 20 years later. Cut past the PR, the nice banners displaying passing rates on state mandated tests, the nice facades of gleaming stadiums and see what's really happening in our schools, what is being taught, and why. The people who need to care - all of society, not just parents who are looking for the best school to send their kid to - are best reached by, you guessed it, newspapers.

These stories are standard fare, and great first-day stories: company or government reports ones set of numbers, study claims them as lies. But any google-monkey can get that same report and read it for themselves. What we as journalists provide is context, beyond the 5Ws. It's a day-two story, of course, but the more in touch we are with the schools, the sooner we can (come closer to) answering what we should have known all the time: why are our kids failing? We don't have to wait for the studies; we know it.

I'm just saying: depth. It's what keeps us relevant and why we're not dead yet.

Education doesn't need a "helping hand," it needs reformed. Central planning from Washington hasn't helped -- it's hurt. Let the local people run the schools, Andrew. But this site isn't about opinions, it's about news design and how coverage relates. Yeah, nothing like a good numbers story for a top strip (isn't that a Gannett thing?), a story that could be spun 200 different ways. Put human faces on those stories and they get a lot more compelling (and better to design).

The New Hampshire Union Leader (formerly FAR more conservative than it is today) runs the same tagline as the Star.

As noted, this used to be quite common in papers. Luckily, the ACLU hasn't sued them for violating the "separation of church and press."

Forced "seperation of church and press?"
Now that's a cringe-inducing thought.