DJ's Make Millions? Calvin Harris Tops the List

This weekend my high school held prom at a cool venue in Denver, and the DJ for the  evening was a sophomore at our school. It was impressive, as he had hundreds of kids on the dance for hours, and they all had a blast. Over the years, we've hired DJs for our dances, and I've never given much thought to people who do this for a living. But I've taken notice recently after learning that the world's top DJs can make tens of millions of dollars a year. Who knew?

It’s been a year to remember for Calvin Harris. Over the past twelve months, the Scottish DJ earned $66 million, dropped an album that rocketed to the top of the U.S. dance charts and started dating Taylor Swift, in the process dethroning Jay Z and Beyoncé as music’s top-earning couple. The fact that he’s the world’s top-earning EDM act—tying the record for annual earnings by a DJ, which he set last year—is almost a footnote. Harris HRS -0.01% is once again the top name on our Electronic Cash Kings list, nearly doubling the total of second-rankedDavid Guetta, who pulled in $37 million. Not bad for a guy who’s roughly a decade removed from being a supermarket stockboy in a remote town in Scotland.“The rise of dance music has been astronomical … I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he told FORBES.

That sort of money simply baffles me - though I am just beginning to understand how the world of EDM - Electronic Dance Music - can be so lucrative. Entertainment has come a long way since the days of traveling minstrel shows, and there is no doubting the revenue involved in EDM. So, the next time a student is talking about his interest in DJ-ing, I will look more favorably. Though I am not entirely sure of when the DJ is writing and composing (or creating music) and when he is simply mixing and playing the music. This is a world that I'd like to learn more about. I'm thinking I might learn something from a new drama about the EDM world - We Are Your Friends. I'm not sure how authentic it is, but the film looks intriguing.

Cole Carter (Zac Efron) is a former track star and struggling 23-year-old DJ in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene, dreams of becoming a major record producer. He constantly reminds himself of his plan to rise to the top consists of three things: a laptop, some talent, and one track. Cole lives with his friend, Mason (Jonny Weston), and they would usually hang out along with their friends, Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez) and Squirrel (Alex Shaffer), around their native San Fernando Valley. With Mason's help and his friends heavily promoting at college campuses, Cole finally books a gig to DJ at a local nightclub, where he meets the headliner, a once-innovative DJ, James Reed 

Edward Wan of Washington is the National "Math Bee" Champion for 2016

Math Counts.

In this STEM-focused era when schools, companies, and legislators are falling all over themselves to promote the study of science, technology, engineering, and math, it's truly surprising that more people are not aware of the national Math Bee known as MATHCOUNTS. The MATHCOUNTS competition is sponsored by the Raytheon Corporation and organized by a foundation of people including the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Like the national spelling bee, MATHCOUNTS is open to middle school students who compete in regional and state tournaments for the chance to compete at the national level.

The competitors known as "mathletes" compete in individual and team written rounds with the goal of "making the stage" for the lightening fast Countdown Round, where the top mathletes answer complex math questions on algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics, and they must solve them in forty-five seconds or less. The mad math skills of these kids is truly extraordinary, and the head-to-head matches are nothing short of breathtaking in their intensity.

Check out these highlights from the Countdown Round:

This year's competition was held at the Renassiance Hotel in Washington DC, and the last two mathletes standing were eighth grader Edward Wan of Washington and Luke Robitaille of Texas. The Texas team was truly dominant this year, winning the team competition and sending all four of its mathletes to the 12-person countdown - a feat which has never happened. Texas also feature two sixth graders in countdown, which has also never happened. The countdown round was featured on ESPN3 on Monday, May 9 during the mid-day. It's nice for ESPN to offer the coverage - but it's a bit of a shame that ESPN offers three hours of prime-time air to the national spelling bee. While we shouldn't take anything away from the achievements of the nation's top spellers, there is really no comparison to the incredible math skills of the nation's top mathletes. Perhaps someday, the Department of Education and ESPN and Raytheon will give proper due to the kids of MATHCOUNTS.

6th Annual Cherry Creek Poetry Slam

The power of language is alive and well in the Cherry Creek School District of Colorado, and the young slam poets of the district's six high schools are making their voices heard. Slam poet Jovan Mays is a key force behind the growing slam community in the southeast Denver school district. As a former national slam competitor and as the Poet Laureate of Aurora, Jovan inspires all kids to embrace the spoken word as a platform for their thoughts. Here's a link to the story I wrote on the Cherry Creek School District's 6th Annual Poetry Slam.

“The point is not the points – the point is the poem.” That artistic wisdom was laid down by slam poet Jovan Mays two weeks ago at the Sixth Annual Cherry Creek School District Poetry Slam. Mays, who is a district alum and the Poet Laureate of Aurora, emceed the event as twenty-four high school poets took the stage at Eaglecrest High School on April 14 to throw down verbal gymnastics in their bid for the district championship.

This year’s slam host was Ashley McCulloch, an English teacher and debate coach, who coordinated the event with students from Eaglecrest and other district high schools. For the first time, the Cherry Creek Slam featured poets from all six high schools. Jovan explained how “This district slam began six years ago after I competed at the National Poetry Slam, and I just knew I had to bring this art form back to students in my community.”  He has worked tirelessly during the past decade or so to workshop with students and teachers, promoting the power of language and the freeing power of poetry. “This art form saved me in high school,” Jovan has noted, and he is committed to opening the medium to as many kids as possible.

Cherry Creek High School's Troubadours Play Carnegie Hall

One of the great joys of working at a place like Cherry Creek High School is getting to experience the incredible artistic talents of groups like the Troubadours. Creek's men's audition a cappella choir is a group of hardworking and musically gifted young men who bring sheer joy to their art. Last month, I had the special opportunity to travel to New York City where the group participated in a musical showcase at Carnegie Hall. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many. Here's some info from the story I wrote for the Denver Post - Cherry Creek's Troubadours Take Manhattan:

Everyone knows the old adage about the way to get to Carnegie Hall – “practice, practice, practice.” No one has to tell that to the Cherry Creek High School Troubadours, as the men’s a cappella choir practices extensively, working daily in class and putting on numerous concerts throughout the year. Their hard work was recently rewarded when they achieved the dream of so many aspiring musicians, playing Carnegie Hall on a recent trip to New York City.

Cherry Creek’s audition choir The Troubadours travelled to the Big Apple in late March to participate in a Saturday evening event where eleven high school choirs from around the country came together for three days of rehearsal to prepare a musical program that was performed at Carnegie Hall. Cherry Creek choir leader and director Sarah Harrison was contacted by travel company Manhattan Concert Productions which organizes events such as the Carnegie Hall concert, and the Troubadours were invited to join the production. She has worked with the organization numerous times because she can “trust this company to put together a quality product.”

Teresa Keegan Demeans Non-College-Educated Workers to Promote Standardized Testing in Denver Post

Standardized testing - what could be wrong?

The role of standardized testing in public education continues to complicate discussions about students and learning and achievement. A major problem is people who look so superficially at the idea of education and assessment that they can't begin to fathom what could be wrong and why some parents and teachers criticize testing and "opt out." The latest argument published by the Denver Post comes from Teresa Keegan who overimplifies the issue, complicates her own argument with conflicting information, and succeeds in demeaning and insulting 7 in 10 adults who work in fields that don't rely on academic skills. Here's her piece titled: Fourteen Centuries of Standardized Testing Can't be Wrong.

But what happens when these untested kids grow up? Those who wish to become lawyers are not going to be able to "opt out" of the grueling two-day bar exam. Anyone who wants to enter the lucrative accounting field must take the four-part, 14-hour CPA exam. Will these people even be able to pass a driving test? Of course, there is one surefire way to avoid the stress that comes with qualifying for grown-up professional jobs. There are currently no testing or licensure requirements to be a retail sales associate at Walmart.

Here's my response to her:

Ms. Keegan,

While I generally enjoy and agree with your pieces for the Post, I am quite disappointed in the naive and myopic view of testing you take in your most recent piece. It is an example of the general public who have scant knowledge of education, pedagogy, assessment, and learning. While you start off on the right foot with your connection to the problems of Confucian era testing, you veer off at the end into a superficial generalization at the end which implies that since someday some kids will need to take tests for a job, then all standardized testing is simply practice for that future and thus beneficial. This generalization overlooks genuine questions about our goals and endpoints of education. A future civil servant or accountant is making a choice to enter that field. And your comparison to a driver's test is petty and misguided.

A key positive of your piece is noting that these tests (PARCC, ACT, etc.) assess only academic skills which represent only a snapshot of how kids "test," but nothing more. However, I was quite shocked at the end when you pretentiously and rather curtly dismiss the value of anyone who does not pursue academic skills and bachelor degrees and white collar work. By demeaning people who work in retail and skilled labor, you have exposed a flaw in your argument and the problems of the "college-for-all" mentality. Shame on you, Ms. Keegan. Do you not know that only 3 in 10 Americans have a four-year degree and work in a field that requires one? If you - and other pro-PARCC voices - succeed in preparing 100% of students for four-year degree and promise them white collar "academic" careers, who will work in the service industry, repair your cars and plumbing, build houses and office buildings, take out the garbage, clean the offices, stock the grocery shelves, etc, etc., etc.? Yes, some engineer will create an iPhone, and some marketing exec will commercialize it. But that product is worthless without the hundreds of thousands of workers who assemble the phone, sell the phone, and service the phone (not to mention the whole related infrastructure). Have you given much thought to the "non-academic" role played by the truck drivers who deliver all the products on which you depend for your job and your writing hobby? Your ignorance of the roles all workers play in a dynamic economy lacks the precise sort of "critical thinking" that we desperately try to teach kids ... and which is rarely "assessed" by companies like Pearson.

Additionally, the "opt out movement" does not support the elimination of all tests. They are for scrutiny of who is being tested, what is being tested, how much they/it is being tested, and, most importantly, what is being done with the data. They are critical of the quality of the tests and the "quality control" in determining which assessments we use. Do you have any expertise in math and language arts assessment? Is the PARCC an accurate test of skills? Is it norm or criterion referenced? Have the proficiency cut points been piloted and cross referenced? How can different states have different cut points for PARCC proficiency? How can PARCC honestly declare that "ZERO percent" of high school students in Illinois are advanced"? Knowing many top national schools and students in Illinois, I know for certain that "data" like this exposes serious flaws in the system, and those flaws are not only deserving of far more scrutiny than you would pursue, but they also demand a refusal to submit to the test until the validity of the measures are determined. 

Have you given any thought to these concerns and issues? Assessment has a role - and so does careful scrutiny of the tests and the process. As a parent and a teacher and a school administrator, I think carefully about these issues on a daily basis. I write extensively on the issue, and I've testified before the State Board of Education and the Senate Education Committee. And, I am troubled by people superficially commenting on serious educational issues.

I would be happy to discuss the issue of standardized tests and assessment policy with you further if you have any interest in learning more about the issue. Let's chat before you decide to publish another piece on testing.

Regards, 

Michael Mazenko

A Teacher's View

http://www.denverpost.com/voices/ci_27468887/colorado-voices-parcc-wont-solve-our-testing-problems

http://www.denverpost.com/perspective/ci_29307686/mazenko-stop-trying-fix-schools-and-just-fix

Can Teachers Do What Students Are Asked

RE-POST: From Mazenglish - September 2012

Recently a colleague asked me for a copy of a practice or released-ACT test.  After a relative with a science background had taken the science section and aced it, and a math-oriented friend had taken the math section and scored a 100%, my colleague was wondering how he would do on the English and reading section of the ACT.  Because I am in charge of our grammar program and have access to many of the standardized resources, he asked for a test.

And it made me wonder.

How many high school teachers test themselves against the ACT or SAT or AP tests in their field?  How many trust themselves to do well?  How many teachers can - and do - actually write the high quality essay or research paper in response to their own questions?  And should we know if we can or not?  Years ago, while taking a staff development class on grammar instruction, I sat with a group of English teachers and took the ACT and SAT tests.  It was exciting and interesting and even intimidating for some.  But it revealed a lot.

The same type of challenge occurred in an assessment of writing class.  Our instructor put an essay prompt in front of us based on some common reading and told us to write the best essay we could.  The terror of the blank page came storming back at some people, and it was an inspired and insightful lesson.  One great activity that addresses this issue is the National Writing Project.  Writing teachers should write, and because it was promoted to me as a great opportunity, I have challenged myself twice during the summer by taking the Colorado Writing Project.  In fact, that class led to success in publishing my writing and inspired my foray into the blogosphere.  Because I regularly write on-line and occasionally publish pieces in the Denver Post, I am pretty confident in my skills and the ability to produce high quality content.  The same goes for my grammar skills because I spend so much time taking the sample tests our committee writes.

But, I have to be honest.  I am not so confident about the rest of the teacher corps in this country.  And perhaps scoring poorly on a standardized test - or writing a weak essay - has no correlation to success in teaching and inspiring students.  However, if for nothing more than a bit of empathy and compassion, I believe we should regularly challenge ourselves to do that which we ask of children, day in and day out.

Think about it.

Visiting the Kirkland Museum in Denver

As part of my son's fourteenth birthday (and Shakespeare's b-day and 400th anniversary of his death), we took the light-rail into Denver yesterday to take advantage of the Open Doors Denver program. Dozens of historic and significant Denver sights are open to the public for one day to encourage people to investigate the rich culture of the Mile High City. After a nice brunch at the Mercantile in Union Station and a casual stroll down the Sixteenth Street Mall, we made our way over to an open day at the Kirkland Museum, which is soon moving to a new Denver locale. Our excursion proved to be a most valuable experience, for I was not familiar with this unique and somewhat iconic figure of American abstract expressionism.

Quirky is good. With so many art museums nationwide drawing from the same playbooks, a numbing homogenization has set in, as they too often race to show the same artists and play copycat on many fronts, including the way they exhibit and interpret the works on their walls. If you've seen one recent exhibit of Chinese contemporary art, for example, you can pretty much predict how the others will play out. But the Kirkland avoids that trap. Perhaps because director Hugh Grant is not a museum curator by training, there is a refreshingly unbridled, free- form approach to everything the Kirkland does. He does things the way he sees fit and is not always looking around to see if his approach conforms to what every other gallery in town is showing. Be yourself. The Kirkland does not try to be all things to all people. It has established a few well-defined areas of emphasis for itself, and it hews to them. It hopes to spark visitor curiosity with at least one, but it simply accepts that not everyone will be interested by what it has to offer. In fact, children under 13 aren't allowed in, ever. While the spotlight on the decorative arts springs from Kirkland's own collecting in the field, the museum's more recent foray into Colorado art derives from discerning a gap in what other area institutions are doing and shrewdly and aggressively acting to fill it.

As part of my intent to start living the life I've imagined, I want to spend more time and energy exploring the world of art and culture. Last month, I visited the Museum of Modern Art while in New York with a school group, and I was not only captivated by the art, but I was thoroughly educated in the area because I visited with an artist, our school's Fine Arts coordinator. Seeing the MoMA through the eyes of an artist was one of the most inspiring cultural moments of my life.

I need more of that.

It's Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Day

As part of National Poetry Month, today is "Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Day."   The idea is to keep a poem in your pocket and share with others as a reminder of the ever present art and poetry of the world. Here are the poems my Youth Advisory Board passed out at school today.

Trees – Mark Haddon

They stand in parks and graveyards and gardens.
Some of them are taller than department stores,

yet they do not draw attention tothemselves.

You will be fitting a heated towel rail one day
and see, through the louvre window,
a shoal of olive-green fish changing direction
in the air that swims above the little gardens.

Or you will wake at your aunt’s cottage,
your sleep broken by a coal train on the empty hill
as the oaks roar in the wind off the channel.

Your kindness to animals, your skill at the clarinet,
these are accidental things.
We lost this game a long way back.
Look at you. You’re reading poetry.
Outside the spring air is thick
with the seeds of their children.

Introduction to Poetry

By Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem

And hold it up to the light like a color slide

Or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into the poem

And watch him probe his way out,

Or walk inside the poem’s room and

Feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water ski

Across the surface of a poem, waving

At the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

Is tie the poem to a chair with rope

And torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

To find out what it really means.

My Teacher Ate My Homework

By Kenn Nesbitt

My teacher ate my homework,

which I thought was rather odd.

He sniffed at it and smiled

with an approving sort of nod.

He took a little nibble --

it's unusual, but true --

then had a somewhat larger bite

and gave a thoughtful chew.

I think he must have liked it,

for he really went to town.

He gobbled it with gusto

and he wolfed the whole thing down.

He licked off all his fingers,

gave a burp and said, "You pass."

I guess thats how they grade you

when you're in a cooking class.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

By Tupac Shakur

Did you hear about the rose that grew

from a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature's law is wrong it

learned to walk with out having feet.

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,

it learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete

when no one else ever cared.

What Should Students Read?

REPOST from Mazenglish blog - November 2012

Is there a "sacred book" that all students must read to be considered "educated"?  Doubtful.  However, as the Common Core works its way into the nation's consciousness and the curricula nationwide, teachers are discussing - sometimes passionately so - exactly what kids should be reading.  I've heard it said that "All reading is good reading - but reading literature is sublime."  Certainly, there is an argument to be made for reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird over John Green's The Fault in Our Stars or a simple blog on ESPN.com.  Basically, education is about introducing students to ideas and information that they wouldn't normally engage with on their own.  And, learning comes from being challenged - both in basic language as well as ideas.  Thus, a child may engage with great YA literature on his own, and many will read anything about sports, but the depth and quality of Mockingbird will give them that which they would miss - that's education.  Education writer Sarah Mosle weighs in on the topic of reading lists with her commentary for the New York Times on "What Children Should Read?"

The most challenging and controversial aspect of the Common Core for many English teachers is the expectation of a "healthy dose" of non-fiction.  Namely, CC advocates for access and learning from "informational texts" which worries English teachers who worry about losing Harper Lee to pamphlets and how-to manuals.  And, English teachers have clear right to protect their "content" - for the other content areas like social studies and science should be - and should have been - teaching these texts and this genre all along.  Isn't a history or biology textbook an "informational text?"  Of course it is.  But is the skill of literacy part of the expectations for those texts and teachers?  Probably not because far too many non-English content teachers do not see literacy and the basic skill of accessing content from the text as part of their job.  And there is a general, but misguided, contempt for the content of English in the world.  For example,

David Coleman, president of the College Board, who helped design and promote the Common Core, says English classes today focus too much on self-expression. “It is rare in a working environment,” he’s argued, “that someone says, ‘Johnson, I need a market analysis by Friday but before that I need a compelling account of your childhood.’ ”

Coleman ought to be a bit ashamed of himself for his myopic understanding of the content of English class.  While many in the workplace don't have to write poems or short stories for their job, the emotional intelligence skills of narrative and empathy are integral to the job.  Most companies know these days how important the creating of narrative in selling products and self-expression in relating to clients are to productivity in the marketplace.  So, English teachers are going to be hit by all sides from this attack on the content of English.  And they need to be able to effectively argue for the value of their content at the same time they increase the expectation of literacy on other content areas.

What schools really need isn’t more nonfiction but better nonfiction, especially that which provides good models for student writing. Most students could use greater familiarity with what newspaper, magazine and book editors call “narrative nonfiction”: writing that tells a factual story, sometimes even a personal one, but also makes an argument and conveys information in vivid, effective ways.  There are anthologies of great literature and primary documents, but why not “30 for Under 20: Great Nonfiction Narratives?” Until such editions appear, teachers can find complex, literary works in collections like “The Best American Science and Nature Writing,” on many newspaper Web sites, which have begun providing online lesson plans using articles for younger readers, and onProPublica.org. Last year, The Atlantic compiled examples of the year’s best journalism, and The Daily Beast has its feature “Longreads.” Longform.org not only has “best of” contemporary selections but also historical examples dating back decades.  If students read 100 such articles over the course of a year, they may not become best-selling authors, but like Mr. Gladwell, they’ll get the sound and feel of good writing in their heads. With luck, when they graduate, there will still be ranks of literary nonfiction authors left for them to join.

 Some food for thought.  What are you teaching?

A Race for Literacy

REPOST: From Mazenglish blog - October 2012

Ever since the Obama Administration announced its Race to the Top, the education field seems to have taken on a increased sense of urgency.  While the STEM movement seems to garner the most attention, some scholars are sounding warnings about the serious deficiencies in literacy that are making it more difficult for American students to compete for jobs in the contemporary age.  Nora Flemming - blogging for Curriculum Matters - spotlights a conference panel at the Brookings Institution that took a critical view of student literacy and proposed ideas about a national push for literacy.  In fact, the idea for a federal grant to fund improved literacy seems on the horizon.

Certainly, the issue of literacy is of primary importance in the Information Age.  However, I worry about the need for increased funding and a national program for literacy.  Isn't literacy a basic goal and primary component of education and instruction already?  Shouldn't schools already be teaching reading, writing, and math.  Of the Big Three in education, literacy holds the top two slots.  Alas, we all know that the current system isn't adequately developing literacy, despite countless movements and reform agendas.  Students simply are not reading and writing effectively on a nationwide scale - and the ranks of partially proficient readers and writers are bleeding into the higher socioeconomic circles that should be counted on for standards of literacy.

The question English teachers and English departments need to ask is whether they are teaching and developing literacy - or whether they are just reading and talking about the books they really like.  And, the question schools and school districts need to ask is whether all teachers outside of the English department are still assuming that literacy is an English class skill.  Because it's not.  Arguably, schools need to implement school-wide literacy instruction on par with the literacy initiative used to turn around Brockton High School in Massachusetts.  Until literacy skills are embedded in curriculum throughout a students day, too many kids - and teachers - will see reading and writing as something that happens only in English class.  And that will perpetuate our need for a Race to Literacy.

Reformers Harm American Education with Monoculture Focus

Standardization and a one-size-fits-all education system is antithetical to the entire history of American education, which has long been grounded in local control, autonomy, and individuality. Concerns about the myopic micro-focus are well expressed by Denver-area teacher Kurt MacDonald in his recent commentary for the Denver Post.

Through their tireless work to propagate "optimally designed curriculum" to schools across the country, they are breeding a monoculture in education and destroying the diversity of ideas that provides fuel for creative, dynamic scholarship. This trend is further compounded by state and national assessments that operate to standardize the content and approach classroom teachers take to education. When a majority of tomorrow's jobs and challenges have yet to be imagined, our students require the diversity of thought necessary to tackle them. Knowing this impending challenge, we need an educational paradigm promoting a cornucopia of educational approaches, not one that collapses down to a homogenous method, no matter how historically effective. Whether it is in dog breeding or ecosystems, the cost of limiting diversity is profound.

Sadly, innovative people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg and David Coleman are promoting homogeneous curricula, lessons, and standards in heterogeneous classes in complete contrast to the environments in which they grew and thrived. People promoting such conformity have little experience with or understanding of the incredible diversity of teaching environments in this country. And their political power serves to further reduce the scope of a dynamic liberal arts approach. Thanks to Kurt MacDonald for his thoughtful piece - but unless readers can and will assert their concerns to policymakers, we will continue to see the narrowing of education that ultimately services only standardized test and educational materials companies like Pearson and College Board.

"Best Teen Novel Ever"

NOTE: This post is a reprint from my other blog in 2012.

Last month NPR opened a seemingly simple little survey, asking for the top 100 Young Adult (YA) titles ever.  After a month of suggestions they narrowed the list to 235, which are currently up for voting on NPR's website.  Of course, nothing like a survey is ever simple - and this list is currently raising a lot of heated discussion about "best books" and "Young Adult" fiction and "teen literature."  Certainly, there are books that are written with young audiences in mind - and there are others which are about young people, but are certainly written toward mature audiences.

The problem with this list is centered around the vast array of literature, covering everything from nearly easy reader books to profoundly and historically significant works of classic literature.  There are books which are simply great stories, and their are works of social criticism written with style and sophistication.  Any English teacher - or reader, really - who doesn't see an incomparable difference between The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies doesn't really understand novels and literature as anything other than stories.  Granted, for a consumer, maybe that is enough.  But for a serious news source like NPR, it's strangely inappropriate - if not down right wrong - to offer a list that contains both The Encyclopedia Brown book series and To Kill a Mockingbird.  From a purely prose stylist standpoint, they don't belong in the same section of the library.  And when we get into content matter, social criticism, and thematic elements, they don't even belong in the same building.

According to Petra Mayer - an associate editor at NPR coordinating the contest - the current frontrunners for the competition are the Harry Potter Series, John Green's The Fault in Our Stars about a teen struggling with a terminal cancer diagnosis, and The Hunger Games, which is a rather violent thriller that is written at about a fifth grade level, but contains enough violence to be more appropriate for upper middle school.  What bothers me about these "popularity contests" is the lack of critical analysis into what makes a good Young Adult novel.  Certainly, popularity matters.  However, on a purely critical level, there is little quality writing in The Hunger Games - despite an engaging story, but the work of J.K. Rowling is written well enough to be taught in high school.  In terms of these sort of lists - at least when ranked by NPR, and not E-Entertainment - the quality of writing should matter.

That said, I'd argue that John Green's Fault is, like Harry Potter, a wonderful story and a very well written work worthy of classroom study.