The following lede paragraph below in italics appeared in a Hartford
newspaper under the heading, “State Working On New Rating System For Schools That Goes Beyond Test Scores.”
“State officials are seeking to broaden the
measurement of school performance, often criticized for over-reliance on test
scores, to include the arts, civics, physical fitness, attendance, and even
qualities such as student persistence and personal development.”
Here is a re-write
that accurately reflects both the intention and the outcome of the state’s
effort to lower the measurement standard:
“State officials,
attempting to readjust federal standards concerning test measurements so as to satisfy Connecticut’s reform averse
teacher unions, are seeking to dilute the measurement of school performance in
core subjects by including among them the arts, civics, physical fitness,
attendance, and even qualities such as student persistence and personal
development.”
As my late
father-in-law – without doubt the best malapropist in Connecticut -- might have
said, “If the truth pinches, wear it.”
Educational reformers in the state who had hoped to reform
education by creating a standard according to which the pedagogical chaff would
be separated from the pedagogical wheat, particularly in underperforming urban
public schools, had better hope that the Feds, who must pass on this nonsense,
have the wit to see through politics as practiced in Connecticut. Here,
somewhat like the Aztecs of old, we throw our children on the pyre to placate
Union gods.
Comments
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The truth that nobody wants to accept, certainly not out loud, is that the primary qualitative difference between government school districts is the students. (If not nature, than certainly lack of nurture.) I am actually sympathetic with teacher desire for plausibly reachable standards, when so much of education is out of their hands. Granted, their self-serving complaints in the key of political correctness are humorous. I am also sympathetic with taxpayers who don't want to pay teachers or administrators for the bloated, bureaucratic, monopolistic monstrosity that is our education "system," I consider myself fortunate that I wasn't arrested for child abuse when I allowed my kid kid to attend HPS for seven years. Curious that guys like Eric Holder don't crack teacher heads as enthusiastically as cop cabezas. Is there not a history of white liberal oppression leading to that notorious Achievement Gap? Don't minority-community Americans distrust Big Education, if not Western Civ altogether?
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HARTFORD — The Hartford Federation of Teachers has expressed concern to the superintendent over higher academic goals for students this school year, saying the goals are excessive and causing undue stress on educators.
..."This inverted equation is meant to close the achievement gap," Delaney said. "I understand that; I get it. I understand this principle and strive for it every day I come here to work. It is the thought that drives me to demand rigor from all my students."
But, she added, "Don't ask me to achieve a one-size-fits-all growth when you have not achieved equity at all schools" http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hartford-cityline/hc-hartford-teachers-union-1120-20141119-story.html
Let's see with our own eyeballs how education reform is going. While we're at it, why don't we get a load of how much good Sheff v. O'Neil has done for the kids of Hartford. Get a good look at what we're buying for $500,000,000 per year?