+1. It’s the prevailing thought around the education world. No one quite comes out and says it like this, but it’s the gist of things. Rather than say it like this, schools do things like putting everyone in honors and not even having Gen Ed classes (which is what our current MS did.) Also the endless retakes and “PBL.” (project based learning which is code for how to give kids an A on a big graded assignment who could never get an A or B on an actual test of the material.) The last class day or two at the end of every quarter is spent allowing kids who didn’t turn in a bunch of their work to do it really quickly and turn it in. The kids who already did all of the their work just sit there for several days at the end of each quarter. I’ve honestly started calling my kids in sick these days. The amount of reminder emails we get from the principal about checking our kids grades, looking for missing assignments and checking in with teachers before it’s “too late.” It’s ridiculous. The only care about the bottom. The middle and top kids are just noise. |
It’s a symptom of the rampant astroturfing in NoVA. |
Your idea of extremist is the majority of voters' idea of decency since the GOP anti-education agenda was soundly defeated. |
Illinois schoolchildren did a little better this past school year, but they are still behind where they were before the pandemic hit and put them out of their classrooms for large blocks of time. It’s interesting timing as Illinois state lawmakers are showing too little interest in keeping the one thing that worked during the pandemic: school choice. Scores for public schools were just released and showed only 35% of students in grades 3 through 8 could read at grade level in 2023, according to the Illinois Report Card. Only 27% met proficiency in math. That is 3 percentage points lower in reading and 5 points lower in math than before the pandemic. High school juniors taking the SAT posted similar proficiency: 32% could read and 27% do math at grade level. Illinois Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said the state has a “significant distance to travel” toward recovery after pandemic-era school closures caused record-low proficiency rates statewide. Really? You mean Illinois shouldn’t be satisfied when roughly 2 of every 3 students are behind? The state’s education leaders were spinning the scores as “strong progress” because both elementary reading and math increased from the prior year. They also celebrated the high school graduation rate, which sits at 87.6% for the class of 2023 – the highest it has been in 13 years. But look back a year at when the graduating class of 2023 were tested as juniors. Just 30% met grade-level standards in reading and 29% in math when they took the state-required SAT in spring 2022. So, our record graduation rates are basically sending 7 of every 10 young adults out into the world ill-prepared for the demands they will face. How long will it take for college admissions officers and hiring managers to start saying: “Oh. That’s an Illinois high school diploma. Maybe we should take the Massachusetts grad.” More: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/policy-shop/the-policy-shop-illinois-last-stand-for-school-choice/ |
School choice helps URM and lower SES students succeed. But the teachers unions hate the idea, and they will funnel the $$$ they collect from members to sleazy lobbyists solely to fight choice. |
Schools can’t close the achievement gap. |
If you are going to change anything, you don't need any AAP elementary, those students can find plenty of enrichment elsewhere until they reach higher levels. Use the funds for intervention in the early years so more students can take calculus in high school. |
Do you have any support for that assertion? It seems like the biggest beneficiaries of school choice are for profit corporations running schools. People seem to get the idea that a voucher is all that is standing between their kid and the Potomac school when the reality is that the only schools accepting the voucher will look nothing like the private school parents envision |
Achieving the goal of closing the gap by bringing the top down by implementing SGB. |
Nope. If kids need “buffer” assignments to boost their grades then they were never really top students to begin with. Eliminating grade inflation doesn’t bring the top down, it thins the herd to the kids who’ve actually mastered the material. |
+1 |
There has now been created a world in which the success of others is a grievance, rather than an example. |
Well said! I hope we can right the ship before it is too late, but the task keeps getting harder. As Einstein said “the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits.” |
This is an absolutely hilarious understatement. This is an area filled with intelligent, educated people. We aren’t going to elect Rs no matter how many message board posts you make. |
“School choice” is code for vouchers. You aren’t getting vouchers. |