proof that Fairfax is better than Moco?
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Anonymous
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No. As far as I can tell from the article, none of the 105 schools in the pilot was in Montgomery County. So what the article says about Montgomery County schools is: nothing.
Plus, Thomas Friedman. I mean. http://thomasfriedmanopedgenerator.com/about.php |
Anonymous
| He is definitely not my favorite writer. for sure. Still sobering to hear that upper middle class American kids are being beaten up by international tests. MoCo has always been high performing, but the recent development is concerning. I cannot say I am fond of Starr. |
Anonymous
"American kids" is such a large demographic that the reports are almost meaningless. Massachusetts students, e.g., compare very favorably to their international peers: http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=4457 |
Anonymous
Anonymous
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Having lived in Europe recently, I can tell you that several European countries (including Germany, for instance) are experiencing same issues with performance on international tests. And even though income disparity in Germany is much less wide than in US, that is the issue there too. More affluent areas of German with fewer immigrants still do exceptionally well (same as US). Inner city areas with more immigrants in Europe have failing schools too.
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Anonymous
| But that is not what this report says. This report says that the upper middle class Americans are falling behind as a group. Of course, there are still districts who do well. |
Anonymous
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So I looked at the report, and the report says that the 105 US schools in the pilot study are a "convenience sample". Which is a big problem right there. You can't say that "upper middle class Americans are falling behind as a group", for example. All you can say, at best, is that "upper middle class Americans are falling behind as a group, in the 105 US high schools we happened to pick for our pilot, which may or may not be representative of anything".
It's also important to note that the report comes from America Achieves, which is funded by groups (like Bloomberg and Gates) with a particular agenda in education. |
Anonymous
| What agenda do you think Gates have? Make it better? |
Anonymous
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I'm the PP at 11:08.
Everybody's goal (I hope) is to improve education. How to improve it, though -- that's where the agenda comes in. For example, the Gates Foundation and so on are generally against teachers' unions and in favor of testing, teacher evaluations based on test scores, and charter schools, and their ideas provide opportunities for edutech businesses. Diane Ravitch (who, of course, also has a particular agenda) calls them the corporate reformers. |
Anonymous
| Thanks p.p. That does sound familiar. Bill Gates wrote an op ed claiming he is going to figure out how to grade every teacher. |
Anonymous
I am all for it (rating the teachers). BTW, thanks Bill Gates for promoting Khan Academy!! |
Anonymous
| How does GT education work in Fairfax? |
Anonymous
Before I believe that a school in Fairfax beats all schools in the world - I want to see who goes to this school. If these results is driven by Asians and Whites, I will suspect that the school has cracked the code for excellence. AND if this school actually has genuine diversity - racial and economic - then it really means something. |
Anonymous
| Woodson is one of them. They are calling it nonselective. |