Reply to What are the odds of them eliminating neighborhood elementary schools in favor of controlled choice?

Forum Index » DC Public and Public Charter Schools

Reply to "What are the odds of them eliminating neighborhood elementary schools in favor of controlled choice?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ok, let's see if we can agree that children are not widgets.  They are individuals with different strengths and weaknesses.

If we accept that, then why would we think that all children of a certain age will be at the same grade level?  The reality is, they are not.

However, we can't just retain students year after year.  That doesn't make sense nor would it solve the problem.

So the reality is, most classrooms with have students who are actually learning above grade level, some on grade level and others that are below grade level.

If we accept this reality, then I don't think it's logical or reasonable to expect all students to be learning at the same grade level.

Therefore, testing students at the same grade level doesn't really tell us much.

Before all this testing madness started, this is what schools were like.  The difference is we didn't publish test scores and we didn't label schools as "failing".

I'm not against standardized testing.  I just don't think it's being used appropriately.  And I don't think we need to label schools as "failing" or "successful".  I do think we need to examine the quality of educational opportunities that are offered in every school and encourage students to work to their personal best.

So I would argue that people should not be complaining about being in boundary for a "failing" school.  But that would be a fool's errand.  The damage is already done and I don't think we will ever get past this.[/quote]

In other words, you're fine with achievement gaps.[/quote]

I'm not fine with achievement gaps.  I'm not fine with income gaps.  Nor am I fine with children who are homeless.  Or children who are hungry, or don't have glasses.  I'm not fine with a lot things in this city.  I am convinced the achievement gaps would narrow if we addressed the underlying social problems in our city.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics