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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I myself am a big supporter of unions in general as a way to guarantee worker rights, etc.  But I dislike MCEA's drive to get rid of differentiation and its leaders' inability to see that we have to close the achievement gap without lowering standards and leaving highly able kids to languish.[/quote]

Obviously yes, Starr, MCEA, the Board of Education, and MCPS in general are interested in closing the achievement gap -- as we all should be.

But how are they advocating using lower standards as a strategy for closing the achievement gap? How are they advocating leaving highly-able kids to languish (!) as a strategy for closing the achievement gap?

And even if they actually did have a secret malign agenda to do this, what would happen? The numbers would come out, and everybody would immediately see that the reason the achievement gap was smaller was not because the lower-scoring groups were scoring higher, but because the higher-scoring groups were scoring lower. Do you think that they are too foolish or too incompetent to realize this?

[/quote]

You do realize, that for better or worse, and for the most part that American public education is 'one size fits all'?
You do realize this correct?
There is no curriculum on the planet that is going to fit every need of every child, not even in private school.
Hopefully, you find a curriculum that works FOR THE MOST part for your kid.
Where they do not meet ALL OF YOUR NEEDS, you supplement.
Otherwise, homeschool and your kid will get EVERYTHING you want them to get.

Not really.  The tests they use to measure student achievement (MSA and HSA) are extremely easy.  Highly able kids can easily score very high on them and still be bored and unchallenged in the classroom.

If you look at the benchmarks that Starr is setting, you will see that they are a fairly low bar.  So if there are few resources dedicated to efforts other than having all kids meet that low bar, you are by default teaching to the middle.

Then look at his ideas about classroom differentiation.  He expects teachers to instruct what amounts to, in some schools, 7 or 8 different reading or math levels in one classroom.  Do you think the top kids are getting challenged and working up to their ability?  Or are they doing "independent work" (i.e. worksheet after worksheet) while the teacher addresses the lower performing kids so they can all make the low MSA level that's required?

I am ALL FOR closing the gap but that doesn't mean you can make education one size fits all and remain a world class school system.[/quote][/quote]

oopss wacky computer operator error above...

meant to say:

You do realize, that for better or worse, and for the most part that American public education is 'one size fits all'? 
You do realize this correct? 
There is no curriculum on the planet that is going to fit every need of every child, not even in private school. 
Hopefully, you find a curriculum that works FOR THE MOST part for your kid. 
Where they do not meet ALL OF YOUR NEEDS, you supplement. 
Otherwise, homeschool and your kid will get EVERYTHING you want them to get. 
[/quote]

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