Reply to Is MCPS Superintendent Starr stupid?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"Dumbing down the top" would lower the average test score, not raise it.[/quote]

The top has topped it out. Dumbing them down will not lower the average. At the same time, teach them better will not improve the average either because they top out. This is the insidious side effects of standardized testing. You bet this is what is going on. Read the book "the good school."[/quote]

Very true!  Looking at the MSAs .... they are at a level such that bright kids will always score advanced.  These kids' performance is not going to change if you ignore their instructional needs.  This isn't a reflection of the challenge and interest of their actual classes, it's a reflection of the level of the test.  And that's fine, for what it is.  But if getting MSA scores up is the only method by which you evaluate MCPS performance, you are ignoring the top third of kids.

It's not that I think MCPS isn't challenging enough for most kids -- they work hard to provide challenge and enrichment and overall I'm impressed with what my sixth grader in a regular MCPS shool is doing.  It's not as challenging as the magnet my other child is in, but that's ok - it's right for her.  She's also in a "green zone" school where the level of preparedness of all kids is high so she doesn't have to compete for attention with kids who are at a much lower level academically and therefore need a lot of attention from the teacher.  This is not the case for "red zone" kids who don't get into the magnets.

What worries me is the rhetoric, the subtle (and not so subtle) digs at "smart kids" as being socially inept or thinking they are better than other kids, or that they aren't really deserving of extra challenge, it's just their parents who are vocal complainers.  (And it's ironic because the highly gifted magnets really emphasize group work and those kids do lots of cooperative grouop projects!) This kind of attitude is really undermining the efforts of parents who sincerely only want an appropriate education for their children, and it flies in the face of research about teaching highly able students.  It's also insulting to those kids who really need this.

I have attended a number of events where Starr has spoken and come away dismayed.  He comes across as very arrogant and dismissive of viewpoints other than his own.  He does a lot of "outreach" which limits feedback and gives the impression of listening to others without actually listening.

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