In many cities Schools have been "tagged" with "Under performing Status " and the Principals of these schools are being transferred and in effect fired from their position............I assume that many of them have contractual rights which will allow their seniority to "kick"in and they will still be employed ............however.........this decision will follow them for the remainder of their career.........
Who is responsible for this lack of performance.......Is it the principal , teachers ,parents, or the individual students ?...........or a combination of those factors..........including the test itself...........
In the large Cities I assume language is a factor, and having a student take an exam in English when they are not literate or prepared does not seem fair to anyone since the results effect many people........
It is my understanding if a student shows up for a first day of school and it happens to be testing day......They must take the test......Wonder how that's going to work out ?
I am a believer in accountability but the rules have to be fair for all the participants in the education of the Children........
Easy for me to say........but hard to implement.............
Give me some ideas........
People think it is a win to break down a school but it is really a head fake. Millions of federal dollars are going to flow right into those failing schools. It's a huge scam.
ReplyDeletePeople worry about teacher making 40,000 to 75,000 in Massachusetts. The don't see the forest for the trees. The whole industry that has developed around the testing systems is actually a BIG scam: a whole army of test developers, test scorers, professional consultants, curriculum specialists, remediation programs, added administrators and a huge bureaucracy at the state level. You can't blink when you're watching this thing evolve. I guess federal money is more like monopoly money and easier for people to let fly than property taxes. Didn't everyone already know which schools needed help without all this craziness?
Kudos to St. Joseph's church. They run the La Vida scholars program. They select a top group of Latino high school students and they give them several nights a week for homework help and standardized test preparation. They help them find and apply for scholarships and fill out college applications. The students who benefit from this must turn around and give a certain amount of hours per week to mentor at-risk Latino junior high school students.
An idea might be to go to a group like that and talk to them about being a lawyer and an business man.
I have asked for comments.....and this reply is "what I am talking about !"Thanks Shannon........If any one has something constructive to add to this discussion.......bring it on........
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