Yes, it is media spin. We get a lot of that in education. People who do not understand stats, read them wrong, promote them wrong and make $$$$$ off of it.
BUT, there are a lot of kids dropping out of school. Lots of reasons....
Bad parents, don't care... too busy with their lives.
Bad teachers don't care... some of us have given up... we get blamed for it all so....
Bad administrators only want smiles.... if you tell a parent that their child is below average they don't smile...... if you tell a parent their child needs to repeat a grade to get basic skills, they actually frown...
Bad parents, don't want to be bothered... to see their child actually studies and achieves...
Bad teachers, are hearing that ONLY NCLB scores count (even though they are bogus, at best)....so we teach for a test.
Bad Administrators only want smiles, heaven forbid we require kids to be in school and put academics first (no, sports are not an academic area)..
Taxpayers (the vocal ones) do care, they care not to support school after their kids are out...
etc.......etc....... etc.,.......
IMHO the greatest problem is "social promotion". If a 6th grader reads at the 3rd grade level; how are they to achieve in the 7th, 8th, 9th grades? They can't. They won't.
Yet we insist on pushing kids along, as though somewhere the knowledge and skills they need will magically appear.
I teach freshmen in science. I have students that read at the 5th grade level and some at the college level. Who has little chance of succeeding? Who would want to stay in the game?
I have students (many) that cannot figure their own average grade... do not know how to divide in the 9th grade. But, they have A's and B's in Math class. Administrators (bad ones) like smiles on faces... Teachers (bad ones) "gave" grades to keep everyone smiling...
When EVERYONE is held accountable, we will get the schools we need for our country's future. Until then, we get the schools we deserve.
Now, that is scary!!!
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Yes, it is media spin. We get a lot of that in education. People who do not understand stats, read them wrong, promote them wrong and make $$$$$ off of it. BUT, there are a lot of kids dropping out of school. Lots of reasons ....
Bad parents, don't care ... too busy with their lives.
Bad teachers don't care ... some of us have given up ... we get blamed for it all so ....
Bad administrators only want smiles .... if you tell a parent that their child is below average they don't smile ... ... if you tell a parent their child needs to repeat a grade to get basic skills, they actually frown...
Bad parents, don't want to be bothered ... to see their child actually studies and achieves...
Bad teachers, are hearing that ONLY NCLB scores count (even though they are bogus, at best)....so we teach for a test.
Bad Administrators only want smiles, heaven forbid we require kids to be in school and put academics first (no, sports are not an academic area)..
Taxpayers (the vocal ones) do care, they care not to support school after their kids are out...
etc. ......etc. ...... etc., .......
IMHO the greatest problem is "social promotion". If a 6th grader reads at the 3rd grade level; how are they to achieve in the 7th, 8th, 9th grades? They can't. They won't.
Yet we insist on pushing kids along, as though somewhere the knowledge and skills they need will magically appear.
I teach freshmen in science. I have students that read at the 5th grade level and some at the college level. Who has little chance of succeeding? Who would want to stay in the game?
I have students (many) that cannot figure their own average grade ... do not know how to divide in the 9th grade. But, they have A's and B's in Math class. Administrators (bad ones) like smiles on faces... Teachers (bad ones) "gave" grades to keep everyone smiling...
When EVERYONE is held accountable, we will get the schools we need for our country's future. Until then, we get the schools we deserve.
Now, that is scary!!!