“Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who are proving her wrong every day."Arne Duncan
This is a fascinating logic statement, and my brain's smoking trying to parse it.
I'm a hard-working teacher, working for a hard-working supervisor, under a hard-working principal. And yes, our test scores have incrementally risen over the past few years, and yes, we're recognized as a nationally distinguished Title 1 school.
Incremental gains in "standardized" tests, tests that have us slapping our foreheads as we push mediocre writing habits on our borderline kids so that we make the grade, hardly counts as education.
Getting through another year of AYP successfully is like passing a ridiculously large and hard stool. You do it because you have to, there's a modicum of relief when it's done, and you pray you haven't done too much damage when passing it.
I'm hanging on to the edge of civility here, but if Arne keeps up his nonsense, I'm going to ask him to perform another bodily function not often mentioned in polite company.
There's not enough castor oil on the East Coast to put up with Arne's nonsense.
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It’s exam time at our high school again. The students want to know what their grades are and what percentage is necessary on the exam to pass the class. We are a school that has block scheduling, so students have four new classes each semester. At the end of the school year, three out of nine failing classes would result in repeating the grade. I have always been of the mindset that making students aware of their averages on a regular basis is the most responsible course of action for a high school teacher. Students then can determine how much time they should allot to studying for a particular class at exam time. Due to absence and missing grades or failing grades, some students will not pass the class or qualify for summer school even if they score 100% on the exam. Should they be told to do their best on the exam anyway? Is it appropriate to tell the student to focus study time on their other classes or allocate equal time for all four classes and risk failing more than one class? Is this age level too immature to get the truth up front or should we wait a week when they receive their report card to be faced with the hard facts?
Isn't there also something illogical about a student who scores a perfect score on the final not passing the class for non-compliance with procedures (attendance, assignments, etc.)? Isn't it supposed to be about the learning, not the submission?
Yes, but...the assignments, projects, etc. are the way we assess if the learning happened. If a student doesn't participate in the learning by submitting the work, how are we to know if they have mastered the learning they were supposed to get? How would my docotr know if I have diabetes if I consistently don't show up for the blood test, or if the blood sample was never turned in to the lab?
"Getting through another year of AYP successfully is like passing a ridiculously large and hard stool. You do it because you have to, there's a modicum of relief when it's done, and you pray you haven't done too much damage when passing it."
I laughed so hard I cried. Bless you, sir... bless you.
Dear Anonymous,
I think it's OK to tell the truth here. My experience has been (and it surprised me)that given a chance, just about all kids will do the best they can, even if it. ultimately, means nothing to them. This is the test generation.
The bigger question is whether we have a right to even administer such a test. We're the adults. If a child has no chance of passing, and if there's no benefit to the child to give the test, then we have no right to steal even a minute's worth of time from that child.
Dear Deven,
I agree with you, strongly. You'd be amazed at how many folks don't.
Dear Anonymous (again),
I happen to be a doc, the medical kind. And we have ways of telling if someone has been compliant (Hgb A-1-C test). But the bigger point is thqt if the patient has been monitoring themselves, and adjusting as needed, maybe I don;t need to intervene. This culture places ay too much faith in "experts." Just sayin'....
Dear RG,
Comments like yours are why i write here instead of in a diary.
Thank you. You made my day.
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