The State of Ohio will release a report card for each school district next week; according to an article in the paper today, the Columbus Public School System will receive a grade of "C" for the fifth consecutive year when those reports become official.
To "earn" the grade of "C", the district will have met 5 of 26 academic measures for the previous school year. That's right, meeting 5 of 26 goals (19%!), a failing grade in my day, means you get a "C", which is supposed to represent the "average" grade obtainable.
There is progress shown, however (so they say): more Columbus students are earning higher test scores (yay!); there is a "but" coming here, as, according to the article, "even if they're not passing".
Progress can mean we are failing not as badly! Woo Hoo! Pass another tax levy, people, and we can do even better!
Somehow, a 19% "success" rate translates to a performance index of 81.8 points (up from 80.3!), which is nearly a "B" rating, of which you need an index of 90 to achieve. At least, it is "nearly" a "B" rating in the eyes of evaluators in the school system.
Amazingly, and this is a direct quote from the article, "And on the whole, the district's educators effectively taught at least a year's worth of material, according to a calculation called 'value added'."
Perhaps a year's worth of material was not learned, do you think?
The superintendent is pleased; in 2001 the district rated an "F", then spent four years as a "D" school system, before hitting that all-important average grade.
Up, up, and away, Columbus Schools!
Ramblings of a 60 Year Old Man - My thoughts on just about anything, in no particular order; Robert Thomas - author.
Perhaps if they took away all the foo-foo stuff and got back to pen, paper and books the students might actually learn the basics. Children who can't speak properly, read, write like chickens and can't add or subtract without a calculator is pathetic. It's been going on way too long.
ReplyDeleteIt's worse here in the land of fruits and nuts! They teach to the test - matter of fact, I just heard about a 7 yr. old that was doing a 90 question bubble test to get them ready for the test. He did really well until the last section when he zoned out and forgot to bubble. Really? they've been in school three weeks and are getting ready for all day testing now? What could they possibly have learned, other than it stinks to go back to school when it's hot! Teach them what they need - not how to test!
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