Last fall, Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson released the names of schools that failed to make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) in the 2003-04 school year, as required by federal law.
The good news: The number of low-performing schools dropped significantly from 436 in 2003 to 281 in 2004.
The bad news: Most of the progress can be credited to lower standards, not higher academic achievement. In fact, some of the now-passing schools even regressed academically.
It took weeks of data-crunching by Evergreen Freedom Foundation staff to determine how schools would have measured up in 2004 if the standards had not been lowered. While we didn’t have access to some key data, we were able to identify 577 schools that would have failed AYP based on the original benchmarks. Complete data would likely increase the number significantly.
It was Superintendent Bergeson who determined what it means for Washington students to succeed under federal law. Schools must meet annual benchmarks to ensure that all students (regardless of their ethnic and socioeconomic background) are proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Low-performing schools face varying degrees of sanctions. Schools that fail to meet benchmarks for two consecutive years or more must provide students with successful public and/or private alternatives.
When more than 400 schools failed to meet the standards in 2003, Bergeson “improved performance” by lowering the bar. Her decision means that hundreds or even thousands of students in low-performing schools have been sentenced to a second-rate education and deprived of successful academic alternatives. Their plight is being called an “improvement,” and the “improvement” is being used to justify demands for hundreds of millions of dollars in new education spending.
Is it fair to leave kids behind so adults can protect their reputations and justify higher education taxes? I don’t think so.
Posted by Marsha Michaelis at January 31, 2005 06:37 PM | Email ThisMy childrens' education begins at home. They have had good old fashioned chores. And no allowance. If they want to buy a new CD or a $75 pair of jeans, they earn the money themselves. They are encouraged to join clubs that teach them leadership skills.
It all boils down to the parents' involvement in the kids' education. My 24 year old is a high school English teacher. My 23 year old has two college degrees and is gainfully employed with a fertilizer company. My 16 year old is a straight A student and still finds time to compete in many activites.
Were they born smart? No. They work hard and are justly rewarded. From the day they were born, whether I worked "outside" the home or not, they are my first and number one priority.
Posted by: sz on January 31, 2005 08:25 PMTo succeed, we need a two track system, again, like they have in Europe.
One track for vocational - Face it, only 30-40% or so are cut out for college. We currently leave the other 75% behind, with no skills to cope with real world jobs. We need to provide real vocational training, like we once did.
We need a consistant, unified pre-college track. Having local "school boards" of unqualified local community activists has been a recipe for disaster. Local communities don't need a say in what kids learn in a pre-college curiculuum. Why?
Because kids going to college for the most part never STAY in those communities.
Instead, we need a consistant, national curiculuum that emphasizes math, science,technology and liberal arts such as literature, history, geography, etc...the tools students need to succeed in the modern global economy.
Some schools have taken the step of introducing AP classes (Advanced Placement). Some kids take a few. Most kids have little, or no opportunity to take any, due to lack of funding, or interest from "school boards". Now, take the EU. College bound students are REQUIRED to take the IB (Baccalaureate) exams, which are the equivalent of AP exams in ALL major subjects, including 2 foreign languages. Guess whose kids are better prepared for the global economy.
Those kids then come here, to get the best college education money can buy...and it IS a lot of money.
You get what you pay for. If you want a high-level college prep curiculuum, this requires a highly educated and skilled teacher, and a moderately small class size.
The unions need to give here too. Fire the mediocre teachers, just make sure you have the money to pay the good ones the salary they deserve. Just like professionals in the real world.
Posted by: m on January 31, 2005 09:14 PMBut...we keep sending the same people back. It will just take a few more tax increases to get thing right...RIGHT???
Posted by: Brad on January 31, 2005 09:22 PMI guarantee you that the teachers at our school get paid probably less and absolutely not more than the public school teachers. What's the difference? Better curriculum that respects the students' time and REAL behavior standards that are enforced. You would not believe the difference it makes!
Posted by: Michele S on January 31, 2005 09:31 PMI took no vacation last year and live very a very modest lifestyle. All because people like you insist we jump when the WEA and NEA says pay. You would squeez us dry and then come back next Nov. to shame us into paying more because you wasted our money!
Just to clarify, ..We all pay for it. I guess we disagree on what we are paying for. People like you want to keep things on the same track. Go ahead, I have no choice but to buy your ticket.
I see High school kids who can't write in cursive and lack the skill my 9 year old has.
Yes I agree that public schools are needed. I just demand more out of them and no one else seems to. This if very frustrating to me.I don't believe we are doing the best for our kids by letting the unions dictate to us .
It's simple, republicans haven't been in control since 1984 and the WEA and the democrats in their pockets have. As a result whatever state funding that is available for the school districts is transfered instead to the teachers in the form of teacher pay increases, benefit increases or extra inservice days. The money hasn't been available to the districts to hire more teachers, just to pay the ones they have more. As a result class sizes go through the roof and teacher salaries/benefit packages are some of the best in the nation.
With democrats in control of the state during the last 20 years, the percentage of the state budget spent on education has continuously fallen. The WEA, by supporting the Dems for the benefit of the union leadership, has gutted the state's education funding. The Dems spend the state funds at a higher rate for non-education purposes than what is traditional. Then, most of the increases in education they ask for, are direct pass throughs - required expenditures for the districts - that don't allow the local school boards to choose to hire more staff to reduce class sizes.
I'm a school board member and have been for some time. I know for a fact that during negotiations with the union the absolute first thing that they give up is their demand for reduction of class size. They use it as a political ploy and give it up in an instant for better pay.
Folks, that is what is wrong with public education in this state. The local school districts are not receiving funding to use at their discretion, the state is being run by the WEA which puts the welfare of themselves above the academic achievement of the students, and the Democrats who have been in control have decided to spend the state funds on every which social program at a rate higher than their funding of the public schools.
It used to be that a little over half of all the state budget was spent on education. You look at the Dems budget proposals, you would be hard pressed to see anywhere near half of the statewide spending increases in the category of education. And of those increases hardly any of it goes to the school districts to use as they wish to improve the academic achievement of the students, it's already spent as pass through to the teachers or required spending.
Posted by: Doug on January 31, 2005 10:06 PMAny analysis done by the EFF will be considered fundamentally flawed by the main stream media. Though they may be a smart bunch, The Foundation has been Tim Eyman's think tank for the last five years.
Posted by: Henry Aiken on January 31, 2005 10:33 PMAnd remember, if you want to fix the schools, stop selling cookies and start getting in the classrooms. Parents and citizens that get interested in the schools have proven to be the most effective "medicine". The only thing we can hope the state gov't to do is get out of our way and let us run our own schools.
If you live in the Federal Way School District, contact me. We're running a group of local parents and citizens to positively influence our schools. So far, we've got the union scared stiff. Let me know if you are interested in doing something better than selling cookies.
Posted by: Jonathan Gardner on February 1, 2005 01:30 AMI suppose that's what the liberal Dems want- to become a socialist enclave populated by stupid people.
But how long will it last when the only people they have left to tax are themselves?
Posted by: ERNurse on February 1, 2005 08:03 AMThe WASL is probably the biggest waster of state education funds that exists. It gives the same answer that cheap, standardized tests give. It will be dumbed down by next year, when this class of 2008 must pass it to graduate. No way will the legislature allow 60-70% of students not get a diploma because they can't pass it.
WASL consumes millions. Think what good these funds could do if sent to the classroom. We don't have a funding crisis, we have a political crisis. Less than half the money in this state that goes to education actually makes it to the classroom. But, the WEA has a lock on this money and will never let it go.
Posted by: Janet S on February 1, 2005 08:54 AMYou confuse "schooling" with "education." Schooling is something you have to pay for (buildings, classrooms, teachers, etc.).
Education, on the other hand, is affordable to anyone. Money isn't really needed to get educated. As the book "Einstein Never Used Flashcards" points out, "play = learning" and one can get plenty of education via play.
If you think about it, even adults "play" to learn, be it war games (military version of laser tag) or business simulation games or flight simulators (be it PC based or supercomputer attached to a hydraulics supported mock-cockpit). For example, I was in a company paid training program on business management and we spent few hours playing a simulation game to learn about cash flow and inventory control (with lectures in between each round of the game). Did I have fun? you bet. Did I learn anything? Of course, a lot! Did I pay for it? No, my employer paid for the course as well as my salary (to have fun, er, I mean, to be schooled).
In terms of more structured studies, one can attend private schools (at least the religious ones) with some or complete scholarships (that's how I was able to attend a private school, because my parents were poor but also members of a church that heavily discounted my tuition at the church run school).
For those of us who homeschool (I prefer home educate), we can educate very cheaply if we choose to, by loaning out textbooks to each other and bartering teaching skills (I'll teach your children math and you teach mine English or I'll open my home for cooking class and you open your garage for machine shop). There is always public libraries or church libraries or even homeschooling libraries (or your friends' libraries) which you can tap for free or almost free! Education doesn't have to cost $10k or even $1k per year.
Posted by: DannyHSDad on February 1, 2005 10:04 AMPaying more and getting less? Thank the WEA. In fact, take the three areas where they say change is most important-teacher pay, class size, and more in-service days. Is it a coincidence that each of these address either pay or quality of worklife issues? I think not.
Want tougher standards? It seems like a no-brainer...except the union is opposed, the school district is opposed, and many parents are opposed.
Want to crack down on disruptive students? Ask the Kent School District, which is being sued by the NAACP for millions of dollars.
We should be amazed that public schools function at all. We will have better schools when parents can vote with their feet, and schools can expel who they will.
Posted by: South County on February 1, 2005 02:15 PMThis result was achieved by inviting schools to send teachers to rank the difficulty of potential questions for the CATS. Often teachers were selected by political status, not by level of education in specific fields. Moreover, the results of tests meant which teachers receive either a financial reward or public humiliation. Therefore, this decision allowed those positioned to reap the CATS results to act as the standard makers for their own performance.
Teachers at the CATS standards conference demanded that difficult questions be removed, while questions over basic 8th grade history information were placed among the “distinguished” level. One example of questionS ranked at the most difficult level: the Spanish conquistadors explored the New World in search of... (The correct multiple choice answer was gold). Teachers complained that to rank the question as beginning or intermediate would be too difficult for their 11th grade students to answer.