Grieve with me

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I started tutoring a first grader just over a week ago. Her teacher told the mother that the little girl was falling behind in reading & related skills as well as in math.

In only six days, I see the child's reading already taking off! So, curious what might be going on at school, I looked up her schools' record on nationally normed tests in math and communication arts. The schools are supposed to aim for a group average 59.2 percent for comm arts and 54.1 percent for math.

However, look at what the percent scores were in my child's school last year.

Math
grade 3---- 35.29
grade 4---- 26.92
grade 5---- 12.2
grade 6---- 31.25
grade 7---- 25
grade 8---- 8.7

Comm Arts
grade 3----51.61
grade 4----30.77
grade 5----17.95
grade 6----18.75
grade 7---- 35.71
grade 8----13.04

This makes me so sad. This school is not even the worst scoring school. It is in the middle range in the district. Really, it breaks my heart. So many kids, so much time in school, such poor test performance!

[wincrasher]

What is really sad is that the schools are generally only trying to teach to meet these standardize tests and get their numbers up, so they can get the federal and state money.

Everyone wants to hang their hat on these tests. But they are really very minimal requirements for math and reading. Everything else is falling by the side. Social sciences, history, art, civics, advanced sciences, etc, are getting dropped so they can focus these "tests". What kind of education are these kids getting now?

But there still is money for basketball, football and baseball, isn't there?

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

Everything else is falling by the side. Social sciences, history, art, civics, advanced sciences, etc, are getting dropped so they can focus these "tests". What kind of education are these kids getting now?

But there still is money for basketball, football and baseball, isn't there?

No? Our school district cut all sports, K-12. Along with everything else that wasn't nailed down.

The only thing that matters is the tests!! Which means - math and reading. No money for anything else.

Heck, we had no money for paper this year. (Our district has been in the center of a major poor money management crisis. Heck, I think some oversight board had to take over the budget. So unfair to the kids).

[SnoopyCool]

I don't think I've ever seen math scores that low (and I'm a math tutor)! That school is in serious trouble. Those poor children.

[mommyof4]

I teach in Iowa, and it's only going to get worse here. Our govenor just slashed our budget by 10%, and it looks like more is on the way. My salary is going down, and it looks like I'll be making less money next year. Oh yea, by the way, the test scores aren't that great, and we need to to better with few resources.

[creditcardfree]

Originally Posted by mommyof4

I teach in Iowa, and it's only going to get worse here. Our govenor just slashed our budget by 10%, and it looks like more is on the way. My salary is going down, and it looks like I'll be making less money next year. Oh yea, by the way, the test scores aren't that great, and we need to to better with few resources.

I'm in Iowa, too. Can't say he is the brightest govenor on the block!

Joan...yep, those scores do need to be grieved. How very very sad.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Yes, the school is in serious trouble. The whole district is. The district lost accreditation, and the elected school board was replaced with a state appointed panel. I think of it as analogous to having sent in the National Guard. New superintendents keep being hired, then leave. Many teachers do not want to teach here. Some years ago, the district began recruiting teachers from outside the country, it was so hard to fill positions! One middle school teacher tells me that police have to be called to her school nearly everyday, but that these calls never hit the news. She herself was attacked by a student, slammed against a wall. My god, it is so pitiful.

Kids graduating from (or dropping out of) this school system are in the workforce already. If your town or county's schools are not as bad as this, please do all you can to keep them from falling so far. Please think of the consequences of your whole district having really failing public education. Really, if for no other reason, think of it from a self-interested point of view. Think how dependent you are on so many other people being able to read and reason. It affects the quality of care anyone you know in hospital or nursing home will get. It affects whether your mechanic can follow recall repair protocols issued by your car maker. It affects how crazily someone might drive on the highway, affecting how suddenly they decide that the sign directing them lright makes no sense to them, so instead they swerve left into your lane, hoping that exit on the left is the correct one. It affects whether they can understand instructions from their children's' pediatrician, not only so that their children are well cared for in illness but so that they do not jeopardize your own children's' health by coming to school sick, or having capriciously stopped a run of antibiotics, not properly treating lice, etc. How well kids learn to read and reason famously affects their ability to count change---think of what a universal complaint that has become! It affects levels of bureaucracy we encounter, as fewer people can be reliably authorized to make decisions, to apply policy in complicated or exceptional circumstances, or to even see where there is conflict in the logic of a bureaucracy. "I don't know. That's not my job. You'll have to ask one of the bosses."...There are just so many ways where having a lot of poorly educated people around makes life harder for everyone.

Today I feel sad about it. Just so sad.

[mom-from-missouri]

Those scores are better than they ones here! Which is why as of this school year over 39% (up form 33%) of the district is homeschooled or goes to a private christian school. It could actually be higher than that, as in Missouri homeschoolers are not required to register with the district.

When I sub, I see teachers who don't care, parents who just want to argue with the teachers, and parents whose kids go home to an empty house till 7 pm then tell the teacher they (the parent) were to tired to help the kids with homework.

I also see a lot of overweight kids who stay up watching tv and playing ds half the night (they admit to it) then they want to sleep in class.

Parents say its the teachers job, teacher say its the parents fault....both need to step up and take 100% responsiblility and then things will fall into place.

[donlat3]

Wow this is really sad. Not acceptable! Something needs to be done about this. There has to be people out there that actually care about the kids and want to teach. I feel like there are a lot of people that just don't care about their job as a teacher and don't realize that the future of these kids and nation largely lies in their hands.

[dana67]

Wow, those scores really are low. It sounds like that school has some improvements they need to make. I agree that this is not acceptable.