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]

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]

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.

[floridaharris]

I can see why more people are thinking of home schooling. Those scores are pathetic!

[Slandgie]

I guess we should consider ourselves fortunate here in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland Ohio. The school my daughter goes to is in the top 10% in the state in every category.

However, I work with some teenagers at my second job and it is sad how little they know. To illustrate my point, I asked the one girl what the state capital of Ohio was.....just this blank stare, she had no clue. Who was our nation's first president....same thing.

[PrincessPerky]

The trouble rests in teh 'someone should do something' thought. The someone in charge is Mom and Dad, parents MUST stop thinking the govt with it's guns can educate. Even a bad teacher can help a child who wants to learn learn, if parents allow the TV/video games to replace the God given curiosity children are born with, then you cannot expect an average human to restore it in a mass education system backed with the police.

There are some amazing teachers who have succeeded with some students in spite of the odds stacked against them, but in general, the system statistically fails, even those kids who achieve high scores. (not all of those kids forgetting the founder of our country were poor students).

Homeschooling does NOT mean mom and dad must teach everything, it means Mom and Dad MUST take full responsibility for finding the best methods of educating their children. Encouraging growth and interest, covering a few basics, and letting the children explore the world safely.

Once America stops thinking the govt is to blame for failing in an impossible task, and starts taking responsibility for their own children, encouraging others to do the same, we will have the best educated country in the world.

With all our opportunities, the only thing lacking is mass parental motivation and involvement.

Mass coercion we have, involvement not so much.

[jIM_Ohio]

Maybe the issue is all of us have expectations set to high for a "government run" program.

Seriously- if the administrators and legislatures which created these tests are similar to people which might run healthcare, what makes you think education will be any better than healthcare if things stay the way they are?

90% of what a person needs to know in life is learned outside a classroom. How to get along with people, how to work as a team, how to handle adversity and problems. Critical thinking, problem solving...

I did not see any of those things measured on the test scores shown above. This is why trusting the government to run education is a bad idea.

There is some part of society which suggests that education is the key to success. Some of that might be true, and there is another part of society which suggests everyone deserves a chance, that is true as well. But the issue is that just because you get a chance at education does not mean you need to do well or society failed you.

Instead of "no child left behind", which appears to be the attitude with standardized tests and similar, I believe the attitude and philosophy should be "it only takes one genius to change a generation".

Think of it this way, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates all changed a given generation. What the education system needs to do is find those people and develop them, not try to make everyone in this country be able to do long division or read a book.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

So here's my 6 months update. I've been tutoring this girl and her sister 4 days a week. It was the older one, the first grader who was deemed to be at risk.

A very few weeks after working with them, this girl who couldn't choke out a Dr. Seuss book was reading chapter books deemed fourth and fifth grade level. In reality, the girl has a talent and excitement for reading! And she just doesn't want to stop reading. What a turn-around! She just had to be let in on a few "secrets" of how reading works. She is doing fine in math, now too. Yesterday, her report card showed highest possible marks in every subject and every skill, as did her sister's. This is despite the time I spend with them being at the end of the day when their best energy has already been used up. It is muy interesante how all those classroom behavior and social skills for which first graders get evaluated are looking stellar since the academic part has been secured. "Listens," "follows directions," "works cooperatively," "contributes to discussions," "takes responsibility for own actions," "organizes own tools," etc---all these are now a breeze, evidently.

Meanwhile, as others were saying above, our school district now is in big-time financial trouble. Five hundred employees will be laid off, and several (I think 15?) schools will be closed and combined with others. Normally by this time of year the district is already borrowing from next year's transportation budget, but transport money is not there to borrow from this year, as the state has not made its contribution. This makes for an immediate cash flow problem. I hope the pay checks they are now giving out will not bounce. Talk about an emergency on top of an emergency!