Driven by data … right off a cliff
Yesterday the big announcement in New York was the results of the latest ‘common core aligned’ state tests. As expected, the scores plummeted. The New York Times reported
that from last year to this one, the percent of students scoring ‘proficient’ on English dropped from 47% to 26% while the percent scoring ‘proficient’ on Math dropped from 60% to 30%.
that from last year to this one, the percent of students scoring ‘proficient’ on English dropped from 47% to 26% while the percent scoring ‘proficient’ on Math dropped from 60% to 30%.Various ‘reformers’ weighed in and tried to put a positive spin on it. Joel Klein, in an Op-Ed in the The New York Post wrote “While some may confuse lower scores as a negative development, the fact that we’re finally being honest about academic achievement is a very positive sign.” Arne Duncan said “Too many school systems lied to children, families and communities”
wrote “While some may confuse lower scores as a negative development, the fact that we’re finally being honest about academic achievement is a very positive sign.” Arne Duncan said “Too many school systems lied to children, families and communities”The ‘lies’ they are talking about are the ones that say that our education system is doing an OK job. It is very important to these ‘reformers’ that our schools are ‘failing’ so they can justify their radical approach to reform which is centered upon shutting down public schools, opening, charters, and firing teachers based significantly on standardized test scores.
So I looked carefully at the data and found that these test scores do, in fact, prove there was