“EDUCATION REFORM” EFFORTS HAVE US GOING BACKWARDS – I HAVE A SOLUTION
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The average ACT score for this year’s graduates dropped to 20.6, the biggest drop in a decade for Illinois. In addition, the national average dropped below 21 for the first time in eight years. ACT and state officials attribute the drop in Illinois to a change in who is included in test results. For the first time, ACT included students who take the test with extra time, (those with various disabilities). Illinois had the highest percentage of students getting accommodations – 10 percent of test takers – in the country. Nationwide only 4% of students got extra time.
I understand why the drop in Illinois, but what about in the nation ? Test scores of “extra time” students had been included for a while in much of the nation. Why the drop nationwide ? Could “education reform” be failing, or are the tests just getting more difficult ?
If we are going backwards, I have a radical solution to turn things around. I suggest we allow TEACHERS to decide how the curriculum should be implemented. We should let TEACHERS decide how best to motivate their students. We should let TEACHERS decide on their own student discipline plans. We should let TEACHERS