 
Bobl
Member
Username: Bobl
Post Number: 715
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009 - 4:41 pm: |    |
From today's Detroit News:
Failing test scores prompt Michigan to cancel writing portion of MEAP
Poor scores call for a new test; officials examine why kids fail
Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News
Royal Oak -- Dismal test scores are prompting the state to cancel the writing section of the MEAP test next year for some students.
Only students in grades four and seven will take the test, while a new test is created. Students in grades three, five, six and eight will not take the test.
Scores determine if schools meet goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Districts that don't meet the guidelines face sanctions... |
Crumbled_pavement
Member
Username: Crumbled_pavement
Post Number: 783
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009 - 10:05 pm: | |
Wait ... so if the child fails we just re-write the test so they can pass?
Oh boy . . . no child left behind = no child gets ahead! |
Bearinabox
Member
Username: Bearinabox
Post Number: 1365
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009 - 10:21 pm: | |
I don't understand why we keep testing kids like this. We already know 99% of them can't write for shit. Why aren't we trying to come up with solutions to that instead of just testing them over and over? They don't get any smarter the more you test them. |
Mcwalbucksnfitch
Member
Username: Mcwalbucksnfitch
Post Number: 88
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009 - 11:17 pm: | |
No child left behind is systematically retarding our children |
D_mcc
Member
Username: D_mcc
Post Number: 1821
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 1:08 am: | |
Maybe thats the point??? |
Bobl
Member
Username: Bobl
Post Number: 725
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 10:45 am: | |
B: "They don't get any smarter the more you test them."
True. One of the weaknesses of NO Child Left Behind is that hours are spent on coaching and preparing students for passing the tests, with little time left for educating.
When the poor support many students get at home is recognized, it is not difficult to understand the poor performance.
Even the former mayor's chief of staff couldn't spell trustee on her complaint from county jail last month! |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 3763
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 11:04 am: | |
I think the elite in this country saw starting in the late 1960s that having a generation that was well-educated led to trouble. They were so smart they wanted to end the war, rein in imperial tendencies and promote gender and racial equality. They were so well-educated they had enlightened views on economics, labor and business. The elite took one look at that generation, in the streets, waving its placards, and said, "Let's never let THAT happen again."
And so we entered a period where government moves away from the theories of educators like John Dewey. Instead of seeing education as a vehicle to produce intelligent, free citizens who can participate in a democracy, now they produce "test-takers" who must study not because knowledge is a wealth in itself, but because they must pass tests and move on. It's no wonder kids' test scores are so low, if you ask me. |
Locke09
Member
Username: Locke09
Post Number: 145
Registered: 02-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 11:07 am: | |
Part of the reason they cannot write is because they don't have many occasions for practicing writing skills in the real world. They text and send emails. You can see the same deterioration in writing skills of adults, because that's all most of us do as well.
But, not writing well is not acceptable in my house.
Even some of the newspaper columnists don't seem to write as well as they used to.
When I was a kid, my mother used to make us write letters to our relatives who lived in other states. She taught us the proper salutations and closings. My kids correspond with distant relatives and friends via Facebook now. You don't need good writing skills for that.
(Message edited by Locke09 on March 31, 2009) |
_sj_
Member
Username: _sj_
Post Number: 1755
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 11:18 am: | |
Making education and childhood easier has not been working for the last 20 years.
The turnaround of the economy starts with education and the lack of quality education in this country is startling. |
Hornist9
Member
Username: Hornist9
Post Number: 228
Registered: 05-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 3:47 pm: | |
Wow, there are some very good points being presented here, and I agree with every one of them.
When this was passed by the Bush Administration, not one of the many educators that I know were in favor of it. As a retired educator, I personally feel that there is way too much politics in the schools. Our lawmakers are so obsessed with the fact that "our kids aren't up to the standards of other nations" and we must test them. Bull crap! I am nearly 60 years old, and when I was in elementary school, we took only one standardized test per year, which was the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. My teachers did not spend so much time teaching to the test, or coaching us on how to answer the questions. They had faith in us that we could read and comprehend the material in the test. We actually spent time on material that was necessary for life, not worrying about taking a test and doing well so the District could retain it's level of state funding. That is what is gumming up the works in my opinion.
The No Child Left Behind act needs to be thrown out, and teachers need to be afforded the time to teach and not worry about whether Johnny or Suzie is keeping up with the Japanese. American Schools have all of these legislators that have NEVER spent one minute teaching a damned thing telling professional educators how to manage a classroom. The American public needs to tell them to butt out and where it's feasible to regain local control. That said, the Board of Education in the City of Detroit should all be brought up on malfeasance charges for their poor fiscal management of the district. Is it no wonder why the school system is so fouled up? But I rhetorically ask, who can do a better job of administering the district? Do the voters of the City have the moxie to vote in people that really have the children's best interest at heart, or are they just using the school board position as a stepping stone to higher office. Food for thought, by an old retired goat of a school band director. |