John was not doing well in Mrs. Tingle's class. He was transferred to Mr. Bing's class. Mrs. Tingle's statistics went up but the school's statistics stayed the same because John was still a student at Packemin HS.
Then John really messed up and was transferred to another high school. Packemin's statistics will now go up because John, no longer a student on record cannot bring the school down with his failing grades. John is still a student in a New York City high school so the city's stats will remain the same.
John's dad had enough of NYC and transferred him to a school in upstate NY. NYC's stats will now go up, the the state's will remain the same as John is still a student of the state.
John's dad can now transfer him to another state and start the process again but no matter how many times poor John is transferred nothing will ever change.
When will the powers be realize that moving the problem does not solve the problem.
4 comments:
May I add one more line?
Johns dad can move him anywhere in the USA. America will continue to lag behind other countries in the math capabilities of its students.
This is still so different from what charters do to improve scores because those kids end up in public schools.
Passing the buck (or a failing student, in this case) is a common business practice, as is finding a scapegoat to take the blame for failures actual, or perceived.
The education system is in the hands of business people now.
If school really ran on the modern factory model, this widget would have been pulled off the line much earlier, sent on a rework route, and then sent along to finish up. We need a rework route. Gerstner knows. The right business leader can make the right changes, if the parents will stop insisting on the 'graduate with your class' idea.
In my district budget discussions, parents advocated cancelling summer school and double period remedial and adding an extra grade between 5th&6th or 8th&9th, for the sole purpose of remediating math and reading up to grade level. No go. Other parents have to have that 'graduate with your class' deal which means AIS coupled with security guards, pyschologists, double period remedial, half speed math, night high school, alternative high school, and repeaters. Quite costly, but they're free to choose.
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