Letter: Rankings don’t tell whole story

This past week, the accountability scores were released ranking each school district based on the students’ academic achievement. I think this is a nice way to inform parents and the public on where their child’s school and school district stand as far as academic performance is concerned. My big worry, however, is that our concern has become too focused on test performance and rankings rather than truly servicing the needs of our students, parents, community and state.

It is my belief that rankings don’t give the public a realistic picture of the students who are being served in each of the respective districts. I find it unfair to rank small districts along with large districts; wealthy districts with poor districts; districts with parental and community support with districts that have limited to no support from parents or the community.

I don’t want to make excuses for teachers or anybody else for that matter. In fact, I work in one of the top three districts in the state, but I can’t help but feel some compassion for my counterparts. Teaching isn’t easy. You really have to love your job in order to come to work every day. I feel it’s time to acknowledge the fact that most of the teachers come to work each day with the sole purpose of educating and helping make a difference in the life of a child.

I want the public to know that there are many factors that play into how a child performs. Socioeconomic status, exposure, resources, a nurturing environment, all play a major role in the success or failure of a child. I would like some of the community members in each of the low-performing districts to step up and give some of their time to help fill in the gaps of the school districts by mentoring a child, tutoring, etc.

I would also like for the state to set up partnerships in which low-performing districts could meet to have professional development with higher performing districts in order to make improvements.

If we really want to improve the education of all the students in our state, we have to change our focus of school district rankings and do some things that may never have been done before. It’s time for everyone in the community to get involved because these students are our future doctors, lawyers, teachers etc.

Tonya Aaron

teacher

Baker

Comments

1) Comment by Scrooge - 04/11/2012

The socioeconomic influence on academic achievement is not a matter of opinion, it is well established by evidence and research, but common sense should be evident as well since otherwise it would not be necessary to provide the funding for disadvantaged students to attend private schools. Using tax dollars for private religious schools is unconstitutional, not to mention the lack of accountability. If anecdotal evidence is all you have, how do you know that moving kids in what you think might be a better school (where is the proof?) is not more of a waste of taxpayer money? Since unsubstantiated conjecture is such a popular educational policy maker, here is one: moving the faculty from what you think might be a "better structure" private school (better structure cannot be proven with no evidence other than students in private school are from better socioeconomic circumstances) to one of the schools in "a proven failed system" will yield no better results, discrediting the myth of "better structure" private schools and the reasons for a "proven failed system". Actually, school choice has been in effect since the Bush years with little to show for it. what is failing is our society and until this is addressed one can expect more of the same. Conservative combined with fantasy should be an oxymoron. There are solutions but they are difficult; the intent is evidently not to find a solution but to privatize education and let the "takers" fall by the wayside for the enrichment of the "makers". This return to a feudal society where only those who can afford educations can obtain them is obviously detrimental to the "one nation, under God" fantasy as well.

2) Comment by ScotB - 03/11/2012

Anecdotal evidence is all the evidence I have, Scrooge. Even if you are partially right about the socioeconomic factor, injecting some disadvantaged kids into a better structure will probably help, rather than leaving them in what is a proven failed system.

3) Comment by Scrooge - 02/11/2012

The only problem, ScotB, is that there is little evidence proving private school teachers are better. Certainly, anecdotal evidence and conventional wisdom gives the impression that private schools are better, but that is absolutely due to socioeconomic reasons. If private schools use public funding, they become public schools, right? What fool doesn't want accountability for his tax dollars in this age of anti-tax excesses? There is a profound and intentional disconnect between the realities of socioeconomics, race based voluntary segregation via private schools and the ulterior intent, which is to privatize education and give mass tax breaks for private school tuition. Campaign donations are the big determinant of policy, not research, not viability, not altruism or a consideration for the "poor".

4) Comment by ScotB - 01/11/2012

Over time, the least able teachers gravitate toward the least able students. If you were a good teacher, where would you teach? Probably where the kids are receptive to learning, get good tests results, and you get raises. Who would want to teach where the students are disrruptive, sometimes aggressive, do not learn, get poor results, and you get no raises? So, the good schools have plenty of teachers trying to get a job there and the bad schools are left with the pickovers. To get good teachers to work in a school with a bunch of underachievers, you are going to have to pay them some substantial bonuses. I do not see this happening, so Governor Jindal's plan to gradually move some of those students into more effective private schools with scholarships may be the most viable option. If you can't get the good teachers to go to the bad students, at least move a few of the bad students to at least marginally better teachers. Anyway, that's the way I see it.

5) Comment by bourbon-soda - 01/11/2012

And with a high IQ.

6) Comment by Scrooge - 01/11/2012

Irrationality is only in the eye of the beholder. The utterly cynically evil thing is, the point of demonizing teachers has little to do with education or children; its about emasculating a base of funding and votes in the pursuit of unfettered power, the social casualties, "collateral damage", just another cost. As another poster implied elsewhere, the solution is so simple-everyone should be born into high income families.

7) Comment by teacherguy - 31/10/2012

I don't know...I've pretty well be brainwashed into believing the teacher is the only line of defense our society has to save the future of our state and nation. I've accepted my scapegoat role and have quit looking for excuses outside of my classroom to blame the demise of our future on. For me to consider and ponder anything remotely out of my circle of influence would suggest that I am a blame shifter and not worthy of my station in life. I am expected to raise scores of students no matter their environmental factors to compete with the scores of students that rank the highest in the state. If I do not accomplish this task better than 90 out of 100 teachers, then I'm not a teacher worthy of reward in pay. Please quit trying to take my blinders off or I might begin to see this reform as irrational. You people are drinking from a different vat of Kool-aid than we are supposed to be drinking from.

8) Comment by bourbon-soda - 31/10/2012

Why not just build a point spread into the system by norming the tests for race and economic status? You would still know which schools needed extra resources without blaming the teachers.

9) Comment by tradewinns - 31/10/2012

total bovine droppings! children do not know they are poor/rich until someone tells them. learning begins at home from day 1 of life. if a parent performs their duties toward their children, the children will grow to the maximum of their abilities. the problem our public school system has is the parents of underperforming students (and therefore under performing schools and districts) do NOT perform their duties as parents. they perfer to do little to nothing which may interfer with their pleasures of life. so their children enter school with not even the basic knowledge of education. they then depend on others to teach their children with no help from the parent (it's not my job). their children arrive at school without having done their homework, prepared for the day's new lessions, heck, they don't even know how to behave. it's the parent's fault and NOT their socioeconomic standings that cause the problem. parents need to be held accountable for their children's educational behavior (that's all encompassing)!

10) Comment by [e-mail] - 31/10/2012

Comparison to standards is the only way to judge academic performance in a way that means something to everybody; little Johnny learning to play well with others has no significance.