Young: School ratings? Say 'ah'

[LWolf]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2003/11/30/1070174458.20005.9360.0860.html;COXnetJSessionID=1PSdtv2XVqIkZENKQqNARlU5atHr3MtNb2LAvKvTcUjnFybd4rdK!-1786695244?urac=n&urvf=10705517097060.9174728371929398

Interesting. We've known this for decades about the standardized tests touted by politicians: test results more accurately measure socio-econmic level than they do learning. Of course, that didn't stop the testocrats from hi-jacking public ed in our nation.

<snip>

With the forests of pulp expended on school reform, no one has come up with anything approximating the link between sports utility vehicles and student achievement.

This is self-evident. At the afternoon bell, go to the school near you. If it has a plus ratio of SUVs to economy cars or junkers waiting for the children, it will be rated high. If the SUV ratio is in the minus, it is at risk of being a "failing" school at which "standards" are not as lofty as schools with high SUV ratios.

Yes, we know that some schools in the minus side, SUV-wise, manage to get rated "exemplary." But no school in the plus-side, SUV-wise, is ever rated "failing" or "dangerous," or used in the "burning-building" analogy by proponents of consumerist policies like school vouchers.

Based on how we rate schools, it's the same thing with teachers who "can't teach." With a high statistical linkage, you could rate teachers' ability by how their students got to school. Delivered by SUV? Great teachers. Students delivered by crosstown bus? By truant officer? Those teachers aren't as skilled, based on the "accountability" system we hail.


And then, there's the dentists:

<snip>

----Pass-fail for dentists----

There's a conversation circulating on the Internet about a state/federal program to rate dentists. You just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14 and 18, and average to determine a dentist’s rating. Dentists rated "poor" risk losing their licenses.

“That’s not fair,” says a dentist. “I work in an area with a high percentage of deprived homes. Many of the parents I work with don’t bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem. I can't do any preventive work. "Also, many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay."

<snip>

OK, there's no such rating of dentists. That would be absurd. But such a system would serve politicians who feel that public dental care is best done through a voucher system to aid a cavity-prone patient "trapped" with a failing dentist.

Actually, education reformers could do the same. Just look in the mouths of the students. If the cavity ratio is high, make them eligible for vouchers to schools where there are fewer cavities and the SUV ratio is optimum. With forests of pulp expended on "accountability" it's reassuring to know there are always yardsticks of excellence on which you can count.

[xchrom]

1. it's american culture

the poor must be punished. to conservatives of all stripes, it's important to make sure education fails poor people. it's how the conservative defines him/herself. it gets complicated -- because there's the reaction of anti-government christians and the huge apathy middle class people feel for anybody except themselves.

anyway -- great reading this. just excellent. i'd actually love to hear what arriana huffington would say about this.

[LWolf]

2. I would, too.

Since she's here in CA, where we've had a state version of NCLB for a decade. Before the 2000 farce, republican governors were pushing a "standards and accountability" movement in public ed in their states. Pete Wilson here in CA; Jeb, GW, and some others. NCLB is a federal copy of state legislation already in place in many states. We now have 2 different sets of scores from the same damned tests; the API for the state, and AYP for the feds. Same tests, same idea, different formulas applied to test results. You can pass and fail the same test this way.