Over on “Your Mama’s Mad Tedious,” Miss Dennis had a post covering the WNYC series to which we referrered here, here, and here last month. Miss Dennis’ comments are very worth contemplating. For instance:
Two of my former principals issued IEP diplomas to students who showed up to school maybe 20 percent of the time. They also gave them to students who showed up every day, tried their best, and could have easily gotten local diplomas, if not Regents diplomas, if they had just stayed one extra semester in high school. Such students should be encouraged to stay in school for a few more months to get a diploma that will actually help them succeed in the future.
This is an interesting proposition. Couldn’t students who have IEPs and who are just a few credits short of an earned regular diploma get an extra semester or two after their age-peers graduate? I need some consultation on this matter. Wouldn’t students in such a situation be eligible for services continuing when they are 18+ years?
> Mayor Daily announced an “historic day” for Chicago Public
> Schools, with
> a dramatic jump in 8th grade math scores.
> Scores went to 62.5 percent passing the the Illinois State Achievemnt
> Standards Test this year from 47.3 percent last year.
>
> The Mayor did not report that the Illinois State Board lowered the
> passigng score for 8th grade math to the 38th percentile this year
> from
> the 67th percentile last year.
>
> The Chicago Tribune commented that “We didn’t dramatically improve
> performance. We drmatically lowered the bar.”
>
> Janet Lerner
> janetlerner@juno.com
>
> The Chicago Tribune Story about these dramatic improvements.
>
> Chicago Tribune, July, 17. 2006
>
> An ‘A’ for everybody!
> They must be teaching some new kind of fuzzy
> math at Chicago Public Schools.
> This week Mayor Richard Daley and school
> officials announced a dramatic jump in the number
> of pupils who passed their state standardized
> tests last spring. Daley said this was a “historic
> day”
> “With these results,” said Daley, “it’s clear we
> are on our way to becoming the best urban school
> district in the nation.”
> Whoa there, Mr. Mayor. How did we get this
> “historic” jump in performance?
> Illinois State Board of Education officials
> Sharply reduced the requirement for a passing
> Score in 8th grade math. We didn’t dramatically
> Improve performance. We dramatically lowered
> The bar.
> The desire to show progress in the City’s public
> School system is easy to understand. Progress
> seems to have slowed after the initial revolution
> just over a decade ago, when City Hall took over
> the reins. Indeed that has been frustrating. But
> please, don’t try to sell this as dramatic progress.
> City officials reported that 62.5 percent of 3rd
> Through 8th graders hi Chicago public schools
> Passed the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.
> That was a jump from 47.3 percent the previous
> year.
> But the state board in that time lowered the
> Passing score for 8th grade math from the 67th to
> the 38th percentile. Yes, the score for meet the
> state standards was cut almost in half.
> Back in February, the Illinois Business Round
> Table said the change would result in 32,000 more
> Illinois pupils meeting the math requirement
> “on the basis of an administrative stroke of the
> pen.”
> “This action…diminishes the work and
> achievement of those who have met our standards; and
> it tells those who have failed to meet
> our standards that it’s OK…our administration
> will change the rules before changing the education
> our students receive,” the business group
> wrote in a sharply critical letter to the board.
>
>
> Other changes helped to improve results. Pupils
> were given 10 more minutes to complete
> their reading, math and science exams. A new
> color format offered more vibrant charts and
> graphics. In Chicago, for the first time, student;
> took two preliminary tests that highlighted their
> deficits. The city also dropped the Iowa Test of
> Basic Skills, which allowed teachers to focus
> their efforts on one test.
> Those aren’t all unreasonable steps—but some
> seem clearly designed to produce better numbers,
> not better-educated kids.
> With the changes, it’s very difficult if not
> Impossible to compare this year’s results with last
> year’s. Maybe Chicago public school students did
> make progress. But how can anyone tell?
> _______________________________________________