-- To reverse the pervasive dumbing-down of academic standards and assessments by states, Race to the Top winners need to work toward adopting common, internationally bench marked K-12 standards that prepare students for success in college and careers.
-- To close the data gap -- which now handcuffs districts from tracking growth in student learning and improving classroom instruction -- states will need to monitor advances in student achievement and identify effective instructional practices.
-- To boost the quality of teachers and principals, especially in high-poverty schools and hard-to-staff subjects, states and districts should be able to identify effective teachers and principals -- and have strategies for rewarding and retaining more top-notch teachers and improving or replacing ones who aren't up to the job.
-- Finally, to turn around the lowest-performing schools, states and districts must be ready to institute far-reaching reforms, from replacing staff and leadership to changing the school culture
There is one issue standing in the way for Wisconsin: a state law that prevents standardized test results from being used to evaluate teachers, which makes WI ineligible for "Race to the Top" funds. A bill in the legislature aims to repeal that law.
I oppose using the current WI mandated state wide test, the WKCE, for evaluating teachers. As I have discussed before that test is too flawed and unwieldy for such a purpose. I could support such a move in the future, provided we have the right assessments that are well designed for the purpose. A good assessment would be focused on measures of individual growth, be well aligned with the curriculum, have specific articulated measures that provides guidance to the teaching staff, be aligned with the school year and provide specific and prompt feedback to allow direct responses. In addition if used to evaluate teachers, assessments need to be carefully designed and normalized to provide a full measure of fairness.
Indeed I think the primary goal of these assessments should be to evaluate the quality of the teaching in a district, not the students. If the teaching is good, the students will progress.
13 comments:
Peter,
I was thinking about the President's visit to our fair city.
It is sad he decided on a charter school. Public education has been the bedrock of the Midwest for many years and it is public education that has numerous challenges and will continue to have...in the future.
James C. Wright Middle School is a public school. So is the charter school run by the Monona Grove school district.
I'm glad the President chose to visit Wisconsin to argue for higher standards, better assessments, and the importance of teaching in raising student academic achievement.
"James C. Wright Middle School is a public school. "
The local rag called it a charter school. Students have to be admitted to go there...just because you live in the geographic area does not mean you get to go there....sounds a lot like a charter school.
"James Wright Middle School serves 6th through 8th Grade Students From The City Of Madison, Which Is Part Of Dane County. James Wright Middle School Operates As A Magnet School, Providing Academically Or Socially Focused Instruction On A Particular Theme. As A Charter School, Funding Is Provided Under A Specific Charter Granted By The State Legislature Or Other Authority. Some Or All Students From This School Participate In Free Or Reduced Lunch Programs."
Wright MS IS a charter school; it's also a public school, supported by the taxpayers of the Madison school district and the state of Wisconsin.
The whole point of a charter school is to operate and serve the needs of school children in different ways than what might be called a "regular" school. MG's charter school operates this way, as do public charter schools in Verona, Waukesha and other communities in Wisconsin.
Charter schools, in my view, aren't inherently good or bad. There are some very good charter schools out there, and some not so.
I am not saying they are good or bad.
My POINT is that, Wright only accepts students it wants to accept RIGHT?
Thus, it weeds out certain families and students for RIGHT or WRONG.
As a result they do not have the same problems that a traditional public school encounters.
So should all charter schools be banned?
Many charter schools are established for students that traditional or "regular" schools -- for a variety of reasons -- struggle to educate. They aren't necessarily (in fact, often don't) taking the cream of the crop of the public school roster. In Monona Grove's charter school, it's the exact opposite -- educating students (often successfully) who are most at risk of dropping out of school. Yes, enrollment is limited -- it's limited to students who are on the verge of not getting a high school diploma at the age of 15.
"As a result they do not have the same problems that a traditional public school encounters."
Its not the students that are the problem with public education. Blaming the students is a path straight to mediocrity, and in my mind a sure sign of poor leadership. Our elementary MAP scores show that on average, the lower a student starts the larger their growth will be. Everyone can learn.
Good God.
Trying to have a conversation with you two is one of the most twisted and strange experiences I have ever encountered.
A. I never said it was the kids fault.
I could expand on that point, but it would get twisted.
B. I never made the leap or even hinted at elimanting charter schools.
Did you two both have the same confused rehetroic professor in college?
But you're critical (saddened, actually) that the president chose to publicize his education ideas at a charter school, instead of a "public" school, and argue that charter schools have fewer "problems" than public schools because they get to "weed out" children.
Those comments suggest you don't like charter schools. What don't you like about them? If they work to better a child's education (as some do), shouldn't public schools look at them as examples of how they can improve the education of children?
For the record, I never took rhetoric in college. But I did hang around alot with students who did.
According to Wright te website, students must live in the West High attendance area. Further, the website says the goal is to have the same demographic makeup as the entire West attendance area. In the event that there too many applications from any particular demographic, a lottery is used. Perhaps an arguement can be made, however, that regardless of their demographic classification, the parenst of kids who go to the effort to enroll them in Wright are probably more interested than the average parent in their kids' education. To that extent, anonymous 1, you may have a point.
And if trying to have a written chat with Peter or Phil is the one of the most twisted experiences you've ever had, bully for you. You've had a pretty easy go of it.
Wright, at least for kids coming from my kids' school (Leopold) has a lottery system for entry from applications received (~25-30 kids from Leopold are chosen each year). I believe the other big feeder school for Wright are kids from Lincoln. I'm not sure how many from the other West attendance area schools feed into Wright, but from what we've been told by the district, it is a lottery system to fill the slots for the 6th grade (not sure how the other grades work - ie if once you are in you are in through 8th grade?).
Higher standards as a curative for school ills have been actively promoted
for over 100 years and 100
years of cries for higher standards, we are still in an education crisis. The push for higher standards has not worked.
Perhaps, we should consider changing our model to something like the Sidwell Friends school?
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