BuckeyeBlog

The state is ordering two charter schools closed for being chronic poor-performers. On the surface, that’s well and good. At least one of the schools, though, was a special education school, which raises questions well-rehearsed by the public district schools about what this performance data actually means. When such real consequences hit a public school, do they actually close? Color me skeptical. In fact, let’s pose that question: How many public district schools of similar performance have closed? Or are they all above average?

A reader doesn’t like Matt Carr’s point that “teaching to the test” is a non-argument. If we can’t test what we’re teaching, what are we teaching?

Carr writes: So long as the state’s standardized exams are designed to capture student knowledge of basic subjects, then teaching to the test and teaching students basic skills are essentially one and the same.

Our reader responds:

But the test also has attendance requirements, and population and subgroup requirements (minimums). These requirements must be met to make AYP, and they are out of the hands of school personell. I have no way, as a teacher, of making sure Johnny comes to school, especially on test day, especially if his parents opted out of the test, which is their right.

So, your quote above is either disingenuous or uninformed. I’m going with disingenuous! (more…)