October 10, 2012 12:04 pm
Is your state or district planning to create a report card for its public schools?
Advice from New York City: Don’t.
Read this debate. You will see some past and former employees of the school system (and the head of the charter association) who believe in the grades. And you will read some eloquent and knowledgeable critics who know that the grades are erratic, meaningless, and serve no purpose other than to set schools up to be closed.
The city’s Department of Education decided some years ago that the way to improve schools was to grade them. Millions and millions have flown out the window as everyone evaluates everyone else.
And every year, schools learn whether they got labeled A, B, C, D or F.
And with or without grades, the failure continues. And the biggest failure of all is the grading system.
Posted by dianeravitch
Categories: Accountability, NYC
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The school grades do have a point, albeit unstated: to provide the pseudo-scientific pretext for a political, economic and ideological agenda: closing neighborhood public schools and enabling private takeovers.
That’s the point, and from that perspective they’re doing exactly what they were intended to do.
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By Michael Fiorillo on October 10, 2012 at 12:17 pm
School grading is a terrible idea. It disempowers the school leaders, teachers and students. Last year, as a rotating teacher in 25 Manhattan public high schools, I saw the effect of the grading system all over the place. Most poignantly, I remember how sad the students were in a school that was being fazed out because of its low grades. “This school ain’t no good anyway, Miz,” they told me. It was especially heartbreaking because the school improved in its grade next time it was assessed. Too late for to save the school, though. A charter school occupying the first floor of the shared building already had dibs on the space, once the “low grade” school is gone. The charter school gets a high grade, though, for aggression. (You can check out my blog, yomizblog.com for stories from the insides of 25 schools.) As always, thank you Diane Ravitch for your inspirational work! Everyday you empower us with the facts, ma’am….not to mention your expert historical context.
Elizabeth Rose
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By Elizabeth Rose on October 10, 2012 at 1:55 pm
wisconsin is all set for grades this year. our state super is asking for legislation that will nearly double the amount of money spent on testing.
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By jim on October 10, 2012 at 2:34 pm
C, D, F, grades given to schools in Louisiana gave the go ahead for parents with children in those schools more choice….. to apply for vouchers. But those schools which took vouchers….they didn’t get a grade and will not be subject to a grade. I think they should also be working for a good grade. As a taxpayer, I should have the right to know. Don’t ya think?
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By Kathy1 on October 10, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I agree with Michael Fiorillo’s comment above. However, I would add that the grades do serve an important [if toxic] pedagogical purpose, namely, ‘edumacate’ the general public into believing that such grades are meaningful, carefully thought out, and even if not perfect, on the right track. Note that the defenders of the grading-schools status quo include weasel-worded caveats. They do this just to cover themselves against the inevitable future blowback that will come courtesy of their deceit and mismanagement. They are counting on the average reader to focus on their publicly proclaimed bottom line: school grades are good, better, BESTEST, so buy into our newest eduproduct ASAP! Don’t think, act now, before it’s too late!
It was heartening to read the sane comments by the opponents of school grades.
It renews my appreciation of the work Diane and others (Ms. Katie, Edushyster, JerseyJazzman, and so many others) do in putting up their blogs.
Even when they are running around the country speaking!
🙂
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By KrazyTA on October 10, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Do people not understand what normed tests do? They rank schools. Someone has to fail. A few win. Most of us are mediocre . (How come no one feels average when they get a “C”?) Do you want an auto mechanic who got a C average in auto tech? Do you want a doctor who passed med school with a C?
How about growth models? How do you show growth when performance is already very high? A school makes a plan to raise math scores on the state tests by 3% in the third grade. Are they testing a large enough cohort to ignore individual student characteristics? How do they tell that the results are due to the teaching? What are they going to do to raise that score? More teaching to the test? The list of questions is endless, and I am not saying anything that has not been said already. Assuming that these are fairly intelligent people promoting accountability through high stakes testing, why don’t they get it? They are either idiots or ethically challenged.
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By "2old2tch" on October 10, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Ethically challenged.
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By Middle school teacher on October 10, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina.
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By John Young on October 10, 2012 at 8:05 pm
New Mexico does grades as well.
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By Jeremiah James Henderson on October 11, 2012 at 11:40 am