Infinitesimal gains … infinitesimal losses.
At the end of the day, it’s all the same crap sandwich – and South Carolina parents, students and teachers continue having to take bites from it while the bureaucrats holding them back soak up the summer sun.
Sooner or later, people in South Carolina are going to finally figure out that the only way to achieve real progress in education is to stop giving the same morons who have been screwing it up for decades unlimited sums of money with no expectation of improvement. Or maybe they won’t figure it out, who knows … the establishment is certainly doing its best to keep ‘em too stupid to see what’s really happening.
Take the state’s performance on the ACT, which S.C. Superintendent of Education (and Democratic gubernatorial wanna-be) Jim Rex tried to pass off as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
“Especially significant,” he said of South Carolina’s scores.
But wait … the scores went down, didn’t they?
From The Voice:
The ACT report on South Carolina, put out by ACT Inc., ranks South Carolina’s average score of 19.8 as 46th in the nation. This average score is 1.3 points behind the national average, and 4.1 points behind the highest average score in the country (Massachusetts). The average composite score dropped from 19.9 in 2008. (S.C. Superintendent Jim) Rex’s claims of “steady increases” appear very flimsy in the light of objectivity. Since 2003, South Carolina has not moved out of the bottom 5 worst ACT performers, and those who do have lower composite scores have much higher percentages of students taking the test.
The Voice article goes on to provide tons of additional info on the ACT results that you won’t find from the state’s mainstream media, like the fact that the state’s ever-present achievement gap is not only still around – but widening.
“While composite scores for white students have increased from 21.3 to 21.9 since 2005, composite scores for African American students have dropped from 16.5 to 16.4,” The Voice article notes. “Participation percentages have likewise decreased among African American students since 2005, while participation has improved among white students.”
But, hey … all those billions we blow each year are for the “poor, minority children,” remember?
For the rest of The Voice‘s ACT report, click here.
By enkidu August 20, 2009 at 1:33 am
Why don’t we give Sanford’s plan a try. Nothing else is working Competition often stimulates improvement. Rather than continuing to scream about how Howie Rich is an outsider and thereby cannot be concerned about our kids (Brad Warthen calls him a nutball) let’s accept that money is not the answer and start trying things that actually work. Getting parents interested and involved in the educational process is the way to ensure success.
By COURTNEY August 20, 2009 at 2:38 am
getting parents interested and involved in the educational process ???? WOW !!! Now that’s a new idea!!! The average teacher has been bitching about this issue for let’s say the last 20 years !!! Easier to blame the teacher than assume some responsibility parents, huh???
By weighing in August 20, 2009 at 7:20 am
who the hell even takes the ACT?? oh yeah, those that have have trouble with the SAT. that’s why the scores suck. and once again misleading as hell FITS. South Carolina lets ANYONE take the SAT and ACT, where as the state’s that have the higher averages don’t. For example, some states only only the top 10% of the class to take the SAT….I am sure if we did that here, we would see a staggering jump in scores.
By Parent of child in SC public school August 20, 2009 at 7:55 am
Why not bring in some folks from the school district to speak to students about their jobs and their incomes? Bet that’ll get some parents and students interested, once they see their salaries and job description.
Bring Sanford in too, tell them how to get away with everything short of murder, the perks of his position, and that’ll spawn some interest.
Sarcasm aside, I do have to say that the teachers and PTO, as well as businesses and individuals who support education in Chesterfield County schools, simply can’t be beat.
By fitsnews August 20, 2009 at 8:15 am
Hey “Petey Pablo (#3),”
This is probably a news flash to you but guess what … our SAT scores suck too. In fact, they’re worse than our ACT scores.
Brilliant argument.
Now please, get back to turning down our hotel bed. And we’re out of towels.
-FITS
By GGIH August 20, 2009 at 9:50 am
News Flash for you and The Voice: South Carolina’s public school students did BETTER this year, but the overall average declined because private school kids — who made up 13.5 percent of the test-takers — did WORSE. There’s no argument for private school vouchers here.
By weighing in August 20, 2009 at 10:46 am
Newsflash FITS
No one is arguing that they aren’t terrible or below the national average, but when you let ANYONE take the test, the law of averages certainly won’t benefit you.
So when you’re finished re-reading the prior comment and actually see that it was an educated comment, I should be done with Mrs. Sic @ the hotel by then, unless she wants to stick around.
By CNSYD August 20, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Why do you ignore demographics? Compare middle to high income area school performance with the inverse. You can’t make chicken salad from chicken shit. No home support, single parent homes, more concern over money to buy cigarettes and alcohol or drugs and what do you expect? When the corner boys are rolling in cash and wearing bling where is the incentive to go study?
By B-Side August 20, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Weighing in,
SC is right around the national average for percentage (45%) of graduating students who take the ACT. There is nothing special about how many kids here take test. At least 25 other states have much higher percentages of students take the ACT, and all but three have better average scores. The ones who do worse than SC require from 60- 100% of their students to take the test, and they aren’t doing worse by much! The problem is that too many people like you want to minimize how bad the problem is instead of confront them. Read the report from the company who puts out the ACT results. It’s an eye opener!
By Parent of child in SC public school August 20, 2009 at 4:25 pm
There has to be a mean of determining students’ progress and abilities, I suppose, because apparently grades and report cards for some reason aren’t enough.
Unfortunately, these tests don’t measure musical ability, studio arts, sports, emotional intelligence, etc.
Foremost, until all parents become more involved in their children’s education, things wil remain the same.
It’s definitely time for some kind of change when drug-sniffing dogs and cops are required in schools. Our government is doing such a wonderful job setting high morals and leading by example, I must add. Perhaps the change can start there, but not with people like Sanford in office.
By Donna August 20, 2009 at 6:59 pm
FITS, What’s your solution? Take away the money for education? Do you think cutting the education budget will suddenly improve the kids’ test scores? Please share with us your solution, oh, brilliant one, because all I’m hearing is some resentment that those “poor minority” kids are getting some of your tax money to go to school. Greed is good–maybe for you; I don’t see how your greed is going to help those poor kids one iota. Greed is good for all you wealthy fat cats; for the rest of us, it sucks. And there are more of us than there are of you. We want our kids in nice buildings with new textbooks, good food to eat, and lots of supplies to use. So just cough up the tax money, Fits. From a sixty year old teacher working really hard for low pay a whole lifetime, Donna
By CNSYD August 20, 2009 at 7:43 pm
When students are required to take the test but have no intention of ever going to college, guess how they score and the effect on the average.
By fitsnews August 20, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Yeah Donna, we hate minority kids so much that we want to give them free tax credits to help them escape failing public schools. Meanwhile, your approach (which we’ve been trying without success for the last four decades) is to throw more money at the problem in the hopes that sooner or later a monopoly with no market-based accountability will magically improve itself.
God knows, though, our “greed” in trying to help these kids is just unconscionable.
We must really just hate poor minority kids with a passion!
Jeez … buy a f*cking clue and get back with us.
-FITS
By GGIH August 20, 2009 at 9:52 pm
So, public school scores are improving, private school scores are declining, and you want to help minority kids by sending them to private schools? You can’t hear a thing except your ego and your ideology, can you?
By CNSYD August 20, 2009 at 10:13 pm
FITS escape failing public schools to where? If the parent(s) pay no taxes as they are on the dole, what do tax credits do for them? Who pays for their transportation? What about books and supplies? Who pays for their lunch?
By Come on August 21, 2009 at 9:40 am
Where is the report on private schools declining, and by how much? There scores could have dropped and they still might be doing better than public school scores.
The kind of “improvement” that is happening in public schools will never draw in industries looking for educated employees.
By GGIH August 21, 2009 at 11:49 am
Read the news reports. The overall score for the state went down, from 19.9 to 19.8. Public school scores went up, from 19.7 to 19.8 (original news reports said it was unchanged, but the Governor’s School for Math and Science wasn’t included in the original public school score). The decline therefore occurred among the 13.5 percent of private school students who took the ACT.
By Anonymous August 21, 2009 at 2:29 pm
The “news reports” never put out any numbers at all about the actual scores from private schools. The Department of Education just threw out some statements implying that private schools were messing everything up.
Don’t private schools and home schoolers consistently outperform public schools in SC? They could have legitimately dropped in score, but still be far outstripping public schools. Please, if you know where to find the public/private breakdown, let us all know.
By weighing in August 21, 2009 at 8:31 pm
FITS has no solutions for anything. It’s easy to sit back and talk trash about something, but never offer a solution. It has become the mantra of the “Demint Movement” – “We don’t like your plan, but we have no plan of our own, except….we don’t like your plan”
Grow a set FITS and offer up some real solutions other than the one drum beat of vouchers….
By fitsnews August 22, 2009 at 9:37 am
You mean like these 95 solutions?
http://www.fitsnews.com/2008/04/27/south-carolinas-ninety-five-theses/
-FITS
By Ron August 23, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Will,
I like # 95. LOL
Ron
By Ron August 23, 2009 at 8:52 pm
“Illiteracy is not confined to blue-collar workers in rural states or inner-city schools. It looms as a pressing issue even in some colleges. In a documentary aired on PBS in June, Western Kentucky University history professor Nathan Phelps lamented, “We have students who don’t read, period. They don’t read anything from newspapers to books, and they come here expecting to somehow get through their college course work without changing. It’s a real problem.” (Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk)
U.S. 17- and 13-year-olds are reading as poorly as ever, according to the 2004 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released in August. The silver lining is that 9-year-olds posted their best scores in more than three decades and the gap between white students and minorities narrowed. The Bush administration claims some credit for these gains, which occurred about a year after the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) went into effect.
Only half of ACT test-takers have adequate college-level skills in reading comprehension, the ACT testing service reported when releasing its 2005 scores in August. One reason given is that only 56% of the test takers took a college-prep curriculum, even fewer than five years ago.
“Hundreds of thousands are going to have a hard time because of the disconnect between their plans for college and the cold reality of their readiness for college,” said Richard Ferguson, CEO. The ACT is the predominant college entrance exam in about half the states, mostly in the middle part of the country. (Associated Press, 8-17-05)
By Ron August 23, 2009 at 8:54 pm
“NCLB sets a deadline of 2014 for bringing all grade-school students to proficiency in reading. A report by the RAND Corp. last winter suggested “major concerns about the ability of states to meet the ambitious goal” set by NCLB. Examining data on state assessments and the NAEP, the researchers found “fewer than half the students meet the proficiency standards, and in no state do even half the students meet the NAEP national literacy standard of proficiency.”
Thousands of high school students in Florida, for instance, still can’t read. “High schools were never designed to teach reading,” said Raymond Gaines, supervisor of secondary education for Seminole County schools. “But because we have a flood of kids who can’t read, we are being forced to refocus.” Officials there have embarked on a costly experiment to determine what reading method works best. (Orlando Sentinel, 1-1-05)
But evidence has been mounting for decades that phonics works best. Pro-phonics experts such as G. Reid Lyon, director of reading research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (part of the National Institutes of Health), and University of Oregon professors Doug Carnine, Siegfried Englemann and Ed Kame’enui have used that evidence to influence the Bush administration’s push for “scientifically based” reading instruction.”
By Ron August 23, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Teach phonics, not ‘context guessing’
Remedial reading educator Linda Schrock Taylor notes that “once a new or delayed reader develops a firm basis in handling the code in which English is written, limits to reading at ever higher levels are removed.” Eschewing politically correct textbooks, she reports, “I do not choose reading selections with any illustrations or photographs since I believe that my job is to teach reading, not globalization, art appreciation or context guessing.” (LewRockwell.com, 12-13-04)
Yet education-college habits favoring discredited whole-language reading methods die hard. In one recent case, a phonics program introduced to the Lewis Lemon public school in Rockford, IL in 2001 worked wonders on the overwhelmingly low-income and minority students’ test scores. The 3rd-graders ranked second of all 35 Rockford elementary schools and higher than the state average in 2003.
In 2004, a new superintendent and curriculum director inexplicably demanded a switch to a whole-language reading program – which is not endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education because the department endorses only programs supported by research – and the successful principal was transferred and demoted. Members of the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization executive board have protested to the school board. (School Reform News, Mar. 2005)
By BIN News Editorial Staff August 23, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Children, children.
Please remember. sic(k) willie is just an “ignorant slut” for Howie and the (singular) voucher clown at the Voice for the Voucher Scams and the Carpet-buggers for Irresponsible Voucher Scams.
They have no original material.
Just the same old moronic rhetoric.
They know their voucher scam would only leave those who need help the most even further behind.
They know the real problems facing education include funding, poverty, racism and the moronic standard set by our Legislature.
The S.C. Supreme Court has ruled! All that South Carlina’s children are entitled to is a “minimally adequate” education.
So, why do we need vouchers? We don’t.
If sic(k) willie and the voucher clowns were honest they would demand that S.C. raise the standard. But, they’re not honest. Not even close.
They care nothing about the standard or about education.
Instead of demanding that S.C. raise the standard and honor it, all they do is demand that S.C. dump the kids who need help the most.
That’s what voucher do. All sic(k) willie and the voucher clowns are about are politics and money. That makes them voucher pimps.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
P.S. Hey, sic(k) one. Remember that vouchers are dead in S.C. Jakie has said so, so, it must be so.
By Ron August 23, 2009 at 11:21 pm
NEA Delegates OK Dues Hike to Fight Vouchers
CHICAGO, IL – Delegates to the 2000 National Education Association’s Representative Assembly (RA) held at McCormick Place over the July 4th holiday voted to impose a $5 a year increase in each member’s union dues. Sixty percent or $6 million of the additional $10 million raised per year will be used to combat vouchers and other related ballot initiatives. Delegates from several states, including California and Michigan, complained about the battles they face against vouchers.
In his keynote address, NEA President Bob Chase cautioned the 9,200 delegates about the importance of the upcoming elections. “Think about the federal government subsidizing vouchers,” he warned. “Please keep in mind that the next President of the United States could name as many as three Justices to the Supreme Court. If these new Justices join Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, and Chief Justice Rehnquist to form a new majority, we would see a breach in the wall separating church and state, vouchers declared constitutional, and your union and employee rights eroded.” He went on to attack George Bush’s education policies.
Voucher supporters contend that, while the teacher unions have been successful in stifling their efforts so far, the issue continues to gain steam. Proponents predict they’ll spend a nearly equal amount of money this election year. “It’s going to be a very tough battle,” California entrepreneur and voucher supporter Ron Unz told the Washington Times (7-7-00), “but it does look like they will match the unions dollar for dollar.”