Saturday, November 3, 2007
Back Atcha! A Report Card for the DOE
In recognition of the DOE's imminent release of school Report Cards, it only seemed fair to offer one in return. And what do you know? It's STRAIGHT A's!!!
GROWTH IN TASK AREAS
Grade -------- Item
-- A -- Discourages Parent Engagement
-- A -- Disregards Parent Concerns and Needs
-- A -- Obstructs Use of Cell Phone Technology to Facilitate Daily Parent/Child Interaction
-- A -- Minimizes the Relevance of SLT’s and CEC’s
-- A -- Fully Obscures Organizational Structure and Lines of Responsibility
-- A -- Avoids Open and Honest Public Discussion
-- A -- Discounts Improving the Learning Environment through Smaller Class Sizes
-- A -- Rejects Whole Child Education in Favor of Whole Child Test Preparation
-- A -- Rejects Preparing Students for Success in College and Beyond in Favor of Developing Lifelong Skills with Timed Multiple Choice Tests
-- A -- Dares Teachers to Explore Material Deeply, Teach Creatively, and Inspire Students
-- A -- Motivates Students to Become Lifelong Learners Only When They Are Paid to Do So, Thereby Maximizing Their Future Income Streams as Adults
-- A -- Increases Principal and Teacher Focus on Standardized Test Scores
-- A -- Centralizes Control over Educational Policy
-- A -- Undermines Public School System to Facilitate Increase in Privately Managed and Charter Schools
-- A -- Focuses Student, Teacher, and School Evaluations Exclusively on Quantifiable Metrics
-- A -- Awards Lucrative No Bid Contracts to Consultants
-- A -- Maximizes School Accountability with Funds from Unaccountable Corporate Sources
-- A -- Implements Corporate Governance Model for Public School System
-- A -- Uses Public Funds to Build Dossiers on Critics
-- A -- Creates Meaningless Report Card System to Enrage and Confuse Parents
-- A -- Massages Data to Spin Self-Favorable Analysis and Reports
-- A -- Maximizes Inappropriate Use of Standardized Test Scores
-- A -- Makes Effective Use of PR for Maximum Obfuscatory Effect
GROWTH IN PERSONAL BEHAVIOR (Not Included in Overall Grade)
-- D -- Listens Attentively
-- D -- Plays Well with Others
-- D- -- Deals with Others in Honest and Trustworthy Manner
-- D- -- Shows Courtesy and Consideration to Others
-- F -- Respects Others’ Opinions and Beliefs
Oh well, nobody's perfect, and there's always next year.
DOE is threatening principals with loss of jobs based on one year's results, based on their fundamentally unreliable and misguided grading system-- -- shouldn't we do at least threaten to do the same to them?
ReplyDeleteOh well, you can always dream.
I think you've got a great point. I read this stuff and think no matter what grades the schools get, Klein and Bloomberg are not actually accountable. It's the school's fault, it's the principal's fault, it's the teachers' fault, or whatever. It doesn't matter that the school is packed to the rafters, at double or triple capacity, or that the kids don't speak English, or that a great deal of classrooms are in excess of the highest class size in the state.
ReplyDeleteThese guys are getting away with murder, and even today Mayor Moneybags is on the cover of Newsweek, in an 11 page spread that doesn't remotely explore the truth behind his "reforms."