Posted on 02/23/2011 10:44:01 PM PST by neverdem
U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told CNSNews.com today in a video interview that “nobody” can be satisfied with the reading and mathematics scores achieved by eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools, noting that “they’re clearly not what they should be.”
However, Duncan declined to pin the blame on teachers for the unsatisfactory performance of Wisconsin public schools, arguing that "we can point fingers lots of places" and that “everybody” from parents, to school administrators, to the local community, to the business community also needs to be challenged to make the public schools better.
In the latest round of National Assessment of Educational Progress reading tests [2]administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009, Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned an average score of 266 out of 500, and only 34 percent of those eighth graders earned a rating of “proficient” or better in reading. (Thirty-two percent earned a “proficient” rating and another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating.)
In the NAEP math test [3], Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned an average score of 288 out of 500, and only 39 percent earned a rating of “proficient” or better. (Thirty-one percent earned a “proficient” rating and another 8 percent earned an “advanced” rating.)
Wisconsin public schools increased their per-pupil spending [4] from $7,123 in 1998 to $10,791 in 2008. Even when adjusted for inflation ($7,123 in 1998 dollars equals $9,408 in 2008 dollars) that was a real increase of $1,383 in per pupil. Yet, the NAEP reading scores of Wisconsin public school eighth graders did not improve at all in that time frame (they scored 266 out of 500 in both 1998 and 2008); and the math scores of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders improved only marginally, rising from 283 out of 500 in 1996 to 288 out 500 in 2009...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
“Not our fault” says the guy running the show.....
to the business community
what exactly am I as a business owner suppose to do to help kids in school? I pay my taxes. Do you want me to pay more (I will, but it’ll quickly put me out of business) Want me to teach the kids? Ok, but again, I’ll go out of business. and I pay the teacher to do that.
MUSH! MUSH! MUSH!
Well, he has a point. Too many parents do not care that their kids do not learn so long as they are out of their hair of 8 hours a day.
As much as we shell out in tax dollars the teachers should include room and board to go along with classroom instruction.
I agree, but they are not gonna upset one of the little darlings and risk the wrath of an inconvenienced parent.
Wonder why no one has added up the bill for just administrators, clerks, secretaries and non-teaching staff. If this school district is as bloated with these positions as the schools in our area are, I would suspect that you might come close to balancing the budget just by eliminating those people, their perks and expenses. Yet we never see much if anything about cutting from the top down.
erm..why do I have to pay taxes if I don’t have children?
If only the teachers were paid more money then the chirrun would be learnin’
I am sure that if those eighth graders had had a miraculous huge jump in achievement, the teachers would be climbing all over themselves claiming credit, thanks to the 65% (allowing for inflation) increase in spending per student in the last 10 years.
After seeing the marching, the signs and hearing the chanting I can’t believe anyone would allow these people to take care of their kids for six hours a day.
Gee, maybe give parents vouchers to send their kids to better private schools? Oh no we can't do that!
In addition to letting the unionized teachers off of the hook (no surprise there), somehow Mr. Secretary Duncan also managed to omit the one group with primary responsibility for learning to read and calculate: the students.
How about we trying something really novel: Make the students personally responsible for their performance and let them either reap the rewards or pay the penalty accordingly.
“...the business community also needs to be challenged to make the public schools better.”
If it wasn’t for you guys, we wouldn’t have our debt, the air would be clean, people would love each other, and the New Zealand earthquake would not have happened. Get used to it - you guys are the ONLY ones they can attack with impunity. As to your question - yes, you guys can dump more money into the corrupt and failed system.
But in one case you guys do deserve some blame (and you guys being the Chamber of Commerce). GET OFF THIS AMNESTY KICK, PLEASE. It will kill America just as it’s killing Europe. I know that you guys need cheap, reliable, labor...but even so - most of you guys have kids. What they hell type country do you want to leave them?
“Well, he has a point. Too many parents do not care that their kids do not learn so long as they are out of their hair of 8 hours a day. “
There are generations of kids in Asia that have done quite well growing up with illiterate parents. There once was a time when kids would actually LEARN in school, and the school could care less about what was going on in the kid’s life outside of school (in my mother’s case, her family was starving...and she did very well).
Maybe it’s time we attack the problem, rather than falling for their diversions.
Bottom line; Teachers are paid a decent wage to teach. If they can't/don't, they should be fired and replaced with a teacher that can/will.
"However, Duncan declined to pin the blame on teachers ... "we can point fingers lots of places" ...Exsqueeze me Arne? ..'lots of'?
Now I didn't go to any high-falutin college like you. Heck, I just graduated from a Chicago Public High School - but that was before there was any TEACHERS UNION - and as I recall it from my English classes at good old Kelly HS, that sentence SHOULD be:
"..we can point fingers at a lot of places.."Granted 'lots of' is used when speaking in the common vernacular, but come on Arne you're the Secretary of Education and should be setting examples.
I know! You lost your English GRAMMAR book on your move to DC, right?
[Nahhhh, you've always been a dope.]
Maybe it’s time we attack the problem, rather than falling for their diversions.
How many teachers started in other disciplines, flunked out of those and ended up getting degrees in teaching??????? I know several that did exactly that.
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