Check out the interesting post by Eduwokette "Are New York City Schools Shortchanging High Achieving Students? The View from 2003-2008
Savvy New York City parents have long suspected that high achieving kids are losing out in the push to boost the achievement of the lowest performing students. But those suspicions are often cast aside by public officials as helicopter parent whining or muted class warfare."
So the big question is "why?". Is it that teaching to the test is blunting the high achievers initiative? Is so much emphasis being placed on teaching the at risk kids that the high achievers are left on their own? Have the families of high achievers just voted with their feet? Or is it just the general philosophy that smart kids will do whatever it takes to achieve, so their budgets can be slashed by 6%? ( Remember to call your City Council Person and say "NO!" to the budget cuts)
What do you think?
1 comment:
Hi Joyce,
Unfortunately, schools are now being rated mostly by the progress report (55% of this report evaluates student progress). However, the higher the student achieved during his/her last year, the harder it is for the student to show progress. Think about it this way, if your child earned a perfect score on her Math State Exam last year, the only way for her to show progress is if she earns another perfect score this year - in other words, she cannot earn higher than a perfect score.
Add this to the facts that students in the lowest third can even give the schools extra points, and that principals can lose their jobs if their schools don't perform well, and you have a formula for leaving the high achievers "on their own," or at least as an afterthought.
Post a Comment