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Those students getting the equivalent of an A+ are in blue… Those getting A’s and B’s are in Green. And those getting C’s are in yellow… The red stands for those who got D’s and F’s… This comes from last spring’s (2014) DCAS testing….
When the Smarter Balanced scores eventually come out… forget the semantics of “proficiency” (A, A-, B+, B, B-)… Instead, look at those who actually failed or are below basic…. The rates are amazingly low…
Which means that our schools are doing a really good job… But… I would bet that because this was intentionally hidden from you and because the News Journal, and the blogs, and the politicians all focused on the word “proficiency”… you were really unaware of just how good our teachers are doing today in Delaware’s schools…
Really?
There are more A+ students than there are F’s? That is one huge distortion of the standard Bell Curve and can only happen by a lot of hard work by very dedicated individuals…
But, if you and every one else knew that public schools in Delaware were doing such a phenomenal job, you probably would object to $37 million being funneled to “Friends of Markell” Ie (AIR which makes the Smarter Balanced Assessment)… If everyone was aware of how great public schools were performing, they probably would object to a new charter going up in their district which would TAKE AWAY MONEY FROM THEIR GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOL. If everyone knew how good Delaware’s children were doing right now, they would abandon charters and return to our public schools…
Which is why we are getting scores that will make schools look worse than what we’ve been told… This August, when the News Journal publishes the Smarter Balanced Results for 2015, and decries that everyone is not proficient (not in blue), the hope is that those who can benefit financially at your expense from a failing public school system, will finally get the chance…
It boils down to semantics. If someone tells you that Jack is not proficient… it pops in your mind that he must then be a failure… That is just our immediate impression.. Of course, all we have to do is ask… “what is your definition of proficient” to discern that what they were claiming as the level of proficiency sets a new record for mankind’s highest ascent. If we ask (and we should all scream it in August when the Smarter Balanced Results come out)…. “WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF ‘PROFICIENT'” (and how does that translate to a letter grade) then we would under the Freedom of Information Act, eventually find out that they are decrying we must change EVERYTHING in education because only 33% of our children are A+ students.
Which is pretty damn good…
So OK. In this semantic inflation, how many are really failures? From the red in the DOE’s charts above, it appears to be in the low 10%’s … which is also realistically pretty good. Especially when many of those don’t speak English.. Or get meals at home… Or have parents read to them. Or have parts of their brains missing and inoperable through no cause of their own…
When you see the Delaware DOE reporting that they taught 35.8% of all students in 2014-2015 who were below the Federal poverty level (much lower than those previously eligible for free lunch (a higher threshold)).. yhe fact that only 10% of those failed, means we were able to teach and pass those 25.8% of those most vulnerable citizens…
Teachers pat yourselves on the back.. No other civilization on this planet can do what you just did.. Teach and pass 25% of the population who are below poverty. (China sends them straight to factory assembly lines) As a collective force, you are truly amazing….
But…. educational reformers can’t have any of that… How can they fire long-term teachers and replace them with computers or cheap substitutes, if our well-trained teachers are doing a really great bang-up job?
They can’t… and so they have to lie…
Remember: when the scores come out… to grab those hawking the demise of public education, and hold their feet in the fire; don’t let them squirm out. Demand they give you the letter grade of what “being proficient” really stands for:
An A+
HB 334 which would implement the national test (that every other state is abandoning like the last person holding on to them will pay the entire bill), was defeated tonight in the Senate…. It was a surprise, really. The House had passed it 30-9… But it was one of those bills that “protect a client” and tend to get passed by insiders whether or not it hurts the people it affects… The People have been speaking out about this bill before it was offered last year, and in a rare surprise, they were heard…. The bill was defeated….
| Yes: 8 | No: 13 | Not Voting: 0 | Absent: 0 |
| Blevins | Y | Hocker | N | Peterson | Y |
| Bonini | N | Lavelle | N | Pettyjohn | N |
| Bushweller | Y | Lawson | N | Poore | Y |
| Cloutier | N | Lopez | N | Simpson | N |
| Ennis | N | Marshall | Y | Sokola | Y |
| Hall-Long | Y | McBride | N | Townsend | N |
| Henry | Y | McDowell | N | Venables | N |
There was audible commotion. A lot of gasping from breath holding from the halfway point as the count had progressed… One hour later, as the eyes started to glaze over from a long day pushed even longer, a surprise motion and a second to rescind the vote was offered and a re-vote taken…. Exactly 4 people over that 63 minutes from passage to passage changed their vote…..
| Yes: 12 | No: 9 | Not Voting: 0 | Absent: 0 |
| Blevins | Y | Hocker | N | Peterson | Y |
| Bonini | N | Lavelle | Y | Pettyjohn | N |
| Bushweller | Y | Lawson | N | Poore | Y |
| Cloutier | N | Lopez | N | Simpson | N |
| Ennis | Y | Marshall | Y | Sokola | Y |
| Hall-Long | Y | McBride | Y | Townsend | N |
| Henry | Y | McDowell | Y | Venables | N |
I think every one reading this already knows the huge consequences this act will have on children… so I don’t really need to explain it here….
Insiders can instantly guess what happened by the red highlights above….
In hindsight, blaming these people may be a little harsh…. but they will probably be judged harshly by Delaware Society anyway… Just like we judge Judas today even though inevitably Jesus would have had to go down the same path…. Judas still gets 99% of the blame…
The real blame back then was Caiaphas, head of the Sanhedrin or Pharisees…. the person pulling the strings. In order not to lose focus you need to remember that 30 House members voted for this, and it was supported by the Governor, Secretary of Education, US Secretary of Education and the President himself…. Plus those members of the Senate itself, who know better, but went along to get along….
But still…. a Judas is a Judas…. And though that 30 pieces of silver looked good at the time, if you remember the story, it’s luster did not last long…..
Courtesy of Kaiser Foundation
Should you live or die from an accident or life threatening illness? Depends apparently on where you live… If you live in the Blue, you survive. If you live in the Orange, goodbye… Simple, clear, concise.
Served to you courtesy of ALEC and the Republican Party of the United States of America
kavips 