tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post4676771265365890998..comments2024-02-16T06:29:33.587-08:00Comments on Welcome to " The Math UnderGround " -- Seattle & Washington State: Paying the Price for Poor PerformanceMy Op-Ed the Times would not run.dan dempseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15536720661510933983noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post-17120596686442229572010-09-21T17:58:36.382-07:002010-09-21T17:58:36.382-07:00Our newspaper ran a story last night about how thi...Our newspaper ran a story last night about how this district manipulated its test scores prior to the school board election. All the low-scoring kids were shuttled into 'learning centers' so they weren't included in the test score results. That's how all the schools showed 'substantial' improvement - so much for the incremental approach advocated by reform. The union voted no confidence in its quarterlies, the superintendent, and the school board. <br /><br />At least here, the union has the 'huevos' to back up its employees. We're advocating at our site that all our members having trouble dialoguing with their administrators have a union rep present just to keep meetings more civil. <br /><br />We're also supporting a smaller elementary school teacher's union that is on the verge of striking. The district hired an expensive, new law firm to represent them during contract negotiations. <br /><br />Our classified employees have it even worse. They are paying super-premiums for their current health insurance - over $500 per month.kprugmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02126184111625382040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983334520933101277.post-32389931334807199882010-09-21T00:07:26.243-07:002010-09-21T00:07:26.243-07:00Our union is running the school board out in the n...Our union is running the school board out in the next election. All of the candidates we are supporting made pledges not to accept donations from businesses that had contracts with the school district. <br /><br />Tonight we voted no confidence in the pro-reform superintendent and the quarterly assessments his administrators are using to evaluate their teachers. Its the details for reforming education that are lacking - what I feel is the over-reliance on test data is creating a cheating culture not only with students, but includes also teachers and administrators. The current policy appears to be if you don't get caught, then you're honest. <br /><br />It is very unlikely that any school could get a 33 point increase in test scores, when an increase of 5 points per year would have been more than sufficient to show improvement.<br /><br />The controversy should be whether change is progressive in the sense that one can even find statistically a trend in student performance. <br /><br />It also appears schools that have endemic cheating can easily be identifie. They are statistical anomalies. <br /><br />It would be easier to identify classrooms that cheat, than classrooms that perform well on tests. With the exception of very high performing tracks of students, where cheating on a standardized test would not be worth the effort.kprugmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02126184111625382040noreply@blogger.com