Posted on 11/20/2012 9:52:39 AM PST by MichCapCon
Every year, newspapers across the state print the report card that the state of Michigan gives its public schools for parents to see how well their children’s schools are doing.
But what the articles don’t tell readers is that many districts with failing marks in student achievement are allowed to give themselves a score of 100 percent for completing a report on how it plans to improve itself. In many cases, that self-reported “A” inflates would-be grades of “F” to a passing grade.
Schools across the state get an automatic “A” for filling out a report on “indicators of school performance.” The report focuses on the school’s plans for self-improvement. The automatic “A” accounts for one-third of the school’s Education YES! state report card grade.
In August, the Lansing State Journal published all the EducationYes grades for the schools in Lansing Public Schools.
The newspaper article cites Sheridan Road School with a grade of “C.” However, Sheridan Road School had an “F” in Reading and an “F” in Mathematics in its only grades on student achievement. But with the help of the automatic “A,” the school ended up with a “C.”
Newspapers across the state publish the report cards with the inflated grades. MLive listed the grades of hundreds of schools.
In the Grand Rapids School District, Congress Elementary was given a “C.” It got that passing grade despite getting “F”s in Reading and Mathematics — the only two areas of student achievement that were measured.
"Who is helped by this?” said Michael Van Beek, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Van Beek said the system only helps districts that are failing in student achievement hide their grades.
"Parents aren’t helped by this because they don’t get an accurate assessment of how their school is performing,” Van Beek said.
Although plans for self-improvement are important, they should not carry nearly the same weight as student achievement when it comes to determining a report card grade, Van Beek said.
Two years ago, Michigan Capitol Confidential reported on a similar problem. At the time, a Michigan Department of Education spokesman said the automatic 100 percent grade was only for one year and that a new system would change it.
The MDE spokespeople didn’t return requests for comment on why a new system hasn't been implemented. The superintendents in the Lansing and Grand Rapids schools didn’t return emails seeking comment.
Actually, I see a number of churches doing this in our area, and others not tied to a specific church but church-oriented. The latter has had a fair amount of help from various churches.
The interesting thing I see is that people who are unchurched are pulled into orbit, they like a lot of people are looking for an alternative to the disaster that is the public school system. You want to evangelize your town? Start a K-12. The evangelization is indirect but sometimes thats the most effective kind. Build the world you want to live in and people will come.
The point is first, that there is no need for defeatism. God is good. Pray, make a plan, and go forward. Don’t wait for the government to clean up its act, build it yourself. And the second point is that we don’t really have a choice. The alternative becomes clearer by the day that giving our children to the public schools for the formative years of their lives is to undercut everything we are trying to do.
If you are serious, public school is increasingly not a choice anymore. Home school, or look for a parochial school or a church-friendly private school. Grandparents may have to help.
Do wintertime’s comments do the cause of homeschooling more harm or more good? That is all I want the answer to.
Government teachers are always insisting that they are professions. OK...Then **SUE** them when they give grades, promotions, and even diplomas that are nothing but LIES! Far far too many lie to the child, the parent, and the taxpayer. Aggressive attorneys should go directly for their homes, savings, retirement, future earnings, and any malpractice insurance that they might have.
BUMP! BUMP!
Go back and read my first post to you.
sitetest
Headline contains my pet peeve. Public schools fail to educate. That is not what they are for. Public schools are there to create worship of the state. In that, they have been wildly successful.
Do you home school?
I used to think "wintertime" was a bit nuts. Not anymore. Her posts, with all the news I've read regarding public schools, are starting to ring true.
To wit: Forward: Boston Tea Party being taught as an act of terrorism
In Texas no less.
When referring to another poster, it is common politeness here on Free Republic to ping that person.
But....I know that since you are a professional teacher this was just an oversight. As a professional you would never talk about a student behind his back without his permission and that of his parents. Government teachers would never do that.
The Detoilet Pooblik Skrewl Collective at its best, baffle gabbing the taxpayers, just as some black tribal leader in Africa.
Going tribal, AKA “voting Democrat”, has consequences. The present condition of Detoilet, MI is proof positive that Nathaniel Grigsby’s grave has the correct message on it.
I've been here at FR for nearly 15 years. I don't much care about the idiots who frequent the place. Once having determined that a poster is an idiot, I try to ignore him or her.
If you argue with fools, on-lookers may find it difficult to distinguish between you and the fools.
But, YMMV.
sitetest
Thank you.
Truth wins. Why?
1) Natural consequences
2) People are not stupid
“One of the problems with Christians working in the godless government schools is that it lulls naive and inexperience parents into believing that their local godless schools can’t be that bad. Hey! If Mrs. Honey Bun ( choir director, Sunday School teacher, and minister’s wife) works there, it can’t be that bad. ( Hint: Your school is just as godless as any government owned and run school in this nation.)”
I am a Christian homeschooling dad who teaches in a public school. I make no apologies for my presence there, in fact, I see it as my calling, my ministry. I am on the front lines of the social breakdown going on all around us. I am a missionary living among those students who need Christ, seeking to live the Gospel before them (and, hopefully, before their parents, as well.) I am a testimony among my peers, should they choose to see it, that lets them know theirs is not the only way (or even the preferred way) to view their content areas. I have countered many a misguided thought offered up in class by my students, challenging what they’ve learned elsewhere, provoking them to think (to set their minds on things above, if you will.) I set before them a right view of choice and consequence, right thinking and wrong headedness. I do this before my unsaved students...and those who are saved, see it, can know that the Christian view they embrace has merit, has validity, can learn to stand up in a world of sin, and proclaim itself in boldness.
If Christian parents of my students talk with me about their child’s education, we usually get to discussing the realities on the ground of public education and they realize that they play a significant role in the teaching of their children, just as much as the school does. They don’t abdicate their responsibility in this area, they uphold it. Do not ascribe to them some lack of understanding of what’s going on. Yes, the beast must be starved. I’ve always entertained the idea that if an alternative were set up across the street from every public school in the land, one founded on Godly principles of instruction and discipline, then public schools would suffer the embarrassment of being shown for the failure that they truly are. Many here at FR are right to want to do this. But until such time, allow that there are those who are prayerfully doing what they can with what they have, given the situations into which God has placed.
Am I empowering Christian parents to continue to send their kids to fallen, broken schools? I don’t think so. They are confronted with a choice of what to do about their children’s education, just like all parents are. Should they take their kids out of public schools, including the one where I teach? Absolutely. Should I stop teaching in public schools? Absolutely not! There are sinners there who need to be saved. At the very least, there are young minds in there who need to have the garbage that they learn brought into balance (even if by one lone voice crying out in the wilderness).
Should you stop talking to me because I’m just a lousy public school teacher? Absolutely not! I’m a nice guy!
2) People are not stupid
Well, let's just say "Not all people are stupid".
Teachers in government schools must teach everything from within a godless worldview ( if they are to keep their job). In other words, just to cooperate in the godless classroom the child must learn to think and reason godlessly, at least while in the classroom.
Teachers who do not teach within the framework of a godless worldview are breaking the law and risk teaching the child that Christians are lawbreakers. If they attempt to sneak in a little Christian testimony they risk teaching the child that Christians are sneaky.
Somehow, I think that the work of real missionaries, who are truly and fully committed to spreading the gospel, will be harder ( not easier) if those they are teaching already have already been taught that Christians are sneaky lawbreakers.
Re: Government school workers as friends:
This is a personal decision on mine part. I am not specifically urging others to do it, but on a very personal level I do not want anyone for a friend who forces godlessness on a child or cooperates with it, supports the institution, or establishes this in any manner.
I make no apologies for my presence there,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There is no need whatsoever to apologize to me.
But....As it becomes more widely accepted that government schools are godless, others may begin to ask for an explanation.
You might consider asking her in private, of course the more astute of us already know the answer. Do you consider yourself astute?
“Teachers who do not teach within the framework of a godless worldview are breaking the law and risk teaching the child that Christians are lawbreakers.”
This is not factually true. I am well within my rights in the classroom to make students aware of the Christian world-view. Freedom of speech, and this includes religious expression, is still protected by the Constitution. I will take on the proclaimers of “separation of church and state” head on should they seek to stifle this (though I’ve never done or said anything that has drawn a challenge). As I teach in a fairly “churched” community, I am able to elicit responses to questions and comments from students whose background includes biblical teaching. In this way, I invite, encourage and VALIDATE their input. Both the saved and the unsaved in my classroom see this. I am actually attempting to educate the next generation that the Christian perspective is just as valid as the secular in public discourse—something sadly lacking in today’s marketplace of ideas .
Essentially, the public schools are asking the parents, under the guise of *helping the kids with their homework*, to homeschool their children on the kids off school hours.
What parents are doing when they are *helping their kids with their homework* is homeschooling them.
Years ago when I was finishing up my college degree, some neighbor parents asked me to tutor their daughter in chemistry. I simply used the curriculum she had from school and did nothing different than what I ended up doing successfully homeschooling my own kids years later. A couple hours a week and her grades shot way up, much to the great chagrin to the rest of the kids in the class.
After a couple sessions with her and her grades on the next test, I had 4-5 kids sitting around the table with us, her friends who also wanted the help.
Public education is a failure if non-certified to teach parents are doing a better job of educating their children at home in a couple hours a day than certified, *trained* teachers are doing in HOURS a day, 5 days a week, 10 months per year.
I don’t see that wintertime’s decision is not rational considering the basis for it.
If someone truly believes what wintertime does about government school teachers, then the decision is not surprising and is wintertime’s prerogative.
I can’t say that I’ve encountered that kind of thinking much in the circles in which I run, but what does it matter if it’s the attitude of the *average* homeschooler? It’s irrelevant to anything.
For that matter, I don’t know that there is actually any thing as the *average* homeschooler or homeschool advocate. I don’t think such a person exists. What’s *average* exactly?
But of course, the failure of public schools to educate and the propensity for them to indoctrinate, are widely recognized by homeschool advocates, or they wouldn’t advocate for homeschooling. So in that respect, wintertime’s attitude is no surprise. Some people are just more outspoken than others and are more interested in getting the truth out than worrying about hurting someone else’s feelings.
Your obsessing about wintertime is doing YOU more harm than good. It simply cannot be good for your health to be so obsessed with someone that you let it eat at you like that.
Let it go.
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