Posted on 05/26/2006 10:12:25 PM PDT by SmithL
A state court of appeals has decided against ruling on the high school exit exam before graduation, dealing what seems a final blow to 47,000 high school seniors who flunked the test required for a diploma.
On Thursday, the appellate court scheduled oral arguments for July 25, more than a month after most students would have donned a cap and gown. Lawyers for students suing over the test asked justices to settle the issue of diplomas now, reserving the right to decide the merits of the case later.
Friday afternoon, the court denied the request. Arturo Gonzalez, the lawyer representing five Richmond High School students, said he would continue to fight the case at the July 25 hearing.
"This case is far from over," Gonzalez said in a statement.
As of last count, 47,000 California seniors, or 11 percent statewide, had failed the exam.
In February, five Richmond High School students joined a suit claiming that the state did not provide an equal chance for all students to learn the material. On May 12, an Alameda Superior Court judge ruled in their favor.
On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court stayed the decision and ordered the appellate court to hash out a ruling.
Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell said he welcomed the appeals' court decision to stick with the original timetable.
"School districts throughout California now have certainty, and should proceed with graduation exercises for the Class of 2006 as planned before the exit exam was challenged in court," O'Connell said in a release.
I guess 13 years of K-12 just isn't enough...ok, enough sarcasm!
sarcasm/off
Sigh. Whatever. Yeah, the teachers shouldn't promote kids if they're not ready. But, ultimately it's the responsibility of the parents to make sure their kid gets a good education, and it's the kid's responsibility to do the best he can.
If a parent pops the kid into the education system like they would a shirt into a washing machine, they're at best ignorant and at worst neglectful.
What parent of kids with straight D's wouldn't get after the kid and the teachers well before high school exit exams? A bad one.
Repeat after me: Personal Responsibility.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him learn to speak English and learn basic math while he's dealing drugs in the boy's room.
No, Si!
I'm not saying incompetent teachers shouldn't be fired. I'm saying that the failed exit exam for high school shouldn't be the parents' first clue. If it is, they just aren't paying attention.
I dun ne wts wrong wit kidds this daze.
That's a lot of Democrat voters.
You missed my point. I wasn't saying that there aren't bad teachers out there. I was saying that the teachers (both good and bad) are under pressure, with threat of firing, to do what you do NOT want them doing - passing students. The ones forcing the teachers to pass students are often school administrators. If you fired a lot of the liberal school administrators, I think you'd see Johnny being held back if he couldn't learn English. Even good teachers can't do much if the school administration doesn't back their decisions to hold students back.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Will this help or hurt O'Connell's attempt at reelection? I think the unions have backed him.
This brings up a good point. In my small town, we have THREE superintendants. What do they do? What are they for? Add to that, layers of principals, assistant principals, guidance counsellors who give bad advice, school psychologists ( I know three in different states, all of whom should not have access to children), and a whole feeding trough of other "Education Professionals" who really have nothing to do with actual teaching.
Upon reading the salaries in the town report, it appears a LOT of teachers could have been hired for what we are paying for this "overhead". ( That is not the original term I used..I edited it to make it Family Friendly.)
< Jonathan Swift Mode >
Some of the "Professionals" I know socially would make a bigger contribution to the world if they went through Saddam's pelletizer, whereafter they could be used on tomato gardens.
< /Jonathan Swift Mode >
This story and the thread strike me as strange. Sort of like debating which paint colors would look best on a sinking ship.
None of this. Not the test, not whether to hand out a diploma, not the abysmal standards, would be at all relevant if the children were being homeschooled.
You know, there are going to be two groups of adults in the future: those who were homeschooled...and those who work for them. We're continuing to devote energy, time, and incredible amounts of resources to an utterly failed paradigm.
"I am for vouchers as the only way to save our education system, and give the parents a sense of ownership."
I respectfully disagree with you. I don't like vouchers. Not because of what they promise, i.e. school choice, but because they're a political sham.
Voucher programs have been tried in several areas and in every case I've heard about, they've been smacked down by the courts. Rightly or wrongly, they're a dead issue. For "conservative" politicians to continue to tout them is in my view disingenuous. They're a political straw man and a feel-good soundbite that accomplishes nothing.
What I'd much rather see, and which would have a better chance of withstanding legal challenge, is simply a very generous tax credit for parents with children coupled with tuition charges for the government schools. People don't value a service that they don't have to scratch the check for. Parents would be free to spend their money as they see fit; for private school tuition or government school tuition. Best of all, a generous tax credit would allow more parents the opportunity to teach their children at home should they choose to do so.
Unfortunately, I don't think we'll see it anytime soon. Many "conservative" politicians like to talk about school choice in the theoretical sense, but when it comes down to it, they're not all that interested in changing the status quo.
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