Again we see the reality of what is going on with the Department of Public Instruction?s accountability program. We have been saying for YEARS the tests are weak, too easy. FINALLY the State Board raises the standard a little and guess what?
The article in the Charlotte Observer reports what many of us have known. The students who are failing come from poor, minority families. These families have the fewest educational choices for their children, and are assigned a school based upon where they live. Gaps of 30-40 percentage points separate the poorer children from others.
?The old math exam, widely criticized as too easy to pass, had given more than 70 percent of CMS’s low-income and black middle school students passing marks in 2005. This year less than 50 percent passed, compared with 80 percent or more of their white and nonpoor peers.
You have to like the proposed question in the article:
?Have too-easy tests lulled Charlotte into a false security about academic gains for disadvantaged kids??
Duh! However, do not forget the others who have been passing. Average
performing students whose families think their child a genius have also
been deceived! Those scoring at level IV might need tutoring! Who knows? The measuring stick is flawed.
I appreciate Charlotte?s Chief Academic Officer, Ruth Perez, for her candor saying, ?It causes us to stop cold and say, `My God, what are we going to do for more of our kids to perform better?’ “
That is an excellent question! Especially for a Chief Academic Officer. I?ll give her some slack since she moved from Florida a few months ago. Welcome to North Carolina!
