Recall those state “turnaround teams” dispatched to low-performing CMS high schools in November? Their assessment reports are fascinating reading and provide ample proof that reform is tough to come by when it is directed from deep within the prevailing public education infrastructre.
Just one example. One report for one high school noted the low exam pass rate of students taking Advanced Placement courses, only about 25 percent across all subject areas passed. The whole idea of AP classes is to prepare bright students for a very tough written exam which can place them out of entry-level college classes. Score high enough, and hours and hours of college credit is yours. If that is not incentive enough, CMS pays the cost of the AP exam, about $80 per test.
Now if only 25 percent of your AP test-takers are passing the AP test, you might conclude that you have too many borderline-prepared students in your AP classes. This is not to say these students are not college-bound, just that they are not ready to do college-level work in high school. You might also conclude you are wasting scarce resources by continuing to pay for these tests when the data indicate few students will pass. Accordingly, a reasonable suggestion might be for this high school to be more selective in putting only the very best students in the AP classes.
Not so the “turnaround teams” from Raleigh.
Their suggestion is to increase the number of kids in AP classes, the better to foster a culture of “high expectations” in the school. This is nothing short of magical thinking; that by the magic of wanting something to be so, it will be so.
CMS, or any system for that matter, cannot improve if we persist in the happy talk and propaganda.
