[StBernard] Week or day in Review:

[Westley Annis]

Sure, Wes.

While we're at it, it might be proper to dispose of the high school
equivalency exam, the college entrance exam and let's go a bit further:

Let's eradicate all testing which gauges how a child or adult learns.
Without proper gauging, there will be no advancement. If you don't think
testing periodically is proper (as in the 4th and 8th grade leaps, then
we'll try to explain why little Johnny's state of Louisiana is about dead
last in the country. AND that's WITH leap testing. 

If LA is dead last in education, we've got the most ignorant students
(according to state and federal sources). Should we blame the teachers?
Parents? System? What's the solution?

I believe for one, that the parents themselves are not taking time out to
teach the kids (positive reinforcement) as backup to what they learn in
school. Let's forget about this braggart, but I've spent considerable time
(sometimes up until 1am --starting immediately after the child came home
from school at times). The kids would suffer sleep, sports scholastics and
personal fun time on many occasions due to homework in da parish. 

Yet, somehow, all have graduated from high school in the top ten and one in
the top 5.

Parents without devotion to education of their child (as some hicks used to
declare) is as useless to the child education wise as "teats on a bull". 

Each parent knows what he/she needs to do to get the child motivated and if
a problem academically arises, seek help to get the child additional
assistance (tutoring, a friend genius, whatever, but get it done).

Secondly, "measuring effectiveness of the teacher. 

In LA if I'm correct, there is certification (or has that standard been
lowered by minorities etc.) which fits into the equation. Teachers should be
qualified to educate certain grade levels, etc.. Teachers know what must be
done if they are to be considered a "teacher". Teachers are "educated" in
America. If they can't pass their own exams to teach, then they shouldn't be
teaching my children. I would demand one.

I cannot teach the way teachers learned in college, but I sure can reinforce
what they're learning because firstly, I give a damn about my kids and
secondly the word is: Sacrifice. Sure, I can watch TV all night, go to sleep
early, and bring the kids to the movies on a school night, but hopelessly,
I'll be defeating my duty and honor of having been blessed with a child that
should be rewarded education as a "necessity and given right in America".
Why deprive him/her a chance to excel? There's no more workhouses or forced
employment for those under 16.

If we cannot regulate correct what a teacher does (as a statewide BESE,
school board system), perhaps it's time to do so. I'm embarrassed to live in
a state where we run at the a$$-end of the line of state education. What's
there to be proud about? And, I'm not moving because of the fact that I've
already did my part needed. Each state has equal opportunity to get their
act together and "good enough" is not the order of the day, week, month or
year. 

Making excuses is passé and long-driven from our set of failures. 

Failure? We fail because devotion failed, because consideration failed and
because the complacency runs high in education when we all know that
education is the key to success, a way out of povery, a chance for the
betterment of our community, society, state, and country.

Someone needs to take the bull by the horn (without teats) and move the
state forward. Someone should tell this to complacency and those who won't
be held to accountability and responsibility concerning the education of
young ones that need our leadership with devotion..

--jer--



-----------------------------------------------------
Jer,

Without knowing what concretely what Walter's plans are to replace the LEAP
test, I think you do have to question the validity of the LEAP test results.
My wife is a teacher, my mother-in-law is a recently retired teacher of 33+
years, so I do defer to them on matters of how to run a classroom.

The problem with the LEAP test is that for those grades when the LEAP test
is given, the classroom becomes a yearlong training course on how to pass
the damn thing.  Doesn't matter if the kids actually learn anything, just so
long as they pass the test.  Administrators could care less about anything
else, and why not?  That's all the BESE board cares about.

My wife and I have talked about it numerous times and it is basically a
catch-22.  How can you accurately measure the effectiveness of a teacher?
There is no constant bench mark to grade the teachers on.

Every class is different.  Some kids learn easier than others, some classes
learn better than others.  With the flux every year in kids, there is no way
to measure if the teacher truly did their job that year or not.

You can take the smartest kid, give them the dumbest teacher, and the
teacher will look great because Johnny scored 100.  Reverse the roles with
the dumbest kid and the smartest teacher and now the teacher looks like she
failed, since Johnny failed.

You could try observing the teachers, but then you introduce different
personalities.  "A" is observing "B", but "A" doesn't like "B" so "A" gives
"B" poor marks when the reality is that "A" is a worthless educator who
resents the fact that "B" is a much better educator.

The best theoretical answer I have come up with would require an intensive
database that monitors every teacher, every student, and how they have been
grouped over the years.  Then it might be possible to more accurately gauge
how well an individual student or teacher is doing.

Westley