In another astounding extension of apologist logic, Karen Frisco argues it's better to send your kids to a lousy school (can you say FWCS) than use a voucher to send them to a good school. Since we're now into the "growth" era, lousy schools with lousy passing rates are more likely to improve than good schools with high passing rates. Therefore, schools with more potential to "grow" are more desirable than those who don't need to "grow". Wonder which category the Ball State School of Jounalism falls into.
Who's the target audience for this kind of drivel? Five years ago an elementary school principal told me that only 6% of the families with kids in FWCS get a newspaper at home. Maybe now that it's available for free on line the readership has expanded.
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Karen's editorial was a ridiculous spin job. To suggest that our local public schools are now superior to parochial schools is silly. She also did everything she could to obscure the fact that local charters outperformed FWCS, if only slightly. Why is Karen so hell bent on propping up public schools with distortions? If they indeed improve, public schools will win back students from other alternatives. In the meantime, the JG should start reporting facts not spin.
Hey, I think I'll quit my job for a year. Then, when I re-enter the job market, even a minimum wage job will be a huge increase in pay!
With that kind of logic GiaQuinta should have sent all four of his kids to South Side, not just the first one.
NS and SS went up by 10% this year. Either there are a few things going on;
1. Cheating;
2. Really good teaching (Maybe);
3. Weeding out problem students to other schools, i.e. Wayne, Northrup and Snider.
While I know there are a few good teachers out there, I am sure 1 and 3 are there.
Problem students? According to Mark and Wendy, such creatures do not exist at FWCS!
I have heard that Chad Hissong at NS got rid of some "problem students". As bad as their scores were, making some improvement should not have been that difficult. Essentially they needed to turn these high schools into remedial middle schools. But it's going to be hard to keep it up.
We haven't seen the statewide results yet either, which may show the tests got easier.
I applaud the concerted efforts of teachers and students at these schools for their improvement but let's keep things in perspective. Back in the day, 65% was a "D" at best, while 53.8% was an "F."
It's a sad state of affairs when our local school corporation celebrates that ONLY 35% of North Side students and 46.2% of South Side students FAILED the English and Math tests.
Also, today's JG header is completely misleading: "FWCS celebrates grade of A..." If one takes the time to read the article they'll learn that "the test score gains at both schools would have put them in the state's 'exemplary' or 'A' category. But neither school met its federal No Child Left Behind targets, which meant the schools could only receive a C ranking – an 'academic progress' designation under the state system." In other words, they didn't really satisfy the requirements to earn an "A" after all.
Using that standard they might as well say "100% would have passed if over 35% didn't fail."
As a gradduate of South Side, I felt humiliated seeing my school on probation for six straight years. The people running the show obviously have a different perspective and very little shame.
Most of the credit for any improvement should go to Tony Bennett and the IDE, who forced the changes. Nothing would have improved without state intervention. There is no better motivation than the threat of extinction.
The focus on test scores is only a token to be considered. A parent looking at a charter or parochial school will obtain a classroom that has students who are more focused, more disciplined, more willing to participate and discuss various life backgrounds. The difference between a public school and a private school is that the students in later can locate a country on the map and have opinions based upon prior knowledge and conversations with friends and families; where as in public school schools the students seem to be spoonfed the information.
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