I don't know about your grading system, Libby, but here are some thoughts. If you look at a state's standardized testing, measurements that are used to see how school districts are doing, and how schools within the districts are doing, you get a feel for certain things. States have particular goals they want schools to reach. Teachers are supposed to write their lesson plans along those goals. Many teachers get together in the same grade or possibly also a grade above or below and work out "where" they are supposed to be by the end of the semester or year. That way, there aren't "gaps" between what one teacher teaches and what another one teaches, since children will be mixed up between teachers in the next grade up the next year.
When changes are made, which happens because education standards are always trying to change with the times, it is HARD on everyone. It's like going from papers written in triplicate with carbon paper, to a typewriter with a memory in it (before the word processor.) Then the word processor. THEN the computer and Word. (I'm using this as analogy.) The old reading, writing, and 'rithmetic is not enough in this day and age. Kids have to learn more in order to be able to compete in colleges and universities, or be ready to walk into more streamlined jobs. Even the lower end jobs have to have more education nowadays.
There will always be a segment of students that will take it on the chin when these changes are made. I don't think that the answer is to not make changes. The answer is to find a way to shepherd the affected kids through it.
Some teachers have been dealing with this problem by "teaching to the test". Some teachers somehow teach to the test AND get more interesting material in there too. I do think that alot has to do with the specific talents of the teacher. Not all, though. Just think how hard it is for a teacher who has many levels of abilities in the same classroom.
Our school is rather large and has many levels of classes, from special education, to the level for kids who don't expect to go to college, but want to go into the workforce after high school (trades like auto-mechanic, childcare, etc), regular level courses that I would think would be more appropriate for community college study after high school, or easier colleges, and honors level courses and AP. I love that there are so many choices. I hate that it is hard to get to pick the more interesting stuff that kids might really like to TRY in high school before going on to college. If you are college bound, you need to take college levels courses like honors and AP. That pretty much precludes you from taking a business course that could actually help you decide if you want to major in business later on.
But I digress. The point I should be making is that the state needs to test kids to see if they are learning enough to be graduating with certain certificates. There are usually different certificate levels. (At least in the big schools, and depending on states.) This is the benchmark they have to look at to see if schools need to have new leadership, new teachers, etc. The schools are hamstrung to meet the expectations. In our area, non-performing schools have been closed. These schools are the ones with all the poor inner-city kids. It is a terrible thing for them - they are already at risk, and all of a sudden, all the familiar teachers are gone, and they are shipped off somewhere else.
There are no easy answers, see? It is kind of like that awful post berating anyone on public assistance that the 21 year old wrote, throwing out ideas like not allowing those on public assistance to have children, or to vote. This kid "thinks" they could just fix all the welfare problems there are by cutting people off at the knees, so to speak. The teachers and students who did the walk-out feel that what they are doing can fix everything, too. (At least they aren't so nasty about it as the 21 year old with the computer!) However, things are NOT so simple for either thing. Without standards, we can't figure out where we stand in graduating young adults who need to be ready to go out into the world. Without standards, we don't know who is doing their job and who isn't. The kids in the middle of this NEED some help - that is obvious - but who will pay for it? The budget is in constraint, people aren't paying enough taxes because they are unemployed, or underemployed, property taxes are down because so many homes are in foreclosure, and we don't have enough educated volunteers to help these kids. Even the 21 year old's idea that if you are on public assistance that you have to work won't help THIS. Most of the folks on public assistance aren't trained to help with high school statistics and pre-calc. I'm not on public assistance, I have a college degree, and I can't do stat or pre-calc!!! I feel sorry for the highschoolers - I do. But I will tell you this, Libby. We in America are SO LUCKY that there is a college for everyone. A kid can have a 2.0 and a 21 on his or her ACT or a 900 on the SAT and STILL find a great college to go to. With hard work and determination, that mediocre student from high school CAN walk into a decent job. One doesn't have to have an Ivy League education.
I know the students are having a hard time, but really and truly, it's a different mindset, studying for standardized testing. The students who want to do it, can. They can go to the library and read about how. Where there's a will, there's a way. Whether or not it's the right thing to be protesting en masse about, I can't tell you. I CAN say that nothing is easy about any of this, and nothing is simple.
Dawn
