<$BlogRSDUrl$>

My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2005-01-12

Former Teacher Wants To Dump School Report Cards

From Monday's lead editorial in the Rocky:

Sen. Sue Windels, the Arvada Democrat who will chair the Senate Education Committee, says she may propose getting rid of the school ratings based on scores on the Colorado Student Assessment Program. She believes the ratings reflect little more than a school's demographics. Schools with poor students rank low; schools with well-off students rank high. End of story.

Sue Windels represents my area, much to my chagrin, and I know that her vocation prior to politics was teaching. Which begs the question: did she not issue grades for her students, based on the theory that grades do nothing but reveal demographics?

Of course not, and the Rocky seems to hit the nail on the head:

. . . what's important is that schools with similar demographics, in regard to poverty as well as race and ethnicity, often have dissimilar results. The ratings allow low-performing schools to measure themselves against others that have the same or greater disadvantages and still succeed. That gives them an opportunity to find out what works so they can succeed, too.

This might be one of the primary battlegrounds in the next legislature. Along with this "reform" Windels has also announced that she will introduce legislation regarding charter schools, though she has not yet revealed what that legislation will be. Were I a charter school advocate, I'd keep a close eye on this one.
Posted by: Michael / 1/12/2005 01:02:00 AM

Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?