Several questions are often asked when determining the success of a school.
One
of the questions that is asked is how many students graduated on time. “On time” is the issue that forces most kids
out of school. And if the fundamental
purpose of education is to assure students are prepared for the future, whether
they do it on time, a month later or two months earlier should be irrelevant.
Consider this: A student fails second grade. Since that student’s chances of graduating on
time are diminished, should he/she go home and forget third grade and
beyond? Of course that doesn’t happen
but it does happen in ninth grade on a regular basis. That is the number one reason for drop outs.
Also consider the reality that kids
don’t get their teeth at the same time, they don’t start talking at the same
time, they don’t start walking at the same time, they don’t recognize colors at
the same time, but when they get into first grade they must be at the
same time, at the same place in the text book, learning the same way, scoring
the same on an artificial test and on and on.
2. The second question often asked is "How
many are proficient?" Again proficient is
based on everyone learning at the same rate.
If you are “proficient” 3 months later it doesn’t count as being
proficient.
Everything has a
deadline. What if standards were
guidelines for success rather than deadlines for failure. What if we realized kids learn in different
ways and at different rates? And what if
kids demonstrated learning for their assessment. Rather than stating the scientific method,
they demonstrated it through a science project for their assessment.
What is a good school and what is a bad school? Under the current system, no one knows. And a test score says nothing!
www.wholechildreform.com
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