The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on this predictable conflict. Of course, Walker is going to make an issue out of the problems with public schools, since that's been Evers's area of responsibility. Walker tweeted:
"After calling the effort to close Wisconsin's achievement gap a priority and promising significant improvement, Tony Evers has FAILED to make notable progress in his 9+ years in office."
And I'm sure you can predict Evers's response before even reading it. I haven't read it yet, and I assume it's: The stingy and wrong-headed Republicans have stinted on the money and pursued stupid distractions like school choice. Now, I'll read it. Evers is polite about it:
"All of my budget requests include policy designed to help close gaps [between white and black students] — very few of those items are given consideration. The governor knows that," Evers said in a statement. "Despite those setbacks, we continue to work with teachers, families and communities to design supports that fit their needs. Political rhetoric isn’t going to fix this. Leadership and support can.”
Evers' campaign spokeswoman, Britt Cudaback, did not directly address Walker's criticism of Evers' efforts to close the state's gap and suggested Walker was trying to distract from criticism from a former Department of Transportation secretary of Walker's approach to road projects, and Walker's use of a state plane.
Evers' campaign also pointed out that Walker in his first state budget cut $782 million from funding for public schools, which was offset by school staff paying more toward pension and health insurance....
Evers is such a bland opponent. He refers to policies he's proposed, but what were they and why should I have confidence it would help black students? The only specific I can extract from the dull text above is the teacher's-union-oriented desire for a bigger pay package for teachers. Black students might do better, we're asked to infer, if teachers got more money.
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81 comments:
Evers is such a bland opponent.
One word: Wisconsin.
Political rhetoric isn’t going to fix this. Leadership and support can.
Not anywhere I've heard of, but parents and brain transplants can.
Start teaching good character to black students.
"When students start paying union dues, I will be concerned with students."
Albert Shanker AFT President.
Had a conversation with a (self identified) progressive going door to door stumping for democrats. When the conversation turned to the governor’s race I asked her what Evers had done with his years in office to improve public education. All I got was, ‘it wasn’t his fault, Walker wouldn’t fund his programs’. When I stated I didn’t believe poorly performing students was a money problem, that ended the conversation.
That's why we always vote against more money for schools. It just never seems to go to "the Kids". And my wife is a retired teacher.
Evers' campaign also pointed out that Walker in his first state budget cut $782 million from funding for public schools, which was offset by school staff paying more toward pension and health insurance....
So money to students wasn't cut. But Evers' campaign is really upset about it, because ALL they care about is the "teachers", not the students
In my experience as a teacher on many levels, I became convinced that the dominant factor in a child's success in school is whether or not that child has been adequately prepared and socialized at home by his parents.
Blacks need to get their act together and deliver teachable, disciplined kids to school. It's on them.
No amount of extra spending will have any effect.
Rhhardin is right about character.
But lack of character is only a reflection of the true problem: the absence of 2-parent families whose parents actually care about the education of the children.
Remember Murphy Brown?
We may be looking at the problem from the wrong end. Instead of trying to raise achievement by black students, why not try to lower that of whites?
We could launch a PSA campaign with slogans like, "You got an A? Good for you, faggot", "You won't find a boyfriend in a book", and "Whatchya readin' for?"
We need to be careful to not target Jews and Asians, cuz we still need doctors and shit.
"Black students might do better, we're asked to infer, if teachers got more money."
Teachers would improve Black students performance if they were paid more?
What would change with higher pay?
Althouse is race baiting again.
Note: the reason why I put "teachers" on quotes was because real teachers would care about whether or not they're teaching their students.
The members of the "teachers" union, the people Evers identifies with and supports, care only about their own pay
State governors affect state funding for education and affect general policies in education.
State governors do not affect significantly achievement differences among ethnic groups.
Many factors cause such achievement differences, and the state governor is a trivial factor.
There are many taxpayers who would pay more for improved student outcomes.
But, we're not so interested in paying more so teachers can retire at 55, or to insulate teachers from paying the same medical deductibles most of us are paying now. Nor are we interested in paying more to insulate bad teachers from prompt dimissal if/when they are unable or unwilling to improve.
As for buildings and equipment, we're interested in paying to improve these only if and when you can show that doing so will produce better student outcomes.
We're just not all that invested in paying more for anything that cannot be shown to improve student outcomes.
Perhaps Evers thinks requiring school districts to pay for gold-plated health insurance from WEA Trust would improve educational outcomes?
Act 10 enables school districts to prioritize student educational needs over the demands of the school's union employees, but (unfortunately) it can't require them to do so.
Of course Walker did it.He ended the brilliant way the elected State Officials were negotiating pay and benefit Contracts for public employees with a bloc voting Union of Public Employees who were also the Official's mega donors. Black students test scores is the eternal MacGuffin.
"What would change with higher pay?"
That's what Evers is asking us to infer. I don't think it's convincing, but if it were my job to explain the validity of the inference, I'd say, if teachers were paid more, better qualified persons would be attracted into the teaching profession and to schools in Wisconsin, and those already here might work with greater dedication, and if the teachers were better, it would help students.
But:
1. I don't think it would help Evers to create a new inference: that the current teachers aren't too good and, worse, that they're not fully devoted because they're aggrieved over low pay, and...
2. The issue is framed as needing to close the achievement gap, and I don't know why better teaching would help black students more than white students. Why wouldn't all students do better if the teaching were better? Maybe the students who are already doing well would get the most benefit from higher quality teaching.
Teacher's unions need more money -because they give to democrats.
"Simply changing the minimum passing score has produced a 20 point reduction in the gap. In the hands of an unscrupulous administrator, passing criteria could be set a posteriori to obtain a desired result."
No matter who the state governor will be, racial differences in educational achievement will persist. The differences cannot be reduced significantly by any state governor.
Parents can significantly affect their children's educational achievement. Parents can teach and encourage their children to read, to do their homework, to behave well and to strive to improve.
Maybe the students who are already doing well would get the most benefit from higher quality teaching.
We'd better nix that then. We don't want to be responsible for excessive achievement.
The students who do best in school are those who arrive at the door wanting to learn. Good teachers fulfill those desires. Sometimes a good teacher can inspire a kid who has previously had no interest in learning, but even a really good teacher is lucky if he or she can do that for more than a couple of kids every year. When 90% of the kids are at least marginally motivated, the other 10% have a chance to become the focus of the good teachers, but when the majority of the kids don't want to be there, even if every teacher in the school is of "Teacher of the Year" quality, most of the kids are going to be lost. My mentor used to say, "Education is like a 3-legged stool. Student, teacher, and parent. Remove one leg, and the stool falls over." The leg most often missing lives at home.
if teachers were paid more, better qualified persons would be attracted into the teaching profession and to schools in Wisconsin,
I don't know about Wisconsin, but it it's anything like Montana with its "steps and ladders" pay scale, the union would demand increases go to teachers with seniority, not unproven newbies.
So many quit teaching after one year, esp in undesirable districts why waste new money on them?
"The only specific I can extract from the dull text above is the teacher's-union-oriented desire for a bigger pay package for teachers. Black students might do better, we're asked to infer, if teachers got more money."
Maybe. What I hear is what I've said, here, a billion times before: give me what I say I need, not what you think I need.
Until you do that - and I fail - you're being dishonest.
Blacks: "We need some Frank Zappa."
Scott Walker: "Well I got some Huey Lewis & The News for you."
Blacks: "Great Googly Moogly!"
When I hear the left say money is the solution to education, especially someone like Evers, who has earned his doctorate, I know they are lying. Spending on education has gone up much faster than inflation. Of course you could use anecdotal evidence, Like Mark Zuckerberg fixing NJ schools with $100 million. That little experiment failed, because the Union spent the money, not the teachers. And the fact, again, that money is not the issue. A person with a Phd in education that does not understand that, signals to me that there is a lot of things they don't know.
Reagan proclaimed, “It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”
Parents can significantly affect their children's educational achievement.
"However, our results suggest the opposite: Genetic influence is greater for achievement than for intelligence, and other behavioral traits are related to educational achievement largely for genetic reasons."
>>We may be looking at the problem from the wrong end. Instead of trying to raise achievement by black students, why not try to lower that of whites?
The Handicapper General approves.
Ann said:
"The issue is framed as needing to close the achievement gap, and I don't know why better teaching would help black students more than white students. Why wouldn't all students do better if the teaching were better? Maybe the students who are already doing well would get the most benefit from higher quality teaching."
Thank you for the clear thinking on educational outcomes.
>>Give me what I say I need, not what you think I need.
Go get it yourself. And leave me out of it.
Holding students to high standards and clearly explaining that the teacher has high expectations is the only successful teaching strategy. It's been proven in rich and poor districts, public and private, religious and trade-focused schools alike. There have been many fads and much talk of funding but nothing has ever proved so successful as telling students that you expect them to learn, you will show them how to do a task and no excuses will be accepted because every student has the ability to learn. You say it every day in many ways and follow through and students respond.
Teachers who do NOT hold out high expectations and encourage students consistently have lower-performing averages. It is that simple. The more a school reinforces the "everybody can learn" attitude, and tamps down disruption, the better students do. It ain't rocket science. It's easier. Hell, if I can do it anybody can. It even worked in California with classes made up of 25% immigrants. But it takes a teacher willing to LEAD and TEACH not just show up for the union-negotiated PAY.
Keep teacher pay low; convince the burned out cases (and every school has some) to quit.
"Why wouldn't all students do better if the teaching were better?"
Hey, hey, no fair asking hard questions. In fact, better teaching might disproportionately realize the untapped potential on the right side of the, gasp, bell curve.
Of course, we could also take a scientific approach to the issue, estimating in advance how much we can expect different students with different starting aptitudes, controlling for some obvious family-related factors, to "improve" in the first place.
Quite possibly, no investment will make any lasting difference in learning for most groups.
Watch out for that high achievement stuff.
A Harvard University professor claims in a new academic study that merit-based admission processes at elite universities “reproduce inequality.”
Harvard education professor Natasha Warikoo draws on interviews with 98 white, native-born students at Harvard, Brown University, and the University of Oxford in “What Meritocracy Means to its Winners: Admissions, Race, and Inequality,” published in the journal Social Sciences.
Better to just go on the basis of skin color.
On a semi-related note, Maryland is once again changing its standardized test for students. It happens about every five years. I believe it's to avoid showing the constant downward trend in actual knowledge being imparted.
It's not a black and white issue. It's not even a funding issue. The diversitists and redistributive changers need to step back and reassess their prejudice and greed. The problem is universal, starts at home, and progresses in public (e.g. schools).
A Harvard University professor claims in a new academic study that merit-based admission processes at elite universities “reproduce inequality.”
Thinly veiled diversity. They don't see individuals but rather colorful clumps of cells. The Pro-Choice religion is weird and, at best, normalizes prejudice.
Parents need to stand up, assess the effort of their children, and the performance of their schools.
The best fix would be to stop collecting educational-achievement statistics by race.
Problem solved.
" In like manner, we answer those who are perpetually puzzling their brains with questions as to what shall be done with the Negro, 'let him alone and mind your own business.'"
DanTheMan said...
"Go get it yourself. And leave me out of it."
But when we do that - through gangsterism just like everyone else - then you also complain. Fuck you.
Start teaching good character to black students.
the absence of 2-parent families
the teacher has high expectations
In fact, better teaching might disproportionately realize the untapped potential on the right side of the, gasp, bell curve.
Each of our resident experts has a different solution: "When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can't be cured."
"Teacher licensure test scores are unrelated to teacher success in the classroom. Similarly, student achievement is unaffected by whether classroom teachers have advanced degrees."
Meade said...
" In like manner, we answer those who are perpetually puzzling their brains with questions as to what shall be done with the Negro, 'let him alone and mind your own business.'"
We are their business, and always have been.
I remember reading an article about achievement gaps at a school in a wealthy suburb of, I think, Baltimore. They brought in a consultant to try to figure out why the white students in wealthy families were performing better than the black students of equally wealthy families. Many things were investigated.
What it came down to is that the white parents were making sure their children were doing their homework, and in many cases actually checking their children's work. Whereas the general opinion of the black parents was that it was the school's responsibility to make sure their children were doing their homework, as that is what they were paying the school to do.
Pointing out that this difference in parenting might be responsible for the achievement gap was not appreciated. Culture and behavior do make a difference.
I am also told by a librarian at a local private school that we now have "lawnmower parents" who will mow down any obstacle to their child getting good grades and getting into the best schools, including doing their children's homework for them when the child refuses to do it themselves.
Paul Mooney:
"'White Men Can't Jump'? He don't have to - he owns the team."
"I'd say, if teachers were paid more, better qualified persons would be attracted into the teaching profession and to schools in Wisconsin, and those already here might work with greater dedication."
These assumptions suggest that teachers are primarily responsible for student outcomes.
In my experience, good teachers make a difference for good students, but they can't do much for students with low motivation, preparation, intelligence and parental support for learning.
The best fix would be to stop collecting educational-achievement statistics by race.
They pretend to obsess about it because it's a fund-raising scam; and it's a good scam because it won't be solved in the foreseeable future.
google ["teachers" "schools" "tests" "achievement"] ~ 28,600,000 results
Omit the word "gap" and the number of results is less than half:
["teachers" "schools" "tests" "achievement" -gap] ~ 13,100,000 results.
Michael The Magnificent said...
"I remember reading an article about achievement gaps at a school in a wealthy suburb of, I think, Baltimore. They brought in a consultant to try to figure out why the white students in wealthy families were performing better than the black students of equally wealthy families. Many things were investigated."
No one investigated whether any of the whites ever met any of the blacks, I bet, while the blacks were figuring out the weird ways of whites on a daily basis and coming up with strategies for how to cope - which can take up a lot of study time. I don't think an outside investigator would catch that.
"What it came down to is that the white parents were making sure their children were doing their homework, and in many cases actually checking their children's work."
I've seen black parents do this, usually under a single bulb in an under-developed kitchen, totally inappropriate to the task at hand.
"Whereas the general opinion of the black parents was that it was the school's responsibility to make sure their children were doing their homework, as that is what they were paying the school to do."
Whatever. I've mentioned here countless times, that many blacks don't even know what taxes are - that whites want to carry on a society where such ignorance is a regular feature of life as though it's no big deal (it's great for profits, right, guys?!?) is to their disgrace.
"Pointing out that this difference in parenting might be responsible for the achievement gap was not appreciated."
Because it doesn't really wash.
"Culture and behavior do make a difference."
And white culture produced Bonnie & Clyde, Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Al Capone, and a whole host of other degenerates this country made into heroes, so get your own ethical act together, or else somebody else might get the bright idea that an education ain't necessary because - as we saw in 2008 with the banks - crime pays.
We need "panther moms" modeled on "tiger moms".
“What it came down to is that the white parents were making sure their children were doing their homework, and in many cases actually checking their children's work. Whereas the general opinion of the black parents was that it was the school's responsibility to make sure their children were doing their homework, as that is what they were paying the school to do.”
This.
Our first goal as parents was to see our child was ready to learn. Then, again, we were responsible to see to it they were learning to read. If a child is falling behind, it’s because the parents failed to advocate,
More Crack buffoonery.
Whereas the general opinion of the black parents was that it was the school's responsibility to make sure their children were doing their homework, as that is what they were paying the school to do.
This is the essence of the American black pathology that I don't see in foreign black medical students.
Crack's hatred of whites is only one example.
Each of our resident experts has a different solution: "When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can't be cured."
We are not looking to cure a disease. We are looking to cease bad practices in education that have resulted in such a miasma of mediocrity and racial tension. Again, it ain't rocket science (unless you are teaching rocket science, of course). "Teaching" is something every parent does to their children, every employer trains their employees, every sports team continually practices what they are taught. Humans have mastered "teaching" for thousands of years. Only recently, say the last 50 years or so, has the "teaching profession" produced such shitty results that we have what is termed a "crisis" now.
So we go back to what works: high standards consistently applied along with the encouragement of high expectations. It works for Harlem Academy and it works for the tiny Christian school in San Bernardino. We know what works. It is only in government-run monopoly schools is there a "crisis" so it is not a matter of "education" failing but of "government schools" failing their charter.
If people refuse, because of political correctness, to even consider differences in races, they will continue to reason from a faulty premise. For some , success was defined over the millennia as the ability to outrun a wounded wildebeest. Another groups success came from figuring percentages using Roman numerals. One group wins gold medals in track and field and the other group wins Nobel prizes in math, physics, chemistry, astronomy and medicine.
The question about the utility of funding in driving educational outcomes was settled conclusively fifty years ago, by the giant Federal educational studies of the 1960's, under James Coleman et al.
Not surprisingly not a lot of people wanted to take no for an answer.
Also conclusively answering this question are the results of dozens of "natural experiments", those of foreign examples of educational systems. Every developed country on earth spends less, usually around half, per head, educating the equivalent of American K-12.
But, again, this is not a welcome piece of information.
And in the US itself there are lots of cases of per-capita funding having been increased, sometimes to three or four times the already high average expenditure. Some are deliberately mandated (the Kansas City case) or through some accident of public policy (Sausalito).
The same, and the same.
I've been arguing this in other forums for the last 20 years or more. It is an extremely simple case to put, logically and empirically, but is remarkably difficult to get the professional educational establishment to acknowledge it. The degree of corruption, intellectual and institutional, in these circles, is just staggering.
Last year I fostered a fifth grade black girl. She arrived at my home at midnight following her first day back to school. She had been in the same school since kindergarten, her fourth grade teacher followed her up a grade, so she even had the same teacher.The school is a shining example of diversity.At student pick up time the school yard sounds like a UN meeting with many languages and skin colors. The first time I asked to check her homework she was shocked.Her parents had never been interested and the teacher only checked that the page was written on - not if the answers were correct. It was up to students to ask if they had a problem. About three weeks in when she showed me the 79 she had scored on her math test I said "don't worry you can do better". I felt terrible when her teacher congratulated me because she had never scored that high on a math test before. The teacher was thrilled. The girl was awake and alert in class, previously she had dozed off throughout the day. Her confidence grew and despite her shyness she would even occasionally speak up in class.She did not become a A student, but her grades improved. Yes there are bad teachers, but they can not perform miracles - it starts at home.
Also we need to stop treating "blacks" as a monolith. On bloggingheads The Glenn Show they discussed that the dirty secret of the Ivy Leagues is that most of the blacks that do get in are immigrants, many are actually African-Americans.Funny how society has opted to label American blacks African-American when American blacks and actual African immigrants frequently clash.
blame each other for the failure to improve the performance of black students in Wisconsin.
The problem will never be solved until we start blaming those truly guilty...Black students and their parents.
The problem will never be solved until we start blaming those truly guilty...Black students and their parents.
Lyndon Johnson is dead so I guess the parents will have to do.
In fact there are multiple stories about people like Charles Payne, the Fox News guy, who I used to listen to on the radio long before I learned he is black. He sounded like a Chicago white ethnic. Single parent, joined theUSAF to get GI Bill. His mother gave him a briefcase for Christmas when he was 12 because that's what he wanted.
Ben Carson is another story.
First they have to escape the blame whitey pathology.
I liked TCE's claim that we need to give him what he wants.
Almost like we should give to him, according to his needs.
Refreshingly honest.
/smirk
Only recently, say the last 50 years or so, has the "teaching profession" produced such shitty results that we have what is termed a "crisis" now.
There is no crisis, that's just a "cry for funding".
School performance, er, I meant student performance, in the US is about the same as it was in 1970 (fig 2), and equivalent to results in Europe and Asia, especially when race is taken into account.
So we go back to what works: high standards consistently applied along with the encouragement of high expectations. It works for Harlem Academy and it works for the tiny Christian school in San Bernardino.
So, feel free to post some, you know, information, especially info that doesn't report temporary anomalies, of which there are a few each year (they quickly return to normal in a short amount of time), especially in, as you say, "tiny" schools with very few students (like Harlem).
And Harlem is selective, not random, and "Private schools are not rated". So, feel free.
buwaya: The degree of corruption, intellectual and institutional, in these circles, is just staggering.
That's the source of my interest in the subject (also**). The anti-science attitudes obvious in this thread are the result of that corruption and propaganda; anyone who has an interest beyond the standard platitudes should study Education Realist though (s)he can be pretty long-winded at times.
** "The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money" Kaplan.
The author of The Case Against Education was interviewed on BookTV (After Words, I think), and he argued his case very well.
Well, it certainly isn't the parents' or kids' fault! That'd be ridiculous!
From Highlights From PISA 2009
Table 5. Average scores of U.S. 15-year-old students on combined reading literacy scale, by race/ethnicity: 2009
Race/ethnicity Score
Asian, non-Hispanic 541
White, non-Hispanic 525
Two or more races, non-Hispanic 502
Hispanic 466
Black, non-Hispanic 441
U.S. average 500
For comparison, from Table 3. Average scores of 15-year-old students on combined reading literacy scale and reading literacy subscales, by country: 2009
Korea, Republic of 539
Finland 536
Canada 524
New Zealand 521
Japan 520
Australia 515
U.S. Asian, non-Hispanic scored first out of 34 OECD countries.
U.S. White, non-Hispanic scored third out of 34 OECD countries.
U.S. Black, non-Hispanic scored 33 out of 34 OECD countries, between Chile and Mexico.
Someone's culture needs to get it's shit together and start valuing education, but that won't happen until they start valuing legitimate employment, which won't happen until their co-dependents stop enabling their non-productive and anti-social behavior through social welfare programs in trade for their votes.
Caligula, teachers do not retire at 55. They retire after 35 years, so if they start at 22, they retire at 57.
Char Char Binks,
We may be looking at the problem from the wrong end. Instead of trying to raise achievement by black students, why not try to lower that of whites?
Aw, ya beat me to it. You don't say that black scores are low, because that's pejorative. You say, instead, that there's a "gap" between them and white scores -- a formulation so vague that you can't even tell which of the two is higher. That is, you can, b/c everyone knows the answer, but you can elect not to see it.
("Oh, a gaaaaaap! A gaaaaaap in one's hoooooop! I'm off to play the grand piano!")
@Michael K - I don’t think Crack hates white people. I get more the sense that we exasperate him.
@Crack - so what WOULD you do about education of black students?
There are problems that can be solved, and there are problems that can only be managed. The latter require continual effort, and can be expected to require additional effort, indefinitely. When a pharmaceutical company discover a drug that manages but does not cure a serious and common disease, its stock skyrockets. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party already owns the stock of the Teacher's Unions.
Blogger Oso Negro said...
@Michael K - I don’t think Crack hates white people. I get more the sense that we exasperate him.
I tend to take people at their own word.
@Michael K - Did he say that?
Blogger Oso Negro said...
@Michael K - Did he say that?
I hate to take the trouble but... I give up. I scrolled through some old posts but can't find it.
Ask him. He'll probably tell you.
Crack: "And white culture produced Bonnie & Clyde,..."
I refuse to accept responsibility for Warren Beatty's performance.
I absolutely refuse.
Although I enjoyed his remake of the classic "Here Comes Mr Jordan", "Heaven Can Wait".
Blogger Oso Negro said...
@Michael K - Did he say that?
Crack is on record supporting genocide against Whites.
Because of course he is.
He even refused to indicate that he would be merciful to black children adopted by white parents.
Such is the "rigor" of a True Believer.
It goes without saying the lefties here averted their gaze so as to pretend he didn't do it.
Very reminiscent of Inga in whatever form she was in years ago when Crack called some conservative woman (was it Palin?) a c***.
The lefties, after spending months and months lecturing everyone on civility and niceness suddenly went on Blogger Sabbatical and had nothing to say.
Unexpectedly.
The stingy and wrong-headed Republicans have stinted on the money and pursued stupid distractions like school choice. Now, I'll read it. Evers is polite about it:
Milwaukee PS went all in on signing those teacher contracts before Act 10 passed, didn’t it?
Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago: I told myself it was beneath my dignity to arrest a man for pilfering firewood. But nothing ordered by the party is beneath the dignity of any man, and the party was right: One man desperate for a bit of fuel is pathetic. Five million people desperate for fuel will destroy a city. That was the first time I ever saw my brother. But I knew him. And I knew that I would disobey the party. Perhaps it was the tie of blood between us, but I doubt it. We were only half tied anyway, and bothers will betray a brother. Indeed, as a policeman, I would say, get hold of a man's brother and you're halfway home. Nor was it admiration for a better man than me. I did admire him, but I didn't think he was a better man. Besides, I've executed better men than me with a small pistol. I told them who I was: The old man was hostile, the girl cautious, my brother... seemed very pleased. I think the girl was only one who guessed at their position.
Only vouchers has a chance to save the black community.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), lead by Mr. Evers, has largely killed our state's one attempt to address elementary teacher reading content knowledge, via the "Foundations of Reading" test.
http://www.schoolinfosystem.org/2018/09/11/wisconsin-election-commentary-on-our-disastrous-reading-results/
Massachusetts adopted teacher content knowledge requirements (MTEL) in the 1990's. Today, Massachusetts students lead the nation in academic achievement.
Mississippi has adopted the Foundations of Reading....
http://www.schoolinfosystem.org/2018/09/11/hard-words-why-arent-kids-being-taught-to-read-the-study-found-that-teacher-candidates-in-mississippi-were-getting-an-average-of-20-minutes-of-instruction-in-phonics-over-their-entire-two/
Sorry, "nothing" is going to work, nothing the current State, local, or national gov't will do will "work".
Blacks choosing to do more homework will work -- but that's a cultural change, not a gov't thing.
Blacks choosing to avoid sex outside of marriage, so fewer than 70% of black kids grow up without their bio-fathers married to their mothers, that is quite likely to improve grades and, more importantly, knowledge.
Black mothers, and other caregivers, reading more books out loud to young blacks, and pushing them to choose books to read more than other activities, that would help a lot.
If the sad reality is going to be that blacks "underachieve" by X% when $6000 per student is spent; and underachieve by a similar X% (not X-Y%) when $8000 per student per year is spent; and underachieve by a similar X% when $10,000 is spent -- it becomes reasonable to believe that spending more money on the gov't schools is not going to "solve" the problem.
Probably spending $6000 for current schools, and $4000 for new vocational, apprenticeship, non-academic training schools will reduce the unemployment more effectively. With or without improving the reading and math scores.
I notice the article refuses to disclose the key issues of $ spent per student per year. Which, in most school districts today, is increasingly oriented towards overly generous pension plans and administrators.
Blogger Oso Negro said...
@Crack - so what WOULD you do about education of black students?
I'm of the mind this entire country is in need of an education. I would start with things that we can nail down, like 911 and work backwards. Hash it out. What do we really know? This kind of, barroom arguing, it does nothing for anybody. If we're going to be a country we should have a history and not a bunch of supposition from a bunch of different people and perspectives.
@Crack - but history IS just a bunch of people spouting off a bunch of supposition about whatever facts are in evidence. By the way, do you actually hate white people as some here think? I don’t get that vibe from you. I suspect it is more like a feeling towards family - some things piss you off, but, well, they are family
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