By Bob Seaby
A recent e-mail sent via the “Bainbridge News Wire”, the repackaged Trippwire, came with the subject line “Don’t Blame It On The Kids”. Upon reading this latest missive by our Island’s resident education critic we learn of the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) test scores of 4th graders in our three elementary schools: Wilkes, Blakely and Ordway. The author sounds the alarm by stating that the statistics show that Blakely is “genuinely producing more ‘higher learners'(rankings of 80%+)” than either Wilkes or Ordway. In a subsequent e-mail the author poses the question, “What explains the difference in performance between the three schools?” We are to believe that Blakely must be doing something right and the other two schools are at fault for not having as many “higher learners”. The author suggests the other two schools may be doing something wrong. Thus, the warning that we should not blame the kids. However, I must ask is it really necessary to blame anyone?
For the record I am not a supporter of the current trend to use standardized tests to evaluate our school children. This is an unfortunate result of the need to justify funding, evaluate teachers, rank students and schools and, in my opinion, cave in to the corporate interference in our educational system. Although some believe this business model to be the ideal, many feel it is inappropriate in the school setting. In many schools valuable instructional time is lost in test preparation, test administration and post test analysis. When I was teaching my curriculum was definitely compromised to accommodate the time needed for standardized testing. Unfortunately this lost time was never regained.
After reviewing the scores of the three elementary schools I offer the following for consideration. While Blakely is indeed showing impressive achievement scores in the 80% and above brackets (64% of their 4th graders are in these brackets)–more than Wilkes and Ordway–it is Wilkes that shows a higher percentage (36% of their 4th graders) in the 90% and above brackets compared to Blakely’s 33% in this same bracket. Does this mean that the students in the lower four brackets of these two schools are receiving less attention so as to produce “higher learners”? I doubt it because when evaluating 4th grade students in mathematics other factors must be considered. (more…)
