The figure above appeared in an article Saturday in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It shows Performance Index scores when correlated with poverty. The article explains, "Performance Index is a composite of test scores across all grades and subjects that summarizes how well kids scored on state tests."
Very simply, the greater the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, the lower the state test scores in a district.
I don't know about you, but my mind is blown. Who would've thought that poor kids would score lower on standardized tests? Maybe we should test ALL of Ohio's students again next month to see if this is a pattern. If it is, wouldn't that mean that a disproportionate number of poor and minority students are being held back in 3rd grade and prevented from graduating from high school? I can't believe that our legislators could, in good conscience, permit such a system to exist.
That was exhausting.
Students return to testing in a month. I'm going to predict that poor kids struggle, and districts with more of them are labeled as failures. Furthermore, the state will continue to fail to remediate the effects of poverty, praise themselves for raising the academic rigor, and argue that our testing system is providing a fine apples to apples comparison of school districts.
I will continue to teach, and try to direct my rage into something productive.
Imagine that! It must be that somehow the colleges and universities that grant education degrees SEND all the inferior teachers to work in the high poverty districts. This reminds me of an X-files episode!
ReplyDeleteImagine that! It must be that somehow the colleges and universities that grant education degrees SEND all the inferior teachers to work in the high poverty districts. This reminds me of an X-files episode!
ReplyDelete