This is a very troubling study.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government’s first-ever comparison of how states test for student progress in school shows big variations across the nation.
For example, a reading score that rates a fourth-grader “proficient” in Mississippi would be a failing score in Massachusetts, according to a report released Thursday by the Education Department.
I am very concerned about the quality of public education in this country. We don’t pay our teachers enough and in my experience we are not working hard enough to get the best teachers. A poor educational system impacts us all.
That is not to say that one cannot find good schools in every state, but there are too many weak spots for my taste. Not good, not good at all.
Hi Jill,
Teachers should be paid more. You’ll get no argument from me.
I’m a few days late chiming in on this, but (as a teacher myself) I wanted to toss in my two cents. I’m not trying to be the whiney teacher here, but does it ever occur to the American public that they trust their children to a pediatrician a few times a year and to a teacher approxiimately 190 times a year? Yet somehow, the pediatrician easily makes 3 times my salary. (Not that the pediatrician doesn’t deserve it – I wouldn’t want to try to get a sick little kid to open up and say, “ah!”) The real heart of the matter isn’t in my salary, though. It is in the fact that politicians decide what I teach. These politicians have never looked at my children to see what they each need. Oh, I could go on all day… but I won’t!
Joe,
It is appalling.
Stepping,
No problem, I am not the example of brevity.
My daughter is in Kindergarten in a town where some of the schools (especially middle) are ON THE FEDERAL WATCH LIST. Talk about scary. Her school at the moment is amazing, small, with parent involvement like you wouldn’t believe. We have the MCAS here (I am in Massachusetts) testing the kids and I have to say, standardized testing means nothing. My 6 year old had to go to before school help because she was testing low in her reading comprehension…she was reading fine, getting perfect scores on all work in class, but the actual testing STYLE confused her and rushed her and she failed miserably at it. Like my straight A sister got way below average on the SATs and had to retake them 3 times after taking classes that TAUGHT her how to take the SAT (not the material but HOW). Crazy. I have alot to say about this obviously. Sorry for the novel.
These days, education is only about the material on the standardized test, and to hell with anything else, which makes it all the more appalling when kids can’t even be taught THAT much.