The only answer I can come up with (in my ignorance, please let me know if I missed something in the report that can explain this) is that there are many other school districts not represented in this dataset (well, of course there must be) – but if that is the case, then to get an average national score of 149 when the data includes plenty of scores in the 110-130 range, then by inference that must mean there are scores in the 160-170 range. And if that is the case, then why are those data not being trumpeted along with Austin, Charlotte, et al?

Anyone help? Bueller? Bueller?

Where in the world do you get “We can’t trust the public education system.” from?

It seems that the public education system does just as well educating your kids as you do raising them. Most of the children I’ve taught (and I work in a district where over 90% of the students at the high school get free/reduced lunches) that defy the poverty/achievement correlation have families that put them first.

Read with your kid, do homework with them, and they’ll usually be fine.

Something that kind of sparks some hope is that mobile devices/computers are getting cheaper and more readily available even for lower income people. If kids could find a way to plug into those sources they could get on the web and actually learn something useful. Self-study educational materials online would be great, no?

It certainly seems that you are a coy little racist.

However, in your zeal to reach and hold racist conclusions, you show yourself incapable of understanding the data or making logical replies.

Thus, you are either stupid, dishonest, or both. Most likely both.

Stupid, dishonest and a bigot is no way to go through life, son.

I was recruited to do a mindless exercise required by the School Board that involved transferring student data from one paper form (the “OLD”) to to another paper form (the “NEW”). This exercise resulted in NO increase in the amount of data, NO evident increase in the data’s usability (e.g., no conversion to optical or other machine-readable form.) It also involved no obvious data-checking (how could it?) such that I had amenuensic control over grades, attendance records, and the like for any number of young folks. I was never vetted for this job in any way!

What became obvious to me over the course of several days of dealing with dozens of student records was that attendance is a major negative factor in urban schools. Time and again I dealt with a record that showed the student with good attendance and good grades in, say, first through third grade, then a steadily deteriorating attendance record in say, grades 4, 5, and 6. And I mean SERIOUS attendance problems: a (non-contiguous) month or more missed from school in the 9-month school year!

I concluded that old-fashioned Truant Officers might do more for test performance than anything else I’ve heard talked about on this thread or elsewhere.

My next hoo-rah with the Baltimore City Schools came when the School Board submitted an internally inconsistent, un-interpretable budget, proving that even the Governor of Maryland and the Mayor of Baltimore couldn’t find fifteen citizens who had enough arithmetic and reading-comprehension skills to run their family finances, much less the School Boards’

What appalled me the most during this, was that the parents responses were not supportive to nightly reading assignments and homework, weekly quizzes, bi-weekly major exams, and a project every six weeks. I’d say that at least half of the parents I spoke to stated that I was working their child too hard. I believe that the parenting population in the US has turned into too many parents wanting to be their child’s friend and not their parent.