The disconnection between the rising graduation rate and college readiness rates clearly shows the questionable value of a new York City high school diploma and the academic achievement gap. In 2015, the city showed that 70.5% of all high school students graduated in four years, while the college and career readiness metric of those graduates only inched up to 35%. That mean that 2 out of 3 New York City's high school graduates are not ready for college or the adult workplace. Think what that means to our economy? I shudder at the thought that the majority of New York City's high school graduates will be relegated to low wage jobs and will require public assistance to support a family to pay the rent and food on the table. All because we fail to make the high school diploma contingent on academic excellence. Just push them out the door with a bogus high school diploma and hope for the best. That's what the DOE does to these unfortunate students.
Next time the Mayor and Chancellor hail the rising graduation rate, ask them how many of those high school graduates are really academically ready for higher learning and the adult work place? See how quiet or evasive they become. "Children last"....always.
That's why we need a Board of Education. It will at least allow parents to ask these questions and demand change. I did my thesis on this subject in 1994 and said exactly what you said here. Nothing has changed, except that vocational schools that helped non-academic students get jobs are gone. All of this is severely hurting the minority communities of NYC, from which ALL my students came from.
ReplyDeleteThere is no learning going on, except for making excuses. If any Tweedy says there are no passing quotas, grades given away, changed or that incidents in schools are down, they're liars. Students are allowed to be as late to class as they want. They play the odds. One teacher might "give me" a failing grade, but the others won't. College and career ready, my *ss. APEX, "credit recovery" are a joke. You have kids whose entire schedule is APEX, or whatever they are calling now, to hide it from scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteCity Hall can also talk about how the education budget has gotten bigger and bigger, but the money that is wasted on irrelevant PD & consultants is off the charts. Not to mention the lawyers, and the layers upon layers of administrators who are either clueless or have no leadership skills at all or worse (I'm looking at you John Bowne, but others, too). It's all about union busting and reducing pension promises that politicians failed to get up, fulfilling there end of the bargain.
My issue is slightly different:
ReplyDeleteMost of my students are labeled 'college ready,' but I pity the college and kids because they aren't ready to be in college or adults. They (most) will be able to do the work; they just won't be able to function in a reality-based world. They will have to learn those skills quickly to survive. I wish them luck, but they don't understand, "no means no," deadlines, responsibility, etc.
And, I'm not allowed to teach this because parents and my administration won't let me.
And part of the problem is the fudging of Math Regents grades (called "scale scores") by the NYS Education Department within their "raw score" to "scale score" conversion charts:
ReplyDeleteThe fraction 30/86 as a percent is about 35%.
The fraction 31/86 as a percent is about 36%.
However, take a look at these conversion charts for the six most recent Math Regents in Algebra I (Common Core):
June 2014 -- Algebra I (Common Core)
30 out of 86 converts to a passing grade of 65.
www.nysedregents.org/algebraone/614/algone62014-cc.pdf
August 2014 -- Algebra I (Common Core)
31 out of 86 converts to a passing grade of 65.
www.nysedregents.org/algebraone/814/algone82014-cc.pdf
January 2015 -- Algebra I (Common Core)
30 out of 86 converts to a passing grade of 65.
www.nysedregents.org/algebraone/115/algone12015-ccrev.pdf
June 2015 -- Algebra I (Common Core)
30 out of 86 converts to a passing grade of 65.
www.nysedregents.org/algebraone/615/algone62015-cc.pdf
August 2015 -- Algebra I (Common Core)
30 out of 86 converts to a passing grade of 65.
www.nysedregents.org/algebraone/815/algone82015-cc.pdf
January 2016 -- Algebra I (Common Core)
30 out of 86 converts to a passing grade of 65.
www.nysedregents.org/algebraone/116/algone12016-cc.pdf
If the NYS Education Department considers such a scoring scheme to be meaningful and valid, then is it any wonder why high schools are doing what they do in terms of awarding diplomas to students who know very little?
The Welfare State matrix "does not compute"...
ReplyDeleteThe previous commentators also speak to the reality I see in my school. The kids 'graduate' with 4th grade skills. To be fair they come to us (in high school) with 2-3rd grade skills, and that is in their own native language! You can only push the bar so far when you are dealing with an impossible situation.
ReplyDeleteI teach five sections. Each one is 100% recent immigrants from poor latin American countries. IEP to grade level kids all mixed up in one class. All language ability levels mixed in too, along with mostly SIFE, many undiagnosed ADHD/Mental problems, etc... Did any of us in previous generations have classes like this in high school?
11:35... According to Michael Bloomberg....this is a wonderful thing, this Sanctuary City bullshit...then they turn around and use the data against teachers...
ReplyDelete