THE PIG IN THE PYTHON

The story is that public school administrators are giddy about the improved scores for this year's MEAP test.  The MEAP test measures the progress of public school students in reading and writing, which the federal government relies upon to determine if local districts are in compliance with the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" program.

Little wonder the scores were an improvement.  The Michigan Department of Education boosted the pitiful results of the writing portion of the MEAP test on the basis that it was too hard and therefore an unfair measurement of progress.  How did the Education Department conclude the writing test was too hard?  The scores were too low!  Ah, the tidiness of circular reasoning.

Setting aside the manipulation of the test scores, freshly re-elected Grand Rapids School Board president David Allen took pride in what the revised MEAP results showed.  For the first time in a generation, the school district's fourth graders were above the state average in writing ability.  Allen indicated that this boded well for the future, noting the upward bump in performance should carry on to the higher grades in the future like "a python swallowing a pig".

Unfortunately forty years of intensive efforts, beginning with the Head Start program, to improve the education of young children has shown the same dismal pattern of gains made early on petering out as children grow older.  The foundation for educational success has, as always, rested upon parental involvement that makes demands upon the child.  Without that foundation, little that the schools do to improve student performance endures.

There's no secret about that.  However, that key to success doesn't require a lot of spending by public school bureaucrats; besides, who wants the headache of pointing fingers at disengaged parents?  It doesn't pay the educrats to do so, so they won't as sure as there's no pig in the python.

Comments

[Wilhamus]

It is unfortunate that the state felt the need to cook the MEAP scores in order to give the impression that our children are being taught properly. In a time where factory jobs are vanishing and high skill work is going to India, the children of west Michigan need a better education if they are to even have a chance. What does the state think will come of this other than an improved ranking? They are cheating these poor kids! All for the sake of making themselves look good. It will come back to haunt us all.

[Executive Director]

Wilhelmus,

I agree with your concern, because there are so many solid work skills that we can teach our children before they complete high school. Not every hour of instruction needs to be geared to college prep. Education is not a zero-sum game of either trigonometry or shop but not both.

Our kids can handle the demands of training both the mind and the hands is we give them solid instruction in the three "R's" during the early years. However, I don't see how we get to an enriched education like this if we fool ourselves by inflating MEAP scores.

Regards,
Bill Tingley
Executive Director